Newswise — Radu Sion, Stony Brook University Professor and director of the University's National Security Institute, shares expert thoughts on latest Uber Breach. He says:
"It took Uber over a year to disclose it latest, biggest breach, impacting almost 60 million of its users. This is unacceptable but not surprising, given the mild to non-existent penalties incurred in such incidents (although in the case of Uber this is not the first breach nor
the first time the company does not follow the rules).
From a technical point, I would venture as far as to say that MOST companies could be vulnerable to the same chain of attacks any day. This is because, with market-driven incentives, in the absence of strong regulation, new technology will always favor features over security.
Most of the systems are designed with security as an afterthought -- leaving them vulnerable to a determined attacker. This holds true not only for elections, power grids, and autonomous vehicles, but also healthcare, personal identity systems, and sharing economy platforms such as Uber.
Not until security is given equal priority to features and convenience will the risk be reduced. And unfortunately, in a market-driven economy, the only way to achieve this is through well-thought out regulatory frameworks that strengthen the security without stifling innovation.
Finally, cybersecurity is extremely difficult to get right, and less-prepared and less-regulated verticals simply cannot face the consequences and cyber-related responsibilities that come with these benefits.
Unfortunately, this is not the last breach to expect. Things will keep getting worse over the next months and years before getting better."
If needed, all experts have access to a ReadyCam television studio system that provides remote access to television networks.
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