The story reads like a Tom Clancy novel. Representatives of the Chinese government targeted and stalked a U.S.-based high-tech company, identifying and exploiting porous areas in its perimeter in order to steal valuable, highly classified data on defense technology. They succeeded wildly. And they didn’t set foot in the U.S. to do it.
Someday soon, we will wax nostalgic about the security guards who policed our corporate offices and manufacturing facilities. We’ll pine for the reassuring sight of a slightly overweight, somnolent guard scanning a bank of scratchy video screens and fighting off sleep to keep our facilities secure.
Physical-intrusion prevention is so last century. And so easy, looking back.
The Clancy-esque story above comes from a Wall Street Journal account of a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report. Here’s how it differs from its paperback counterpart: There was no Jack Ryan in this real-world tale, no cyber-hero to foil the plan. The alleged Chinese saboteurs waltzed away with reams of precious data, and we still don’t know exactly who they are or what they did with their prize.
One big, scary truth: This is automation. This is what we asked for. But nobody said it would be easy (if they did, they only wanted your money). And just as you wouldn’t leave a manufacturing facility unguarded, you shouldn’t leave your data center exposed. The Chinese cyber-espionage story proves that antivirus software and malware checks aren’t enough. What we need is a Jack Ryan for the data center. Someone trained in IT-based counterinsurgency, ever alert, and deathly afraid of the consequences of failure.
Digital security is still an afterthought for too many manufacturers. But consider: This is not fiction, and we are not mere observers. It’s time to accept that this is one spy thriller in which we are all title characters. It’s time to choose your role.
The Shadowy World of Cyber-espionage
The story reads like a Tom Clancy novel. Representatives of the Chinese government targeted and stalked a U.S.-based high-tech company, identifying and exploiting porous areas in its perimeter in order to steal valuable, highly classified data on defense technology. They succeeded wildly. And they didn’t set foot in the U.S. to do it.
Someday soon, we will wax nostalgic about the security guards who policed our corporate offices and manufacturing facilities. We’ll pine for the reassuring sight of a slightly overweight, somnolent guard scanning a bank of scratchy video screens and fighting off sleep to keep our facilities secure.
Physical-intrusion prevention is so last century. And so easy, looking back.
The Clancy-esque story above comes from a Wall Street Journal account of a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report. Here’s how it differs from its paperback counterpart: There was no Jack Ryan in this real-world tale, no cyber-hero to foil the plan. The alleged Chinese saboteurs waltzed away with reams of precious data, and we still don’t know exactly who they are or what they did with their prize.
One big, scary truth: This is automation. This is what we asked for. But nobody said it would be easy (if they did, they only wanted your money). And just as you wouldn’t leave a manufacturing facility unguarded, you shouldn’t leave your data center exposed. The Chinese cyber-espionage story proves that antivirus software and malware checks aren’t enough. What we need is a Jack Ryan for the data center. Someone trained in IT-based counterinsurgency, ever alert, and deathly afraid of the consequences of failure.
Digital security is still an afterthought for too many manufacturers. But consider: This is not fiction, and we are not mere observers. It’s time to accept that this is one spy thriller in which we are all title characters. It’s time to choose your role.