2014 The Year of the Hack

2014 might go down in history as one of the worst years for hacking or it could also be possibly a sign of things to come. Unless someone else gets hit in the next few weeks SONY could go down as the biggest hack of the year. With so many articles this year explaining what happened and who they thought did it, the focus on security has drastically grown this year and has jumped several spots to get to the number 4 spot in IT and will probably climb all the way to number 1 next year. The problem with security is that there are so many vulnerabilities, locking down your network from outside hacks is probably the best place to start but after that comes the biggest problem and that’s your employees or your average user with enough knowledge to be productive behind the computer but lack enough knowledge to make them your biggest security flaw/risk. Clicking a wrong link in a phising scam email, opening an office document with Macros enabled, downloading or installing unverified files or simply bringing a file from your home on an infected USB stick could easily do the trick. This is where an IT security nightmare begins because if you take the road where you restrict just about anything your employee or users can do except for what they need to then you end up with an uproar of complaints from everyone saying they need to be able to do this or that and can’t etc. this causes a reduction in security practices to make other staffers happy, so now you end up out of the frying pan and in the fire while the company pours gasoline down your back. Then comes the issue of software holes like ones in Windows that have been around since Windows 95 and just recently discovered, this makes things particularly interesting especially since Windows is the Operating System of choice and on more than 80{463c70c279fb908728b910a090d44fbe4ae7aabcd875de9c1a518a8c8e2be8bd} of personal PC’s out there not to mention servers as well. Hacking in the movies usually involves some Einstein type character that see’s code trickling down their screen like Neo in the Matrix and this isn’t necessarily so, it’s more like someone particularly experienced enough with particular software that they own/have as well, so that they can practice in safety on their own network until they perfect their methods. To ensure their success rate they tend to go with the most used programs like Windows for example, with a rise in Linux, Android and Apple users we’re now starting to see them more and more in the hacking/virus arena as well. Today we know that keeping your OS up to date is recommended but when you have exploits that are just getting patched today and have been around since Windows 95 mean you could still be at risk. With anti-virus programs discovering some viruses 7 years later also means you are still at risk even if you keep the anti-virus up to date as well. There is one solution that nobody seems to be talking about and that’s proprietary Operating Systems. One’s that aren’t coming off the assembly line in a cookie cutter fashion which would be the biggest hindrance to many so called hackers that are simply downloading free hacking tools found online produced by real hackers, these users with little knowledge are capable of causing major damage with software specifically created to bring down something like a Windows computer which has over an 80{463c70c279fb908728b910a090d44fbe4ae7aabcd875de9c1a518a8c8e2be8bd} chance of being installed on a personal computer and a greater chance of success because of that fact. Although this would be a more costly approach for companies to implement in the long run it would be worth it compared to not being able to conduct business while all their systems are shut down for repairs or their customers refuse to do business with them any longer due to their personal information being leaked online. Also with more and more jobs disappearing due to things like automated tellers, robotics and other automation in general something like this could open up a large opportunity of employment in the IT field reducing unemployment percentages and increasing overall security for companies that have a large presence on the net. Companies that are already paying through the nose for licensing agreements with someone like Microsoft in the first place could be putting that money to different uses… Just some out of the box thinking by yours truly…