Axil Axil <janap...@gmail.com> wrote: As the extent and importance of automation grows in the life of a nation, > so to will the number and importance of the people who create, attack, and > protect that automation infrastructure. >
I doubt this will be a problem much longer. It would be easy to improve security with a better design for the internet and some other key technology. It is just a matter of passing laws and spending the money. It should have been done 10 years ago. This crisis reminds me of the crisis with steam engine boilers in the late 19th century. There were many boiler explosions because there no standards, inspections or codes. The ASME was founded in 1880 to deal with the problem. It established codes and standards, and the situation improved, but the problem was not solved until the codes were written into laws until the early 20th century. After that, the problem abated and boiler explosions are extremely rare today. See: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/engineering-history At present there is not much incentive to improve internet security. No one wants to pay for it. The other big problem is credit cards, which are robbed by the millions. The credit card companies probably figure it is cheaper to accept the losses than to fix the problem. They do not take into account that theft is annoying the public, and some of the losses are not discovered and thus paid for by consumers instead of the credit card issuer. They are finally introducing the EMV credit card security standard which will greatly reduce theft. Many other hazards and scourges can be reduced with technology. Most pollution could easily be reduced. The danger of casualties from fire can be practically eliminated with smoke detectors. We do not fix these problems because it costs money, not because we don't know how to fix them. That is not to suggest that all technical problems might be easily fixed. - Jed
