Kitz Forum
Announcements => News Articles => Topic started by: AdrianH on February 15, 2012, 02:37:09 PM
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Viewpoint: The internet is broken - we need to start over
By Prof Alan Woodward
Department of Computing, University of Surrey
Last year, the level and ferocity of cyber-attacks on the internet reached such a horrendous level that some are now thinking the unthinkable: to let the internet wither on the vine and start up a new more robust one instead.
On being asked if we should start again, many - maybe most - immediately argue that the internet is such an integral part of our social and economic fabric that even considering a change in its fundamental structure is inconceivable and rather frivolous.
I was one of those. However, recently the evidence suggests that our efforts to secure the internet are becoming less and less effective, and so the idea of a radical alternative suddenly starts to look less laughable.
One example of struggling security comes from Neira Jones, head of payment security at Barclaycard. She told me that in the UK alone, identity fraud costs more than £2.7bn every year and affects over 1.8 million people.
We also increasingly have other forms of cyber-attacks from political activists (so called 'hacktivists'), and cyber-espionage and warfare, where the internet has become another stage for global conflict between nations.
Prof Alan Woodward is a cybersecurity expert at the University of Surrey
We need to understand the root of the problem ..........( read more (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17032274) )
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17032274