WEF: Cyber Attacks are a Top Five Threat, Secure Systems Don't Exist
WEF: Cyber Attacks are a Top Five Threat, Secure Systems Don't Exist
Posted 01/13/2012 at 10:20am
| by Paul Lilly
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In case ending the work week on Friday the 13th wasn't enough of an ominous way to head into the weekend, consider this: for the first ever, the World Economic Forum (WEF) identified cyber attacks on governments and businesses as one of the top five global risks in terms of likelihood. In fact, it's the first time any kind of technology risk ranked in the top five.
The likelihood of a cyber attack ranked No. 4 overall, behind severe income disparity (No. 1), chronic fiscal imbalances (No. 2), and rising greenhouse gas emissions (No. 3), and ahead of a water supply crisis (No. 5). What's more, WEF points out there's really no such thing as a secure system, and at best there are just ones which haven't had their vulnerabilities exposed.
"There are no proven secure systems, only systems whose faults have not yet been discovered, so trying to overcome 'hackability' may be as hopeless as denying gravity," WEF stated in its Global Risks Report for 2012 (PDF). "Instead, the goal should be finding ways for well-intentioned individuals to identify those faults and deploy remedies to end-users before would-be cyber criminals can discover and exploit them."
WEF says the levels of resources devoted to finding flaws and fixing them are "nowhere near adequate," though there are signs that some industries are beginning to the take the threat of cyber attacks a little more seriously than in recent years.
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mls067
January 13, 2012 at 10:40am
"Instead, the goal should be finding ways for well-intentioned individuals to identify those faults and deploy remedies to end-users before would-be cyber criminals can discover and exploit them."
ummm, isn't that what's happening right now? They are called patches and updates, or am I missing the point?
Bullwinkle J Moose
January 13, 2012 at 11:00am
You are missing the point
Neworked Systems cannot be secured because they are networked
Closed source systems cannot be secured because they are designed from the ground up as Spyware Platforms
For example, Microsoft Windows Spyware records everything you do to your hard drive to be used against you even if your computer never had a network connection if there is ever a manufactured reason to execute a warranted or warrantless search of your property
Networked systems are designed to be vulnerable so the Gov'ts can use the Global Syware Platform called the Internet against you and everyone else and then blame their actions on hackers or systems that can never be patched
Networked systems are vulnerable even with open source platforms because the Spyware is in the Govt servers and directly accesses the "Hardware" in your system regardless of O.S.
So YES, we have secure systems but the article is technically correct because we cannot keep our systems secure if we discuss them
Anyone who dissagrees with this explanation is a nuttcase who wears a tinfoil hat
YES YOU Caboose!
Supall
January 13, 2012 at 10:36am
"There are no proven secure systems, only systems whose faults have not yet been discovered, so trying to overcome 'hackability' may be as hopeless as denying gravity."
I see your statement, and I offer my counter evidence:
http://faildesk.net/2011/12/27/network-security-is-as-strong-as-its-weakest-link/
thetechchild
January 13, 2012 at 10:06pm
Unfortunately, most critical systems still lie within reach of the Internet. Plus, physical access still trumps physical disconnection.
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