Every day, Romania
\ncomes under hackers’ attacks, their target being public institutions, private
\nand state-owned companies, banks and even the website of the Orthodox
\nPatriarchy, says Augustin Jianu, a director with the Cyber Security Incident
\nResponse Centre CERT-RO, which is an independent analysis, research and
\ndevelopment body in the field of cyber infrastructure protection. Despite
\nmeasures taken to counteract cyber attacks, vulnerability is still high. Merely
\nsending an email or posting something on a social network provides personal
\ninformation that can be used by hackers. Augustin Jianu explains: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The moment a work
\nstation, a computer or several devices in a network are infected or compromised
\nthey become part of hot-net-type networks and are used by hackers to launch
\nfurther attacks on other infrastructures, without the owners of those devices
\nor work stations being aware of this. To give you a light-hearted example, it’s
\npossible that someone’s intelligent fridge connected to the home network may be
\nsending thousands, hundreds of thousands of spam messages a day and the owner
\nof the fridge not to even be aware of this.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to the official CERT-RO report, 54%
\nof the alert threats received were about poorly configured, insecure or
\nvulnerable information systems, while 24% of the total number of unique IPs
\nallocated in Romania were involved in at least one case of cyber security alert
\nin 2013, up by 16%. The attacks on the Romanian cyber security space targeted
\nalmost all areas of economic and social life and even the administration, says
\nthe president of the Study Centre for Security, Crisis Management and Conflict
\nPrevention in Bucharest, Alexandru Groseanu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Some 44 million
\ncyber attacks were reported in 2013 and over 78 million in 2014. I believe that
\nit is because of the security balance being disrupted and the confrontation
\nwith our big neighbour in the east that the number of cyber threats and attacks
\nhas increased. Most attacks have been rejected and are correctly managed.
\nObviously, most attacks target the administration, but also businesses and databases.
\nIn spite of this, the institutions active in the field of cyber protection are
\ndoing their job very well and consequently no major incidents have been
\nregistered. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alexandru Groseanu
\nrecalls that Romania has committed itself to providing cyber protection for
\nUkraine and believes that Bucharest can become a provider of cyber security in
\nthe region, especially in the current geopolitical context, in which cyber
\nattacks are on the rise. Alexandru Groseanu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
If we talk about
\nthe number of active IPs, the number of active Romanian websites, which is how
\nwe define the cyber space, we can see it is on the increase. It’s true that
\nbetween 2013 and 2014 the number of IPs decreased, but the content of the cyber
\nspace, in terms of the number of databases, has expanded, and in this respect
\nthe cyber space is constantly expanding. Obviously, the number of cyber attacks
\nin an ever expanding cyber space is likely to increase. If we look at the
\ngeopolitical and geo-strategic context, I find it hard to believe that a
\nsecurity balance can be achieved in the near future, let’s say within the next
\n6 to 12 months. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Figures are
\nworrying. If around 30,000 cyber attacks were reported daily some years ago,
\ntheir number now exceeds 390,000. Cyber security experts say protection must
\nstart with people’s personal computers and other devices that use the Internet.
\nThey must be protected with antivirus, antifishing and anti-spyware programmes.
\nIntelligent phones and all other Internet connected devices that a family has
\nmust be protected in the cyber space. The number of terminals connected to the
\ninternet varies from 10 to 55 per household, and more than half of them are
\npoorly protected or have no protection at all, says Florin Talpes, the founder
\nand executive manager of Bit Defender, a Romanian company with an international
\nreputation in the area of anti-virus technology. The company has launched Bit
\nDefender Box, a product designed to protect family devices and expects a lot of
\ndemand for this product to come from the USA, Germany and Japan, which are the
\nmost developed markets in this respect. Florin Talpes:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Any device owned by
\na family and connected to the Internet, whether it’s a computer, a smartphone,
\na smart TV or a game console, faces the threat of cyber attacks, some of which
\ncan be extremely damaging. Someone may hack into your TV and, without you
\nknowing it, may watch everything you do at home, or someone may simply get hold
\nof your bank account data from your computer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to Florin
\nTalpes, the world is faced with new types of cyber attacks every day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Given the countrys location in an area of instability, in 2014, the number of cyber attack threats in Romania rose by a dramatic 80% compared with 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":60186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43939],"tags":[32059],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-155234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-starts-today","tag-cyber-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n