FIDI’s (FIDI Global Alliance) guest speaker alerted delegates to the dangers of cybercrime, then offered some real-world precautions, for everyone to adopt, to help protect themselves.
Jo Dalton, Head of Pen Test Partners – Europe in the UK, spoke to the FIDI delegates on the topic of cyber security. It is a subject that affects everyone, everywhere. Indeed, Jesse vas Sas explained, as part of his introduction, that FIDI had recently been subject to such an attack.
Jo had obviously spent some time researching the mobility industry and acknowledged that it is especially vulnerable to cyber attacks because of the interrelationships every company has, the support that each company gives, and the personal nature of the data held.
She then moved on to an explanation of the problem which, to most, would have been something of a revelation. Jo said that the digital world had come on a very long way in recent years and the danger no longer just comes from phishing, or even spear phishing attacks. Often the dangers can be much more sophisticated or, by contrast, much more mechanical in nature.
Examples of the latter included people loitering outside a building until they are let in by someone being ‘helpful’; locks made out of inferior metal that can be cut easily; or CCTV systems that can be simply disabled.
More technical dangers included the growth of IoT (Internet of Things) appliances such as a ‘smart’ vending machine that can provide a gateway into a company’s IT system, or even a ‘smart’ kettle at home that can divulge a home’s Wi-Fi key, simply by following the default settings in the user’s handbook. Thieves can buy the devices needed to steal cars from driveways online: they don’t need any high level of electronics knowledge. Even some vehicle tracking devices, installed at the request of insurance companies, themselves can be insecure. Shipping containers can also be stolen to order.
Jo concluded that every device is hackable, it’s about the level of compromise ...
Photo: Jo Dalton.