This Article made me think how little we realize the hacker economy affects on the world.
Bill Kleyman (writer of article) is a data center expert so he sees things from the data center perspective.
The expectation is that the data center companies (otherwise known as cloud companies) will employ new technologies to solve this hacker problem. There are some monetary values to the hacks, but the true cost is not known, I am working on a different explanation.
The hackers have monetized our personal information in a bazaar of markets called the Deep or dark net http://oversitesentry.com/darknet-know-it-learn-it/ .
Also Starbucks accounts. (not listed in image)
So how has the hacker economy changed the way we do things?
One indirect consequence is the problem of the hackers are being thought about, and we are trying to counter the criminal gangs since they are hell bent in making our lives more difficult by figuring out the faults of programs and configuration problems.
Even David Krebs has a story about the IRS and state tax offices trying to counter the large amount of fraud of tax returns. http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/06/states-seek-better-mousetrap-to-stop-tax-refund-fraud/
One aspect of the hacker economy is that bug bounties have gotten higher.
Of course checking for bugs is important but must be done in a manner that does not do direct harm.
This is a lot of cloak and dagger stuff, our secrets versus your secrets. And to the uninitiated it seems like we are trying to find the solution but only groping for it.
Checking for bugs so that we are more secure is a lot like testing your network so that you are more secure. (this is where we have fallen)
The key understanding in this hacker economy is that our information is very important and any application, router, any computer on the network can be HACKED.
So how do you fight this scourge?
By doing the basics of computer IT work correct – but there can be no mistakes.
No mistakes? By humans? Who can be certain that there will be no mistakes?
I won’t tell you that any security solution will be 100% effective (because it can’t be). We can devise systems to test your environment. It is interesting that Bill Kleyman talked new technologies (that may be unproven) and did not discuss testing.
It is testing where we can make the IT environment as secure as possible even with new technologies mistakes creep in.
Here is an image I have
Customer needs: secure environment
Model the system: the environment (computers, routers, and all systems)
Product and Process: Test the systems and processes for problems (bugs, mistakes or procedures)
Test test test to get to a Six Sigma solution (99.9999% capability) as close to 100% as possible.
Once you agree that mistakes creep into our lives in the form of bugs, configuration errors, procedural errors, going on vacation, and more. Then testing makes sense, as we are trying to uncover the errors and must devise tests for that purpose.
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