Cyber Wars

Cyber Wars, Hacks That Shocked The Business World, by Charles Arthur, KoganPage 2018 

In the end, after the frantic discoveries and the growing terror as more and more accounts are violated, it - the theft of data, identities, cash, intellectual property, etc - comes down to money.  The hacks that Charles Arthur cites are memorably huge, as are their consequences:

Sony Pictures (2014)  A hacking group backed by North Korea steals and leaks four not-yet-released films, 30,000 financial documents and internal reports, the master password set, and 170,000 emails - many containing personal information about actors, executives and the quality of Sony's films.   MONEY

Democratic National Committee (2016)  A security flaw allows penetration of the email account of Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, and somebody gets the MONEY.

TJX (2007)  A hack made possible by inherently faulty Wi-Fi security results in the theft of data on 45.7 million credit cards and costs the company hundreds of millions of dollars.  MONEY

Dyn (2016)  The Mirai botnet bombards critical web infrastructure, using millions of messages generated by subverted IoT devices, knocking Twitter, Amazon, Netflix - MONEY - offline.

Surprisingly, the author traces many current hacks and systems weaknesses to software design flaws decades old, and he predicts that the hacks of the future are around us this very minute.  Hmmmm.  Think about that MONEY.

Whats the solution?  Stand back and let The Giants take on the hackers?   In the short-term, the hackers may win, and in the long-term ordinary consumers do not.  It's difficult for consumers to protect and manage software updates, passwords, distribution lists, and umpteen levels of security, but the author offers these "three lines of defense""

1.  Equipment -  Outdated software on insecure PCs is an open door.  Mobile devices such as tablets offer much better protection.

2.  User Education -   Don't click suspicious links or open suspicious attachments.  Attach warnings to equipment if necessary, and train temporary staff.

3.  Backups -   Restoring systems from backup is the simple answer to an encrypted system.  But companies need to be sure that the initial cause of the problem has been removed or else the backup will destroy their systems all over again.

Arthur's description of what future hacks might look like are scary and useful - think hacked cyber cars and airplanes,  and intelligent home speakers.    The overall approach to this subject conveys an impression that hacks are not necessarily in your future, and that certain locks and preventive measures can be effectively positioned by the average consumer. 

Readers are cautioned against misinterpreting the author's description of the Hillary Clinton/John Podesta e-mail disasters.  Although we can learn much about the mechanics of clutsy IT management a la Podesta, the evidence on the Clinton presidential loss - the popular vote, the emails and the Electoral College - will be still under discussion for years to come. 

Patricia E. Moody

FORTUNE magazine  "Pioneering Woman in Mfg" 

IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert

A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers, pemoody@aol.com, patriciaemoody@gmail.com, tricia@patriciaemoody.com,