Cyber security risk cannot be eliminated
In the past two years, there has been remarkable development and spread in organised hacking of corporates, says expert.
Cyber security is about mitigation of risk, not its elimination, because it is impossible to eliminate the risks.
This is according to investigative journalist and author Misha Glenny, a UK-based specialist in cyber crime and global cyber crime networks.
Glenny, author of two books on the cyber crime underworld, says no technology development before “affects every single fibre of life like the Internet does, and has ability to introduce change with the speed it can”.
He says, in the early days of the Internet, “lone wolf” cyber criminals spotted its potential for use in crime, but over the past few years, cyber criminals have evolved to become powerful, organised entities.
“In the past two years, there has been remarkable development and spread in organised hacking of corporates,” he notes.
Opening the channels to corporates are billions of people who are not concerned about securing their access devices.
[Sidebar]“Nobody bothers with mobile security, and we see cyber as a tool of convenience. Downloading security software is a bore, and people cannot be bothered to do it,” he says. “Every computer user is a potential vulnerability, and the problem is communicating the issue of cyber security.”
Glenny says enterprises need to ensure their employees are fully educated about the risks of cyber crime. “You also need understanding at board level. If you don`t take it seriously, you run a real risk of your company going down the tubes.”
Glenny will elaborate on his investigations into the cyber mafia and the war for control of the Internet during the ITWeb IT Security Summit, to be staged in Sandton, from 7 to 9 May. For more information about this event, click here.
Story by Tracy Burrows