There were simpler times in the past when it came to cybersecurity. The two primary types of hackers – those looking for financial gain and those wanting to cause mayhem – kept the targeting relatively isolated. It was easy to predict what could be a likely target to cybercrime.
Things have changed. Today, it seems that the activities of hackers around the world have shifted towards a more open attack field. This broadens the range of websites and servers that must be more heavily protected by the type of elite, sophisticated attacks that are coming from Asia and Europe. As a result, fighting this particular war is becoming increasingly difficult.
What does this paradigm shift mean? It points to the likelihood of state-sponsored cyberterrorism, a concept that has been around for a long time but that has been focused on military, finance, and infrastructure in the past. Now, getting personal information from millions of government employees marks an inescapable truth: everything is a potential target. It’s no longer the direct avenues. Whether through social engineering, blackmail, or dissident recruiting, those who would want to do harm to other entities or even countries have stepped up their game.
The Epoch Times put together an analysis of the current situation as they explain what the paradigm shift means and how it can be used to do harm.
The type of data being targeted raises new concerns, not just for government, but for everyone with a computer. Devansky said in a world where a large number of websites and services have sensitive data on people, “it puts the problem right on your doorstep.”
Read more on The Epoch Time.