Following the news that Mark Zuckerberg was hacked on Twitter and Pinterest, below the comments from two different sources.
- Neil Costigan, CEO of behavioural biometrics firm BehavioSec that discusses the issue around sharing the same passwords across different accounts and how often consumers don’t see security as a priority and instead convenience wins all.
- Richard Parris, CEO at Intercede highlights that security must be embedded into the very fabric of the technology ecosystem.
Neil Costigan, CEO of behavioural biometrics firm at BehavioSec:
“If the hackers are telling the truth and one of the biggest brains in tech has in fact fallen victim to hackers because of his own lax security measures, it proves that the growth in human-error fraud is nothing to do with consumer ignorance. The nature of security as we know it is fundamentally flawed. Zuckerberg is not alone in allegedly taking security short-cuts. We recently found that over 1 in 3 of us even admit to sharing our passwords and log-in details for services including social media, banking and online-shopping, while over 70% choose to stay ‘logged-in’ when possible. “Convenience” proved to be a key driving force of this behaviour.
“Quite simply, security is no longer a consumer’s number one priority when operating online. Today we prioritise convenience – meaning laborious tasks such as multiple authentication processes are often side-stepped. A password is only as secure as a user’s desire to safeguard it. If digital platforms are selling consumers convenience and always-on availability, then they need to take on the bulk of the security burden themselves and implement security measures that accurately authenticate users without forcing them through frustrating, inefficient authentication barriers.”
Richard Parris, CEO at Intercede:
Reports that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s social media accounts have been hacked should concern us all. If Mr Social Media’s accounts can be compromised, with all of the knowledge and resources he and his team have available, we should all be taking notice. In fact, we should all be very angry – the vast majority of the recently reported account compromises appear to relate to leaked usernames and passwords.
“It’s been demonstrated time after time that the simple username and password combination is a fundamentally flawed approach to internet security, but that is typically all we are offered to protect our identity and our data.
“It is time the organisations generating significant revenue from consumers stopped playing fast and loose with security and adopted more sophisticated approaches. They are available, they are easy to implement and they offer much higher levels of security. All it takes is a willingness on behalf of services providers to acknowledge that they have a duty of care to the consumers they serve.
“Security must be embedded into the very fabric of the technology ecosystem, from the silicon chips that power our smartphones and connected cars, to the services and apps we use in our day-to-day lives. We need to get basics of security right now. If not, then how can we expect consumers to trust, and benefit from, future technological innovation?
The opinions expressed in this post belong to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.