"Cyber security is a job for the government"

[Surya Gayatri]

http://www.dw.de/cyber-security-is-a-job-for-the-government/a-18372538

The cyber attack on TV5 Monde shows the vulnerability of the digital workspace. The only cure: government intervention, says researcher Haya Shulman.

DW: Hackers attacked TV5 Monde last night, severely disrupting the channel's broadcasts. Is that something that can be done from the outside?

Haya Shulman: Certainly, that can be done. Almost everything nowadays works over the Internet, over the IP network. This includes phone calls, television broadcasts, radio broadcasts. If you can exploit vulnerabilities in the Internet, then you could subvert a TV broadcast.

Are companies prepared? Do they try to secure their systems?

Unfortunately, it doesn't really depend on one specific company. We saw a number of attacks recently, also on critical infrastructure. An attack on a steel plant in Germany did a lot of harm. We also saw attacks against government agencies that were communicating remotely. The problem is that the Internet is not secure. Even if one company decides to secure its networks: if it is connected to the Internet, it is still vulnerable to attacks.

What is the problem with the Internet?

We have identified many vulnerabilities in the basic protocols and systems of the Internet. These allow for instance to find a specific network. Now, if an attacker can redirect you to an incorrect address then you will go to an incorrect machine. And I would guess that part of the attack involved such a scheme concerning TV content that was stored on servers. No company can actually prevent these attacks.

[Man from Pickens]

1. undermining cyber security is the job it actually did

Is there a security system that hasn't been deliberately compromised by the NSA or another security agency?

Phones, internet lines, all tapped; encryption systems with designed loopholes, hardware with spyware embedded - not terrorists or Russians or Chinese who did these things to us.

Plus the knock-on economic effects of international customers fleeing US-based products and services, not what we need in this economic environment.

For being alleged "security" agencies they sure have done, and continue to do, quite a bit to make us vulnerable and to prevent us from effectively securing our data.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. I'm totally cyber-challenged, so I cannot speak from any

personal knowledge.

This was an interview between Deutsche Welle, a well-respected German paper, and a cyber expert.