Certification - January 2009 - (Page 26)

IT CUlTURE Cybersecurity: Are You safe? lINdsAY EdMONds WICKMAN The Internet is so integrated into our daily lives, it’s hard to step back and think about the potential security risks. But we must be smart every time we go online. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen in 2005 from TJX stores because of insecure wireless networks. A total of 250,000 computers were infected in 2005 and 2006 with information-stealing malware. And the Federal Trade Commission received more than 800,000 consumer fraud and identity theft complaints in 2007. While modern technologies make shopping, paying bills and managing accounts easier, they — and we — aren’t infallible. We often have a false sense of security, and our electronic transactions can leave us vulnerable to cyberattacks. “The good guys look at the Internet and say, ‘We can make people’s lives more convenient,’” said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, a nonprofit that provides knowledge and tools to prevent cybercrime. “[But] we’ve got to remember that cybercriminals take all that potential and they use it for bad things.” Because Internet use spread so quickly, proper security features were not developed. The eBays and Amazons of the world were born overnight, and consumers were driven to spend more time online, opening themselves up to the possibility of cybercrime. Now companies, organizations, government agencies and researchers are playing catch-up, trying to retrofit security features. “If you think about cars, it was many decades from the introduction of the car [that] we became the car culture. If you think about the Internet, it’s just been like a dozen years,” Kaiser said. “That speed of rollout and that entrepreneurial spirit have brought us unbelievably robust Internet applications, [but] I 26 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE January 2009 think [it] has not been done as thoughtfully [around] the kinds of risks that people face. And we haven’t spent much time teaching people about Internet safety and security.” When cybercrime began, it was relatively innocuous and would more aptly be called cybermischief. The viruses deployed did only superficial things such as change the time on the clock, Kaiser said. “It was about hackers trying to show they could beat the system,” he explained. “Then cybercriminals realized they could make money doing this, and that’s when we started to see spyware [and] malware. I think as long as there’s the ability to make money through cybercrime, there are going to be cybercriminals.” Cybercrime includes identity theft, stalking, domestic violence and terrorism and involves botnets, viruses and Trojan horses. “In the early days of the PC generation, computers could barely talk to one another. People basically worked in closed systems, and what we had was ‘sneakernet,’” said Kaiser, using the tongue-incheek term to describe the transfer of electronic information via removable media. “As that changed, [it] opened up opportunities for criminals. As computers talked to each other, as users talked to each other, as the Internet started to roll out and people were sharing all kinds of information, that created a lot of opportunities for crime.” Like traditional U.S. crime, a fair amount of cybercrime occurs between people who know each other. http://www.consumer.gov/sentinel/pubs/top10fraud2007.pdf http://www.staysafeonline.info/ http://www.staysafeonline.info/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification - January 2009

Certification - January 2009 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Virtual Village Tech Careers Dear Techie Academic Connection Troubleshooting What We Like Look Ahead The New Convergence Formula Cybersecurity: Are You Safe? Interface Lead Applications Developer: The IT Ambassador Inside Certification Ad Index Endtag

Certification - January 2009

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