Locking up passwords – for good

Abstract

It's clear that bulk identity thefts – that is, the mass stealing of passwords or other personally identifiable information (PII) – are among the most harmful types of cyber-attack faced by businesses. They're a huge problem, not only in terms of the damage each attack causes, but also the volume of attacks overall. A cursory glance over the business headlines for the past few years announces huge password or PII thefts from organisations ranging from Sony PlayStation to eBay and Facebook to JP Morgan. We were barely a week into 2016 when it was revealed that email passwords for up to 320,000 users had been stolen from Time Warner. Bulk identity thefts are among the most harmful types of cyber-attack faced by businesses today and part of the problem is that businesses, security firms and cyber-criminals all share the same playing field. Thinking beyond standard computing architectures is the only solution to the ongoing arms race between hackers and security vendors. In a battle against cyber-criminality, in which businesses are always playing catch-up, this is a way of getting on the front foot and beginning to operate in a world beyond the attackers' reach, says Dr Will Harwood of Silicon:SAFE.