The technical director of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has stated that hackers’ abilities have been exaggerated.
It was claimed that cyber security companies use marketing materials that ‘play up’ hackers abilities in order to increase sales on hardware and services.
This raises the question of whether all hackers are skilled ‘masterminds’ or are cyber security companies correct in making consumers aware of the risks.
Mark James, ESET IT Security Specialist, discusses the need of cyber security knowledge.
“We should not in any way underestimate cyber criminals.
“With so much of our infrastructure running on technology these days we have to treat this type of threat with respect.
“As more and more of our world becomes connected and capable of sharing, storing and archiving data we should treat security as our number one priority.
“Explaining the problems, threat landscape and measures needed to protect against an evolving “living” threat is not an easy task.
“Too little explanation and people don’t understand they are at risk; too much and people think you’re scaremongering.
“Finding the right approach to help someone stay safe against a threat that may or may not happen is not easy, and underestimating cyber criminals is not the way to do it.”
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