Cyber attacks are like earth quakes
Earth quakes and cyber attacks have much in common. First: The forces are outside of our control and we can not prevent them to happen.
Second: We are not helplessly at the mercy. We can install early warning, minimize destructive effect and recover quickly. But only if we act BEFORE it happens.
Sure, earth quakes are about human live and cyber attacks are so far usually not. Yet I think this comparison is important in order to make it easier to understand the significance of cyber attacks the the options for action.
Of course there are also differences and the most striking one to me is the average frequency of occurence. This vivid direct comparison shows the parallels:
| We have no technology to prevent them to happen, but… | Earth quake | Cyber Attack |
|---|---|---|
| We have prognosis models where they happen most likely | Tectonic models | Vulnerability intelligence |
|
We have sensors that provide early warnings shortly before it happens (sometimes they fail though with false positive and false negatives) |
Seismographs | Vulnerability scanning and threat intelligence |
| We have a scale to compare events about potential damage |
Richter magnitude scale: Ranges from 1.0 to 9.9
|
Severity Score: Ranges from 0.1 to 10.0
|
| …you can do something to minimize negative impact: | ||
| Make you infrastructure stable against this type of force |
Obligatory architecture designs
|
Obligatory security policies
|
| Have trained teams ready to help recover quickly when it happens |
|
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| Make all people aware on how to save their lives best when it happens |
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Through his studies in applied system sciences and his research work in mathematical simulation models, Jan has come to know and appreciate transparency and openness as key factors for both successful science and successful software products.
Right after his studies in the late 90s, he started entrepreneurship and specialized in various IT security topics until 2008, when he founded and led Greenbone, an IT security company entirely dedicated to vulnerability management solutions.
Making Greenbone a market leader through the principles of transparency, openness and trust is driving him with the passion to turn technology into customer value.
