The Bakerloo line is down again. Public announcements say there’s a signaling failure, but in the Transport for London (TfL) headquarters, it’s the tech team who are in fact on high alert.
Hackers have planted ransomware again, and they’re after a hefty sum before they will unlock the line’s systems and give back control to the authorities.
How can TfL break through the hackers’ code? How will they find the weak spot in the system that allowed the hackers access in the first place? And how can they make sure their systems are even tighter once this incident — one of many incidents that are happening more and more frequently as a result of our technologically advanced world — is over?
It’s no secret that the risk of being hacked is becoming pretty normal for huge organizations, and that no system is completely protected from outsiders. Someone is needed to ensure the widest moat is dug and the strongest walls are built. When attacked, the best knights will be those with the fastest reaction times.
Enter the Cyber Security Expert, the person tasked with defending against intruders and protecting all four walls of the digital world.
These are the security industry enthusiasts, the ones who know what is the latest and greatest in the world of hacking, the ones keen to get to grips with an organization’s digital infrastructure, and make it as strong and intelligent as possible.
Getting one step ahead of the attackers
In order to ensure a company is protected from hackers, you have to be looking ahead at all times. But with new viruses, botnets, worms, and ransomware being created and shared openly and frequently on the darknet, it’s nigh-on impossible to know every trick in the book.
So, it’s about getting to grips with every nook and cranny of the digital fortress; it’s about ensuring everyone in the business can spot phishing scams in their overflowing inbox; it’s about ‘white hat hacking’ — breaking into the system deliberately, so you can find the weak spots; it’s about creating a digital immune system that can spot imposters before they do too much damage.
And it’s also about translating between the world of cyber security and deep-tech enthusiasts, and the world of CEOs and financial controllers. It’s about making sure the people in power understand why they need to invest in protecting their lot. It’s about communicating which solution is the right one and why.
The Cyber Security Expert needs to be a personable enthusiast able to convey security as a priority, and a technical enthusiast able to map the digital architecture of an organization and find the best solutions.
As we become more and more reliant on technology to power our planet, we make ourselves more and more vulnerable to opportune digital criminals. We need people who understand what it takes to protect our systems, with the gusto to convince those who don’t understand why it’s so important.
Illustration: Matthew Hollister
