Last week we witnessed the repercussions of a cyberattack on American business interests like we have never seen before.
Sony Pictures, which has a massive presence here in America, was intimidated into canceling the release of its movie “The Interview.”
Sony’s stock got crushed. Its shares, which trade on the NYSE, lost roughly 10 percent of their value as the leak of confidential corporate communications became public.
That amounts to a drop of about $2.5 billion in market value.
This series of events shows that not only any company is vulnerable to cyber-invasion, but that existing security methodologies need to improve to combat this threat.
It’s not just Sony — it also has happened with banks.
In October, after JPMorgan got hacked, CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank would probably double its $250 million cybersecurity budget over the coming years.
And it has also happened with Target, Home Depot, and on Friday, Staples said 1.1 million customers were hacked.
Last year, Target was hacked, and 40 million customers had their credit and debit card data compromised.
But the Sony attack was different, deeper and seemingly personal. And it represents a huge escalation in the cyberwar that we are losing.
With the battle charged, it’s time for our Silicon Valley whiz kids to come to the defense of the US cyber-infrastructure. Stop developing the latest SnapTweetBook app! Get to work on a robust cyberdefense shield in the US.
Clearly, if hackers can gain access to embarrassing company email correspondence and make it public, as in the case of Sony’s Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin, just imagine what they have access to we don’t know about.
Dr. Georgios Portokalidis, cybersecurity expert and professor of computer science at Stevens Institute of Technology, said, “Security usually comes as an afterthought when companies are building their systems.” As opposed to doing it as an add-on to create a more secure network and system, he said, “it must be part of the design of the systems from the design-phase principles.”
Out of crisis comes opportunity, and security could become the next big growth sector in technology. If this calling doesn’t attract the next wave of brash, brilliant, boy-band-wannabe billionaires, nothing will. There’s a known need, and the problem is now defined.