Cyber security summit reveals astonishing levels of attacks
Delegates at a cyber-security summit in Bonn have heard how criminals are launching unrelenting attacks on companies and their digital assets, in a stark reminder of the threatening online landscape and how stringent IT systems need to be.
German communications giant, Deutsche Telekom, revealed at the summit that its IT networks are subject to one million attacks a day. This is an extraordinary figure that highlights the extreme efforts that companies now have to make to maintain their systems’ integrity and users’ computer security against cyber-criminals, as well as various governments’ spying programmes.
Indeed, cyber-crime has become so prevalent – and lucrative – that it’s estimated to cost economies around the world a total of some US$445 billion a year, according to a report quoted at the summit from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Cyber-crime is now believed by industry experts to be a “growth industry” and that ordinary people collectively lose around $160 billion in attacks by hackers.
The summit heard, however, that among ordinary computer users, a lackadaisical attitude to computer security was enabling a great deal of attacks. When people don’t take adequate, and basic, security measures to protect their machines from the array of threats that exist today, they’re essentially leaving their cyber-doors wide open.
The third annual Cyber Security Summit examined ways to bolster security measures and protect people’s data, and discussed the impact of leaks by whistle-blower, Edward Snowden, that revealed the extent of government spying on IT networks. Some delegates were certain that trust had been eroded in major tech companies while others called for transparency in their dealings with authorities, such as the National Security Agency, whose secret files Snowden stole and released to the media.
One delegate, Andy Müller-Maguhn of European hacking and privacy group the Chaos Computer Club, pointed to an allegation that an American network security company was given $10 million to make sure it built a backdoor into its technology so that the NSA could gain entry to users’ data.
One positive development is that with the ongoing waves of attacks and surveillance, tech firms are upgrading their security measures and encrypting their data, welcome news for companies and people everywhere.
