DailyPost 241
ROBUST FUNCTIONING; ROBUST RESPONSE
The WannaCry media glare has died down, but the problem keeps glaring on our faces. We might face a much worse off attack cannot be taken as verdict of doomsday soothsayers, its a reality which all stakeholders have to accept. Wishing away does not remain an option now. Getting the bull by its horns is the only way out. Though the present attacks were huge by all standards, it might just be a precursor of much worse attacks in the offing. The adversaries future roadmap would be decided by our present responses; the very responses which are not worth any deterrence.
As is well known WannaCry targeted Microsoft Windows XP, for which patches were discontinued in 2014. The dangers of using outdated software is out in the open. Legal mandate for software update till the last patch may not be music to ears of the stakeholders but in a situation where people might die on the operating table, it’s time to take a final call once & for all. In the digital age this is the right to life & liberty.
Matwyshyn says WannaCry brings to the fore the need to call for a Digital Geneva Convention , for a formal international agreement on digital security. She terms the problem to be one of “reciprocal security vulnerability.” At the national level there is a need for requisite education & training to bring lawmakers catch up with the today’s dynamic world of Cyber Security. World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2017 had highlighted cyber security as top risk.
In the fast changing cyber security scenario, security researchers are critical to our very existence itself. A security researcher tweeting as @MalwareTechBlog said that registering an unregistered domain name used by the malware stops it from spreading, solution found at a cost of $11, has saved many from being attacked. Collaboration seems to be the only way forward. Do we still keep waiting for the 9/11 event of Cyber Security or put our house in order is the moot question .
WANNACRY HAS HERALDED A DOOMSDAY CALL, WILL WE STILL WAIT FOR OUR NEMESIS.
Sanjay Sahay