Page 84 - Cyber Warnings

Who is afraid of the sea monsters?

By Rodrigo Ruiz

Abstract

From very young we are trained to
fear the monsters Fig 1, the dark and
the unknown. It is bringing an
analogy of these children's fables
that this work presents a
counterpoint to DarkWeb. By
exploring day-to-day aspects of
users, security companies, large
corporations and governments, this
text is intended to demonstrate that
the danger lies not in the abysmal
depths. The cybernetic danger is too
closer.

Fig 1 - Image by Pixabay

Pedophilia, murder, espionage, heinous crimes. In general, we have the feeling that all of this is
always very far from us whether in the real world or in the cyber world. But no matter the
distance, the sight of the abyss always terrifies us.

The symbiosis between fear and the security market is fed daily by some extreme cases of
great repercussion and by the imagination of every ordinary citizen who has ever watched a
chapter of C.S.I Las Vegas or C.S.I Cyber. These are stories that usually involve big criminals
or government agencies.

The term Dark Web, undoubtedly is scary and causes chills in every type of user. I have to
confess that I have already written about the danger of major global cyber attacks with the
potential to paralyze an entire country right here at CDM (Rogerio Winter 2015). After attending
the great Inside Dark Web event at The Army and Naval Club in Washington DC 11/2016 I
considered it relevant to make those comments.

But something I learned in years of security research was that we should fear what is close to
us, fear, respect, and take preventive action for all that is within our reach. People are afraid of
flying, but this is the safest means of transportation in the world. These same people cross the
street without looking to the side and when they are behind the wheel they cross the red light.

In this line of thought the care with the quality of software should be our biggest concern. In fact,
as always says Colonel Rogerio Winter of the Brazilian Army, "worry is not tactical action". To
take care of more of the basic routines of physical security and the correct handling of

84 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine November 2016 Edition
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