War, poverty, and the human elements of cybersecurity
This essay was written for the 2017/2018 Secureworx essay competition. The essay question was: “How is cyber security a human issue?” My essay was chosen as 1 of 2 winners and received a $2000 cash prize. Information security has ultimately always been a human problem. It is humans whom the machines serve, humans that attack them and humans that are often the weakest point in the security chain. Computer security used to be about preventing viruses or worms that would delete hard drives or use too many resources eventually forcing the machine to restart but now as the malware community has developed so too have their goals. Ransomware, Remote Admin Tools (RATs) and more have been used to target anyone from home users all the way through to international shipping companies and nuclear facilities. Malware has become commoditized, a product for dark web users to buy and sell on hidden forums before turning their products on their true targets. ...