- Dec 30, 2012
- 4,809
There were 638m attempted ransomware cyber-attacks in 2016, according to one report. And with several high-profile attacks already committed this year, the numbers for 2017 may be even higher. Perhaps it’s time then for a new approach to tackling cyber-attacks, one that focuses not on defending against them but preventing them from happening in the first place.
Some cyber-security experts are already working on what they describe as “vaccines” to stop attacks reaching our computers or data. But this kind of prevention could just be the start. If we can avoid metaphors that imagine computers as things that need defending and instead use new words that don’t suggest ways to attack them, then we might be able to develop far more effective preventative technologies.
In the case of the recent Petya ransomware attack, researchers developed a vaccine in the form of a single computer file that would instantly disable one type of virus as soon as it infected a computer, before it could cause any damage. This is different from traditional anti-virus software that tries to spot and remove any malware on a computer, but this could be after it has done its work.
This approach has been little used until now and could, at least in the short term, offer a slightly different approach to cyber-security. But vaccines are still a way of addressing viruses after they have been downloaded. Even defences such as firewalls try to stop attacks from reaching a computer but they don’t prevent the attack in the first place. If we want to move to a more genuinely preventative approach, we may need to change something that fundamentally influences how we think about technology, the language we use to describe it.
From the earliest days of computers, metaphors from the physical world were used to make this new digital realm accessible and understandable to human beings like you and me. On the positive side, words such as desktop and file, folder and memo were recognisable from office life and home. On the negative side, we also transferred into cyberspace many of the very problems computers promised to solve.
And so today many “inboxes” are more cluttered than they ever were when they held paper. Our folders are chaotically organised and we send and receive more messages and mails. There’s evidence that we are no more productive today than we ever were. And there’s evidence also that our virtual homes are equally vulnerable to break-in.
Some cyber-security experts are already working on what they describe as “vaccines” to stop attacks reaching our computers or data. But this kind of prevention could just be the start. If we can avoid metaphors that imagine computers as things that need defending and instead use new words that don’t suggest ways to attack them, then we might be able to develop far more effective preventative technologies.
In the case of the recent Petya ransomware attack, researchers developed a vaccine in the form of a single computer file that would instantly disable one type of virus as soon as it infected a computer, before it could cause any damage. This is different from traditional anti-virus software that tries to spot and remove any malware on a computer, but this could be after it has done its work.
This approach has been little used until now and could, at least in the short term, offer a slightly different approach to cyber-security. But vaccines are still a way of addressing viruses after they have been downloaded. Even defences such as firewalls try to stop attacks from reaching a computer but they don’t prevent the attack in the first place. If we want to move to a more genuinely preventative approach, we may need to change something that fundamentally influences how we think about technology, the language we use to describe it.
From the earliest days of computers, metaphors from the physical world were used to make this new digital realm accessible and understandable to human beings like you and me. On the positive side, words such as desktop and file, folder and memo were recognisable from office life and home. On the negative side, we also transferred into cyberspace many of the very problems computers promised to solve.
And so today many “inboxes” are more cluttered than they ever were when they held paper. Our folders are chaotically organised and we send and receive more messages and mails. There’s evidence that we are no more productive today than we ever were. And there’s evidence also that our virtual homes are equally vulnerable to break-in.
