You're not paranoid -- governments want your data.

December 14, 2015

2 Min Read
Twitter's 'State-Sponsored' Hacking Warning Is Another Wake-Up Call

If it's online, it's not secure. That's one way to think about your data, though of course the security measures and practices of different organizations vary wildly. (See Facebook Opens Up the Security Armor.)

Twitter Inc. users will be thinking hard about what sort of information they did, or might, share with the social media giant following news that Twitter sent warning messages about potential hacking attempts by "state-sponsored actors." (And no, that is not a reference to the French National Drama School ensemble...)

Canadian not-for-profit IT developer coldhak was one of a number of Twitter users who received a warning message:

Figure 1: The coldhak team shared its message from Twitter on... its Twitter account. The coldhak team shared its message from Twitter on... its Twitter account.

Twitter isn't alone, of course: All social media firms face constant security attacks, whether from amateur hackers, cyber criminals or government-backed groups. And so, of course, do fixed and mobile network operators, which need to pay particular attention to the challenges being faced by their web-scale peers: That's because they will increasingly face the same threats and challenges as they execute the transformation strategies that should, in theory, transform them from traditional telco to digital communications providers with distributed cloud assets in multiple continents.

What can they do? Bulk up their security teams, hire specialists, share information and watch the (digital) skies. And, have a security strategy that is relevant for 2016 rather than 2006, of course.

Remember, it might be any hacker, group or government that might want that data, though some will clearly be at the top of the list when fingers are pointed...

Figure 2:

For more on the security challenges facing CSPs, see:

— Ray Le Maistre, Circle me on Google+ Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profile, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

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