Who’s afraid of the big bad cyberattack?
There have been dozens of news on cyberattacks lately. From human rights websites from China being under attack, to the attacks on US sites and institutions, to a more recent article debating how a cyberattack will affect the UK public’s trust in their Goverment. (Check our Twitter profile for an extended list of such news).
A minor effect attack would make UK citizens not trust their representatives. It seems crazy and it tastes of instant panic, but is it? I’d say more cyberattacks would have the same effect on US citizens as well. Why? It’s simple! It’s not because people are scary and tend to run amok at the smallest of threats, it’s because of the created expectations that were never met.
Remember all the fuss bout the Cyber Czar of the US? A year waiting for him or her to finally be appointed! Remember all the military, state and civilian attacks, data thefts and what not? They keep happening and no one seems to be doing much. Remember all the reviews of state institutions saying how they all fail at establishing the compulsory security policies? Take all that and filter it through all the security products, research and breakthroughs in the media. The general message is that 1. the technology is out there and 2. governments and other public institutions fail at implementing it! Of course it generates disappointment, lack of trust and yes, it scares us a bit! They could protect their information, but they aren’t doing it!
But wait, there’s more! It might seem all natural, easy to explain and clear on who to blame. But I’d also say the common PC user’s view on security is distorted. How many movies with complicated passwords broken in 5 seconds have you seen? How many top notch hackers that are brought down in hours? It all seems fairly easy. But is it?
From what I’ve seen until now, it’s not as easy to break someone’s email password as it is to just plug and play a flash drive on their computer or happen to find their lost hardware. How’s your experience with security so far?
