Nobody safe from hackers

The scale and extent of hacking and the “cat and mouse” type game of hackers targeting trophy victims such as high ranking security and Government officials shows no signs of abating, and in fact the opposite seems to be the case, as another recent incident clearly demonstrates.

Hackers apparently managed to obtain the email addresses of more than 200 British military officials and a similar number from Nato, notwithstanding that these email addresses had encrypted passwords. The list of hacked accounts included very high ranking defence staff, intelligence operatives, police and politicians, all of whom were subscribers with Stratfor, a highly specialized security and foreign affairs consultancy based in the US which offers insights and information and which was supposed to be a secure website

The number of around 450 of the most senior or sensitive officials who had their email addresses compromised seems to be the tip of the iceberg sice the website also has approximately 75,000 paying subscribers who may have had their banking details downloaded. With this type of hacking it is rare for the motive to be financial, the hackers are too clever for that, and perhaps arrogant. They are generally out to prove a point, that their skills are superior to the security team in an organization that markets itself as a highly secure operation.

We suppose we are simply going to have to get used to this as a regular occurrence, but it serves as a reminder to all business and individuals that whilst the internet is a fantastic and vital tool for us all, including pretty much everyone and anyone in business, it is always important to do whatever you can, and which is proportionate to safeguard customer and other information.