FEATURE: Special Letter: Cyber Security Is Everyone’s Business
Deception Is Nothing New
In the Beginning (It Was Fun)
Early Malware
The Evolution of Cyber Security
Cyber Crime and Network Security
Endpoint or Host Security
Advanced Persistent Threats and Other Scary Stuff
The Target Corp. Attack
Digital Resilience
Boards Like Numbers
Conclusions
About Ray A. Rothrock
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Publisher’s Note: In security circles, it has long been a poorly kept secret that the tools of the time – firewalls, antivirus, and malware protection – were what scientists would call “necessary, but not sufficient” to the task of protecting the vital secrets of our companies and countries.
In fact, it was much worse than that.
I once was in a conversation with the top security official in the UK, who was (properly and proudly) discussing how working with the private sector was going to eliminate 90% of cyber attacks. “That’s great,” I said. “But who cares, when they’ll still be vulnerable to 100% of the state-sponsored attacks on their crown jewels?”
Even today, as this week’s well-qualified author points out, anyone assuming that their tools and spending on security can keep the bad guys out of their networks is just dreaming. A determined state-sponsored team from a growing list of countries who make it their business to steal and then dominate yours will get through.
Who are these teams? In order of number, China represents about 95% of all cyber-based IP theft. In terms of order of activity, a rough approximation would put China first, followed by Russia (better, but more interested in military and policy), and then the flotilla of Iran, DPRK, perhaps even Pakistan, and others coming closer every month. It doesn’t take a large population, or a large military, to create a large cyber-threat presence. The obverse of this is also true: the US is the most vulnerable nation in the world with regard to cyber attack, because we have the largest dependency on computers and the net. We are also not the most advanced attack team, by private estimates, with even DPRK ahead of us in offensive weaponry.
All of our members will want to catch up on the latest in protecting their corporate secrets. Read on. – mra.
