Internet securityWith bugs in the system, how safe is the Internet?
It seems hardly a week goes by without a major cyber security flaw exposed that could be exploited across millions of Internet and mobile connected devices. There is always the danger that people become complacent as more and more security threats are reported so it’s important to be aware of the risks and take note of any advice. In addition to frequently changing passwords, patching our software with updates as often as they are available, and being careful about what Web sites we visit, we must also demand more products that are fit for purpose, just as we do with the safety standards of physical consumer products. We should expect companies to understand the value of the business they do with us, and of our data that they hold in trust. Boards and CEOs need to care about this as much as they do about their brand.
It seems hardly a week goes by without a major cyber security flaw exposed that could be exploited across millions of Internet and mobile connected devices.
This week it was the Internet Explorer browser’s turn with Microsoft warning of a vulnerability in the software that needs to be patched. Before that it was the Heartbleed vulnerability found in the Open SSL software used to encrypt communications between us and perhaps 60 percent of the world’s Web sites.
NSW police warned this week that Eastern European gangs in Sydney have been busy conducting scaled skimming attacks against ATMs, stealing card data and PINs.
Before Christmas U.S. retail giant Target lost control of millions of customer credit card details when point of sale devices were compromised after an attacker initially entered their corporate systems via an air conditioning and heating maintenance interface.
And diplomatic relations have been harmed — and cyber citizens infuriated — by mass data surveillance by governments exposed in files leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
What does this tell us?
We increasingly rely upon complex software and hardware for our professional and personal lives. They run the critical systems upon which our society and economy depend and yet these connected devices are not as robust as we’d like to tell ourselves.
While some tech giants market themselves as the safer option, immune from cyber nasties, we should avoid falling for the hype: there but for the grace of God go they. In fact, it’s more likely that they have been and are compromised, we just don’t know of it yet.
For years Microsoft was lambasted as an unsafe operating system, when the reality was that criminals devoted considerable effort to breaking their product because it was on more computers and thus a bigger addressable market for those criminals.
Figures for March this year show Microsoft’s Windows operating system has 91 percent of the market share compared to 8 percent on Apple’s Mac with Linux users just 1.5 percent.
As the mix of operating systems has become more complex, then exploits have become more common across the board. This is best illustrated by the growing list of malware specifically designed for Google’s Android mobile operating system.
