We must admit that nothing is unbreakable, in the real life as well as in the digital life.
Let's use the example of a bank storing money versus a database storing customers information.
| Protection | Hacking Technology | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank | Electronic security (security code, ...) | Electronic network shutdown | Security systems OFF, money is stolen. |
| Database | Text and data encryption (plain text is hidden) | DDoS Attack | Weaked or stopped decrypt systems, data is stolen |
As we can notice in this table, the main results are the same: the network shutdown will stop all plugged services. Therefore, the security elements are unavailable, leaving the resources unprotected like the electronic security of the bank.
The Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack plays the same role as the network shutdown: a remote
server could be weaked or even stopped with such attack.
The encryption service would then stopped answering and let an unsecured connection enters the system
and collects sensitive data.
Other methods exist to protect from cyber attacks:
A good method is to be 'paranoiac': when paying with a bank card, we check that nobody is watching us. When paying on an internet web site, it is quite the same: you need to validate that the connection is secured (https:// instead of http://).
The same applies for the document or information shared on the net. We have friends in real life and in digital life. But in the digital one, it is easy to have a document shared with the whole planet if permissions are not correctly defined !
Some laws exist in order to reduce the impact of databases of persons. In 1978, the CNIL was created in France, to track such databases. Unfortunately, its means do not allow it to cope with the current volumes and the foreign locations
We can conclude that we have to be our best protection on the Internet. Even if that's sounds like being paranoiac , too much attention is better than not enough.
