CYBER ATTACKS: The state must tighten up its IT security

There might be those who accuse this newspaper of jeopardising state security or threatening the personal data of millions by exposing how childishly simple it is to hack into our government’s database network.

In putting together our package of stories today, we were cognisant of two things: being careful not to give away “actionable” intelligence which would enable hackers to penetrate these networks… and that most of what we reveal is common knowledge anyway in the cyber community.

And particularly among those denizens of that murky place known as the “Dark Web”.

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We were helped by three invaluable sources: a concerned whistle-blower from the department of home affairs, an expert in internet security and a “white hat” hacker who showed us how his evil counterparts – the “black hat” hackers – go about stealing information.

We hid nothing from Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, who is not only aware of the vulnerabilities of his own department, but is concerned about the vulnerability of the entire government IT system.

Schreiber has made it one of his main goals to improve security.

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All involved in, or aware of, this investigation – from the white hat hacker to the minister – have one thing in common… they are terrified about the security of government data.

Not only that, they are worried about how the possession of this data can lead to all manner of cybercrime.

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Creating false personae and impersonating real people are not “victimless” crimes: they can ruin the life of an innocent person or family and, ominously, they can involve major global crime and even terrorist networks.

Shining a light on this area is not only raising awareness, it is, hopefully, a prompt for state IT and security services to tighten up the networks… before it is too late.

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