[ExI] Anonymous and AI

[BillK]

On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 9:50 PM, Keith Henson wrote:
> I am kind of surprised there is no discussion of this
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/feb/07/anonymous-attacks-us-security-company-hbgary?commentpage=all#start-of-comments
>
> It is obvious to me that the (probable) emergence of AI will come from
> this "group."  The motivation of the AI will be "lulz."
>
> Are we doomed?
>
>


Well, if you don't have a website, it can't be hacked.

If you publicise yourself as a security consultancy firm, then you
should make pretty certain that your internet-facing websites are
secure. That is not a trivial exercise.
Which is why so many companies (and government departments) have
pretty useless security.

A large part of this attack was social engineering, not computer hacking at all.
Humans are a weak spot in most organisations. You need extra fail-safe
security to guard against people being manipulated. People like to be
helpful, like holding the door open for the pretty blonde who has
forgotten her entry swipe card.

Business laptops get stolen / lost every week with confidential
information on them. Why aren't the hard disks encrypted? If this
companies stolen emails contained valuable information, why weren't
they encrypted?

Proper security is an expensive pain in the ass for everyone involved,
but you ignore it at your own risk.


BillK