Reported by MIT Technology Review, Bruce Schneier expresses his fear of losing lives to cyber disasters.
Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a “security guru” by The Economist. He was honored Business Leader in Cybersecurity in 2015 by Boston Global Forum.
According to Gartner, there will be over 11 billion internet-connected devices (excluding smartphones and computers) in circulation worldwide this year, which has doubled compared to a few years ago, and it is expected there will be billions more come online. The connectivity has made a great use in our daily life but also brought about a nightmare to cybersecurity since it has been proven that all of these smart devices can be hacked. Speaking to MIT Technology Review, Bruce Schneier called for urgent action by the government to address this problem.
Today, cars, medical devices and even household appliances are connected with computers. What used to be computer security alone has now become “everything security”, said Schneir. Moreover, people seem to have already attached themselves to devices like phones and search engines and synced them with other services such as power systems or transportation networks. “If it goes down, to a very real extent society grinds to a halt, because we are so dependent on it at every level, computers are deeply embedded in our lives” stressed Schneir. Recently, cybersecurity incidents are mostly involving data, privacy violation and manipulation, there have been no loss of life casualties, but it is possible. Medical records stolen or car’s bluetooth connection hacked are some of his examples of the danger cybersecurity incidents can pose. Loss of human life will be inevitable if people do not have better computer security systems.
In the interview, he also recommended measures to improve safety. Governments need to take action in collaboration with other firms to develop internet-connected devices with standards, and liability laws.
His approach to tackle this issue is similar to what MDI initiative’s aim to do—establish a set of ethical standards.
