In the modern world, as computers have constantly increased in power and the range of capabilities, they have also evolved and provide more and more services to us. Gone are the days when we used computers only for checking and replying email messages or checking out websites. Today, we rely on computers for more complex activities like shopping online, handling conference calls, keeping in touch with friends and family and also for storing and processing enormous amounts of data for banks, academic institutions, hospitals and even government organisations. All these different organisation and different functions computers are used for all deal with the same thing – DATA. (Quinn, 2006)
Cybersecurity or computer/network security is the tools, methods and procedures used to safeguard this sensitive data. It is the most important issues in the computational industry due to the vast amounts of data that is currently being utilised. This sensitive data refers to contact details of people, financial details or even people’s medical data. Data is an extremely valuable commodity and an infographic published by TrendMicro in 2014 showed that cybercriminals earned as much as $10 per credit card number.
Cybersecurity is ensuring that the data your organisation handles is kept and transmitted securely to prevent against data theft, fraud and data tampering. The effects are wide-reaching and not only affect the victims whose data is stolen but also the business reputation of the organisation, thereby ruining future prospects. Cyber-attacks by criminals are very common nowadays and hence the importance of cybersecurity as social issue.
Government regulations such as the Data Protection Act are designed to ensure organisations are aware of the importance of data sensitivity and how serious the cyber-attacks are but, alas, it’s not always sufficient as many companies still fall victim to cyber-attacks by hackers and evildoers.
From the chart on the left, we can see the amount of attacks that were from outsiders to organisations databases and networks in the past year. The hackers and cyber-terrorists are very intelligent and are becoming a real threat in the cyber space. In the last year there was a large increase in the number of attacks to organisations. Large companies like Sony suffered from attacks as recently in November, 2014.
As big a company as Sony is, they are not immune to cyber-attacks. Their gaming network, Playstation Network was attacked in 2011 by a group with the intention to simply expose the frailties of Sony’s network security. Millions of subscribers’ sensitive data like their names and address as well as payment information were released on the internet. In response, Sony beefed of their network security and settled lawsuits for those that suffered from more serious damage like identity theft.
In November, Sony’s network was also attacked by intruders. This time, the damage was much more severe. Confidential documents regarding Sony’s internal affairs as well as released other financial information about their movies and other projects were released. Sensitive information of celebrities that have worked on Sony projects as well as present and former staff members. Sony’s negligent attitude towards cybersecurity and their poor data security and protection, email addresses, social security numbers, addresses, banks details as well as unreleased movies and large amounts of other sensitive data was also stolen which has left to lawsuits being filed by employees suing them for their poor data protection standards. (Hesseldahl, 2014). The group stole terabytes of Sony’s data and deleted the originals off of the servers. In an official statement from the group, they promised to continue the attacks if their demands were not met. (Lee, 2014)
As it stands, law enforcement agencies are still investigating to apprehend the perpetrators of the attack but from Sony’s standpoint, they were extremely unprepared for the attack. Their lacklustre attitude towards cybersecurity has cost them big time.
Apple.
Programmers and developers were left in a state of disarray in 2013 when Apple’s developer site, the website where Apple hosts their programs and information for developers and programmers for their operating systems. After being offline for a few days, Apple issued a statement saying that the development website was subject to an attack by an intruder and they were working to resolve it.
Despite no official specification, Apple said that the sensitive information was encrypted, but there’s no proof of this. After the breach, Apple spent a lot of money to rebuild the database with improved security systems. To deal with the issue, Apple made a good attempt with a public apology. They also promised to renew the subscriptions of the users whose accounts’ subscriptions were due to expire during the period the website was down. Pubic apologies are important as important as they not only refer to the data breach or the matter but also shows that the organisation is concerned and thus, boosts trust with the people.(Mccracken, 2014)
In conclusion, dealing with cyberattacks not only involves the company being hacked but other parties as well such the governments and other companies as well to prevent even more attacks in future. The governments have come up with systems to locate hackers and even started up laws against hacking, making it illegal with severe penalties. Besides that, system security companies also are included in this prevention as they supply better solutions to secure companies’ network systems. The effort of working together to prevent cyberattacks will make sure companies grow stronger and fight back the hacks.
References
2014 Technical Report. (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/cyber-security-2014-technical-report.pdf [Accessed 5 Jan. 2015].
Burrows, P. (2013). Apple Developer Website Taken Down After Hacker Attack. [online] Bloomberg. Available at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-22/apple-developer-website-taken-down-after-hacker-attack.html [Accessed 12 Jan. 2015].
Hesseldahl, A. (2014). Hackers Hit Sony, Again. [online] Re/code. Available at: http://recode.net/2014/12/08/hackers-hit-sony-again/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015].
Lee, T. (2014). The Sony hack: how it happened, who is responsible, and what we’ve learned. [online] Vox. Available at: http://www.vox.com/2014/12/14/7387945/sony-hack-explained [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015].
McCracken, H. (2013). Apple’s Developer Site Was Hacked | TIME.com. [online] TIME.com. Available at: http://techland.time.com/2013/07/21/apple-developer-site-hacked/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2015].
Quinn, M. (2006). Ethics for the information age. Boston: Pearson/Addison-Wesley.
Smith, G. (2013). Apple Criticized For Taking 3 Days To Disclose Developer Site Hack. [online] The Huffington Post. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/22/apple-hack_n_3634843.html [Accessed 29 Dec. 2014].
Trend Micro UK, (2013). INFOGRAPHIC: How much is your personal data worth?. [online] Available at: http://www.trendmicro.co.uk/infographics/how-much-is-your-data-worth/ [Accessed 4 Jan. 2015].
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