The “Cyber-Pearl Harbour”
Written by Dina Haq
It was two years ago on a crisp autumn day in New York City, two months into my first semester at Columbia, when I read an article in the New York Times titled “Panetta Warns of Dire Threat of Cyberattack on U.S.” I remember that day so vividly, sitting in class perusing the news on my iPad waiting for the lecture to begin. Two years later in the wake of the Sony hacks, I wonder if Panetta (former Secretary of Defense and past CIA Director) had any inkling that a major Hollywood studio would be at the receiving end of the “cyber-Pearl Harbor” attacks he alluded to.
In all fairness, his original description of such a cataclysmic event included the loss of life so it’s hard to say if Hollywood was even on his mind or anyone else’s at the time. On that note, if such an event were to ensue, he described it as a “cyber-Pearl Harbor that would cause physical destruction and the loss of life, an attack that would paralyze and shock the nation and create a profound new sense of vulnerability.” He also warned that the United States “won’t succeed in preventing a cyber attack through improved defenses alone.”
North Korea might be the weirdest most closed off country in the world stuck in the days of the Soviet era and run by a radical cult however, it is by no means a technically backward nation. North Korea’s growing hacking capabilities have been public knowledge for sometime now. It has carried similar attacks in the past, most notably in 2013 when banks and media companies were hit across South Korea.
General Curtis Scaparrotti, the commander of the United States Forces Korea, told Congress earlier this year that North Korea has “an active cyber warfare capability.” In addition, South Korea has warned North Korea’s capability to “paralyze the U.S. Pacific Command and cause extensive damage to defense networks inside the United States.”
Now we know, given Obama’s speed and certainty with which he blamed North Korea for the Sony hacks, the NSA “used malware to track North Korean hackers as part of a program launched more than four years ago.” With that said, when a country known for its hacking capabilities vows “merciless counter-measures” against the U.S. if it fails to put a stop to a film (ridiculous as that sounds), why in the world wouldn’t you take the necessary precautions to protect yourself? Or let me rephrase, why would you think that keeping thousands of passwords in a file called “passwords” was absolutely NOT insane?
Why would you think that keeping thousands of passwords in a file called “passwords” was absolutely NOT insane?
If you’ve read Aaron Sorkin’s op-ed piece in the New York Times immediately after the hacks took place, then you know about the “ethical” journalistic discussions that took place which blamed the press for publishing the leaked information. The Sony emails, as you might have already read, contained a rich array of insults about certain celebrities, quarrels between various producers, social security numbers, home addresses, computer passwords, the aliases used by famous actors when checking into hotels, bank account details, inappropriate private conversations, and the list goes on.
Sorkin might have had good intentions to criticize the actions of the media however, must I remind him that this is news, but more importantly, this is relevant news. This is IMPORTANT news. This hack should serve as a listen to everyone from individuals to multi-billion dollar companies. No one is immune from the digital attacks and invasion of online privacy. I honestly don’t care if Angelina Jolie is a “minimally talented spoiled brat” or Jennifer Lawrence is paid less than her male counterparts, I am more interested in why Sony did not take the necessary measures to protect itself and its employees in the first place. Perhaps Sorkin should write an op-ed piece in the New York Times asking how he and other Sony representatives could have been so careless and irresponsible in their methods of communication knowing very well that North Korea (known for its hacking capabilities) has publicly threatened them months in advance.
No one is immune from the digital attacks and invasion of online privacy.
I would like to ask the people in charge of Sony, how important is the security of your data to you? Because from what we’ve seen in the last few months, clearly not that important. My second question is addressed to everyone else who is a willing participant and avid engager in the online world, how important is the security of your data to you?
Let’s list some of the digital entities with extensive data:
- Mobile
- Desktop computer (work and home)
- Employer
- Government agencies
- Various social media accounts
- Merchants and financial institutions
Which of the above do you think is the safest when it comes to protecting your data? The answer is none of the above. If you want to protect your data then you have to encrypt your data. It’s that simple. Witkit, for example, is the first business collaboration platform in the world to create end-to-end encryption for all your data.
We are currently facing a dilemma, mobile devices among employees have increased and cloud-computing is rapidly increasing, however, security concern is the biggest obstacle to major companies that have opted out of having an online file-sharing account. In a recent survey by CipherPoint, 70% of enterprises said security concerns are an obstacle to cloud adoption. Businesses do not trust the platforms out there and they’re not willing to take a risk in order to find out. Think of data as your sovereign state and the hackers as hundreds of guerrilla soldiers on the ground trying to invade your territory. This is the digital world we live in and cyberwarfare is not going anywhere, it will only keep getting stronger. We need the strongest tools to stave off those malicious attacks.
So I wonder, what measures are we taking to protect our data? Why have we not taken encryption more seriously? And when we fail to take these measures, why are we so surprised when we become the target of some atrocious hack? Let what happened to Sony serve as a lesson to us all: PROTECT YOUR DATA.
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