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Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman might as well have been wearing a Boogeyman costume when addressing a crowd in London during an HP customer event. While there, she warned listeners that a mega-sized cyber terrorist attack is pretty much a foregone conclusion, that it's mostly a matter of when, not if, it will happen. But fear not, HP will be there to save the day, if you call upon the company.
According to Whitman, a "cyber attack of 9/11 scale" has a high probability of taking place sooner than later, and HP customers would be wise to recognize the "threat of global terrorism" that's on the horizon, V3.co.uk reports. On a more comforting note, Whitman promised to "darken the skies with the magnitude of our response and will work your agenda, not ours," when it comes to dealing with cyber shenanigans.
Only time will tell if HP's chief has a legitimate concern or if she's resorting to scare tactics to drive sales of enterprise security products. Either way, she brings up some valid points for businesses to think about.
"With the influx of mobility and cloud, the access points [to businesses] are now infinite. Threats have become sophisticated, persistent, and unpredictable," Whitman added, according to ITPro.co.uk.
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xmichaelx
May 09, 2012 at 8:34am
Whitman -- like Fiorina -- is hoping to use HP as a stepping stone to Washington (remember her failed bid for California governorship?). That's why she's talking like a Republican fear-mongerer. It's also a CYA: When HP has its next security disaster, she can pretend that she predicted it.
I'll be shocked if she's still with HP in a year. Any more than that and she could find herself in the same place as Fiorina, who will forever be known as the person who turned the once-great computer maker into just one of a dozen others.
I predict a (failed) 2014 Senate run.
ApathyCurve
May 09, 2012 at 8:24am
I suspect part of what they're trying to sell here may be big money remote secure data storage. When HP inherited the Compaq campus here in Houston a decade or so back, they got two massive Enterprise Operations Centers. They are high-security data storage and management facilities for very large companies. Exxon-Mobil and Conoco-Phillips were two who previously used the service, (and still might; I'm not in the loop).
But I can tell you having been inside them that they are like Fort Knox: retina-scan and fingerprint access stations, armed security, multiple secure on- and offsite power backups, full independent satellite links, a control room that looks like the Johnson Space Center... So she's not exactly exaggerating about their background in data security.
