The threat to real people is undeniable. So much of people’s information is kept online that anyone could be a risk. As soon as a hack takes place your information is vulnerable, whether that be credit or debit card details like in the Sony Playstation attack, or names and addresses – it is information which identifies you, and could therefore be used against you.
Most worrying of all is that people aren’t realising the severity of these hacks.
LulzSec, for example, claims to be exposing security vulnerabilities in websites and organisations for "fun", but a poll conducted by Sophos discovered that internet users are divided in opinion - 43 percent say hacking into companies is no laughing matter, whereas over 50 percent find some amusement in the hacks.
The truth is that companies and innocent customers are - in the worst cases - having their personal data exposed.There are responsible ways to inform a business that its website is insecure, or that it has not properly protected its data, and this is not one of them. Crucially, a denial of service attack - like that which appears to have hit the CIA website - is against the law.
To track down skilled hackers is no easy task, as they are intent on keeping their anonymity.
They could be based anywhere on the globe, and using any number of third-party machines, with or without authorisation, to mask their true location and identity.
Of course, there’s a difference between a prankster who wants their 15 minutes of fame and someone who’s intent on threatening national security by stealing highly sensitive information, but either way the current hacking mayhem should be a wake-up call.
None of us can afford to sit back and wait for arrests (like that which was reported by Scotland Yard today) to happen. Network administrators need to be sure of the quality of their security systems and all of us who entrust our sensitive information to third parties should be aware that the problem could affect us too.
To track down skilled hackers is no easy task, as they are intent on keeping their anonymity.
They could be based anywhere on the globe, and using any number of third-party machines, with or without authorisation, to mask their true location and identity.
Of course, there’s a difference between a prankster who wants their 15 minutes of fame and someone who’s intent on threatening national security by stealing highly sensitive information, but either way the current hacking mayhem should be a wake-up call.
None of us can afford to sit back and wait for arrests (like that which was reported by Scotland Yard today) to happen. Network administrators need to be sure of the quality of their security systems and all of us who entrust our sensitive information to third parties should be aware that the problem could affect us too.
0 comments:
Post a Comment