Despite threats of AI replacing jobs, there is still time for the cybersecurity talent pool. However, this workforce must take advantage of the imminent quantum computing opportunities available.
Experts are calling this the “second age” of quantum computing, and say that the skills gap in this area must be closed. Reports from IBM state that “Quantum-era cybersecurity will wield the power to detect and deflect quantum-era cyber-attacks before they cause harm.”
A Bitcoin owner has unintentionally “gone viral” after it was revealed that he had $220 million locked up in a Bitcoin wallet – and had forgotten his password.
Stefan Thomas had 7,002 bitcoins stored on a secure hard drive, and was using an IronKey device that allows owners 10 attempts to guess their passwords before encrypting the contents. At the time his story went viral, Mr Thomas has two more guesses left. His story is just one of many cases where Bitcoin fortunes are no longer accessible due to password or other errors.
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As we look forward to 2021, Wired has warned that the biggest cybersecurity threat could indeed be people rather than technology. As people rely on creating, typing and remembering their own weak passwords, they could leave their organisation susceptible to threats. Kevin Jones, Group Chief Information Security Officer at Airbus, says: “We need to put the cybersecurity pillars into practice. People, process and technology – preferably in that order.”
A Washington-based former mobile network security executive is claiming that China may have been using Caribbean mobile phone networks as part of an espionage campaign against Americans. The state is allegedly exploiting decades-old vulnerabilities in Caribbean telecoms networks to target Americans while they are travelling abroad. Security expert Gary Miller says that the US has “not gone far enough” to block hacking attempts, and advises that they may not be aware of how insecure their communications are.
As we enter our second year of the new decade, a new trend is likely to present the next biggest cybersecurity threat: quantum computing. This ‘disruptive technology’ specialises in problem solving, but with new processing power comes threats. In a report on the new dangers of information security, Ali El Kaafarani said: “With exponentially higher processing power, they will be able to smash through the public-key encryption standards widely relied on today, threatening the security of all digital information and communication.”
