The Worldwide Issue of Cybersecurity

As the internet has become a more powerful resource for people all over the world, it has also become a place full of cyber attacks and issues with online security. That is why it has become more important than ever to identify security problems and fix them as soon as possible. This kind of thinking has spread worldwide and is an international problem that will take the support of allies to help protect and defend. That is why US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have created a joint cyber security project to help identify weaknesses and test our current college-level students on their expertise.

MIT vs Cambridge

Cambridge and MIT both offer some of the best programs in the world for internet technology, which is why they were the perfect two schools to go head to head in a cyber security race. According to NBC News, the two schools were given permission not only from their school administrators but also from their public officials to spend last weekend hacking one another’s computers. The hacking contest was one of the ways that President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron thought would be a good way to figure out what our biggest weaknesses are and where there can be improvement.

The program was initially supposed to be an "us vs. them" kind of competition, but it has changed to be friendlier and more of a combined effort. There were six teams created that had hackers from both schools on them, and they attempted to hack the other team’s computers for files. The winners of the competition will receive over $20,000 in prizes, which is enough to encourage most college students.

Hacking happening every day

There are over 500,000 threats a day for businesses, which means there is a lot of work for cyber security professionals to do. With large-scale hacks in the last year or two of companies such as Sony, it is noted how important it is to ensure a company is protecting itself against threats. If there are ways we can work together with other countries to find better ways of protecting ourselves and more loopholes that we could never have found on our own, then it is important we do so. There are talks of making this an annual competition, which would help look into the new and improved ways of hacking and keep cyber security. As the need for cyber security professionals is increasing, those schools are adding it to their regular curriculum.

Your business should take note that cyber security (and physical security as well) are more important than ever and should be safeguarded with whatever means you have available to you. Your IT service provider can help take care of it, so you don’t have to worry about losing any private information.

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Source: nbcnews.com/feature/college-game-plan/ready-set-hack-college-students-compete-cybersecurity-project-n531821