Читать книгу The Digital Big Bang - Phil Quade - Страница 17

Perhaps what is most amazing (or at least ironic) about cybercrime is how this masterpiece of technological collaboration and human connection is so often exploited to gratify human impulses. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, phishing emails, and ever-evolving scams manipulate recipients for the purpose of mass theft and extortion. From data corruption to identity theft, malware to man-in-the-middle attacks, the crimes that cybersecurity must mitigate and prevent run a gamut that only seems to get broader. Attacks are not only launched by criminals but also by rogue nation-states. Over time, these attacks become more destructive and less difficult to perpetrate.

The widening breadth of cybercrime is a direct reflection of our expanding global attack surface—and the increasing commodification of threat. The digital criminal barrier for entry that individuals and organizations alike must defend against is lower than ever. Today, it can be as easy to purchase a cyberattack as it is to buy a cup of coffee, and often even cheaper. We must defend ourselves from near constant silent digital attacks on the fabric of our societies, all roiling beneath the surface of an increasingly interconnected world.

Today, there is little difference between cybersecurity and national, even global, security. As we have seen time and again in reported malicious cyber activity—often in chilling reports of narrowly averted attacks—we can be reached at the most foundational levels by nearly anyone, from anywhere.