Bermuda cyber security

A former White House cyber security expert has warned that Bermuda is a plum tar
get for computer criminals.
And she said that Government and the private sector would need to work together
on the massive and expensive job of making the Islands networks as safe as possib
le.
Theresa Payton, chief information officer at the White House between 2006-08, sa
id: Its one of those things. Bermudas economy continues to grow and attracts large
global corporations which are attractive to cyber criminals.
Bermuda will want to think, from a cyber security standpoint, about what security
infrastructure decisions they have to make.
Ms Payton was speaking after she delivered the keynote speech at the three-day B
ermuda Captive Conference at the Fairmont Southampton.
Ms Payton, who now runs her own computer security company, Fortalice, in North C
arolina, said when Governments thought of infrastructure, they tended to think of
areas like roads, airports and buildings.
But she added: The other piece of infrastructure is cyber security. Bermuda is a
very attractive place for business and this has to be on the radar when it comes
to bringing business here.
Earlier, she told delegates that companies that were the subject of high-profile
cyber raids stood not only to lose money, but their reputations.
And she said that businesses and governments needed to work together because of
the high cost of cutting edge cyber security.
Ms Payton said: It would be too expensive for Bermuda to bear the whole cost.
Earlier, Ms Paton told delegates at the conference that any operating system whi
ch could be updated could be hacked.
She added that an annual US military exercise pitted opposing sides, with one at
tacking a system and the other attempting to defend it and the hackers always wo
n.
But Ms Payton said: Every year we do this, it takes the bad guys a lot longer to
get in and they get away with a lot less.
She added that security breaches of computer systems were inevitable.
But she said: What they get away with is not its how you respond.
Ms Payton said that new computer systems come out, security is the last thing tho
ught about.
She added: A lot of the time security follows later Im not saying thats right, its j
ust the way things work today.
Ms Payton urged companies to think about the assets they needed to protect and w
ork from there.
She told delegates that hacking was a major source of funding for terrorism, whi
le computers and networks could be hijacked for hacking in a bid to deflect atte
ntion away from the real culprits.
And she pointed out that, in a survey, 24 per cent of people said they had alrea
dy ditched a service provider because of security breaches.
Ms Payton told delegates that in 60 per cent of cyber breaches last year, the ha
ckers owned the network within minutes, while 28 per cent of companies very strenuo
usly require partners, vendors and suppliers to match their own levels of risk co
ntrol.
She said that US institutions like banks and utility companies would have to incr
ease their spending by a factor of nine to block 95 per cent of cyber intrusion.
She added that statistics showed that more than 95 per cent of past breaches wer
e a result of human error and that 78 per cent of attacks happened through tricki
ng the user.
Ms Payton said she had seen a bicycle wheel still locked to a post in Washington
although a thief had escaped with the frame and other wheel with the frame bein
g the most valuable part of the bike.
She told delegates: The breaches are going to happen ... someone is going to brea
k into your network, but when they do it, dont let them get away with the bike. T

hey can take the wheel or the basket.