Digital age puts our secrets at risk of hacking

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/01/2018 (2859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the span of 40 years, Canadian society has gone from paper files in cabinets to electronic storage of many matters — from medical records to what you had in your coffee at Starbucks this morning.

Our lives have become itemized and catalogued into easily accessed databases filled with our intimate details. In many cases, we have willingly surrendered our privacy.

Often, we happily reap the benefits of this access to data, while hoping the information is secured against prying eyes. We go to doctors and marvel that they can bring up test results and recommendations from specialists on their computers. But this information is stored on computers, and computers are inherently insecure.

In 1992, Robert Redford starred in Sneakers, a movie about a group of shady characters who tested security systems for a living. In the movie, they were blackmailed into stealing a piece of hardware that could decrypt all encryption and security systems. The catchphrase at the end of the movie was “No More Secrets.”

What was fiction in 1992 is close to reality in 2017.

But the fact much of our personal information has become openly accessible is something we mostly pretend doesn’t exist.

And the situation is getting worse as we digitize and catalogue more and more confidential information. The threats are everywhere, from credit cards being stolen, to ransomware being installed on corporate computers, to blackmailing companies to pay large sums of money to get their data back. With all the private information that’s being shared and used, we seem under siege.

Now using wireless computer networks, such as your home Wi-Fi or the Wi-Fi at Starbucks, raises a heightened threat. Most people use Wi-Fi networks without even thinking about security. It’s used by retail companies to connect their computers; instead of running cable, they save money by using a wireless network. It’s used in offices that handle sensitive data.

But we now know that these networks’ encryptions have security flaws. And that allows others to access the network to monitor the traffic and steal valuable information. Criminals can grab any data transmitted over Wi-Fi. That could be your credit-card number, your health records or your work records.

This is a serious problem. The wireless networks that we all use are far more open than we realize.

Soon, new security protocols will be designed that are immune to the current hack. Brilliant minds are working on the problem now. They likely will have a solution soon.

But, as confident as I am that a solution will be found, I’m equally confident a breach in that system will be discovered soon after.

So, what do we do?

Electronic security is a cat-and-mouse game of releasing new security systems just before infiltrators have hacked the last ones. This cycle will likely not stop.

We mandate that organizations that hold sensitive data only use wired networks.

Of course, this wouldn’t protect their data from criminals — the only computer that can’t be hacked is one that has been melted into a solid block.

But it would at least make it more difficult to hack into the information.

Eamonn Brosnan is a research associate with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, and an information technology consultant who has taught post-secondary computer and technology courses.

— Troy Media