internet risk

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e-burglary

(I'm sure all the large insurance houses have excellent data security, but is this also true of all the agents and brokers?)

Even if you merely browse a site selling expensive antiques, this might be enough to trigger interest from a gang specializing in stealing antiques.

Many people would dismiss this as an irrational fear, because it would be unlikely that the hacker would also be a local burglar, and in any case the hacker wouldn't be certain that you were leaving your house empty, with the expensive jewellery in it.

This is bad logic. You shouldn't ask for the probability of a given hacker being a local burglar, but for the probability that any local burglar might also be a hacker - or have friends who are hackers.

In any case, like a good salesman, a professional burglar doesn't expect information to provide a guaranteed outcome - merely to identify hot prospects, where there is a better than average chance of a good haul. Imagine you were a burglar - ask yourself how you would use easily available information to enhance your success.

e-strangers

Computer studies are very popular on the school curriculum, but I wonder how much children are taught about the use and abuse of information. Or for that matter, the use and abuse of deductive logic.

(Of course, most adults are equally naive about the use and abuse of information. Even people working with computers often fail to appreciate how much information can be deduced from the personal data collected by banks, airlines, supermarkets and others, and to what uses this could be put.  Or they take false comfort from the fact that the organizations they work with are incapable of making effective use of the information already available.)
 

Inference

e-cruitment

Some companies now advertise job vacancies on their website.  Applicants are invited to submit a CV electronically.

There is rarely any authentication, so it is easy to submit spoof CVs. This would include maliciously compiled CVs on behalf of real people.

Having compiled a spoof CV, it is then possible to write a program that submits this CV (or variants of it) to thousands of companies.
 

trolling

A troll is a spoof message introduced into a list or chat room for the purpose of evoking maximum response.  It is the web equivalent of those books of replies to silly letters written to famous people.  Its author is masked, it has no restrictions on scope - often they are copied to other forums - it is designed to arouse an emotional response and ultimately poke fun at belief and trust. [source: Aidan Ward]
 
 

dialectic - quantity becomes quality

And because it's so quick and easy, the message can be broadcast around the world before you've had second thoughts about sending it.

We are not good at judging probability at the best of time, but this increase in scale makes our intuitive judgements about probability even worse. When you are tempted to dismiss something as unlikely, remember that in very large systems, with very large volumes and densities of interaction, extremely unlikely things happen every day.

novelty and unfamiliarity

Other things being equal, the unfamiliar is usually riskier than the familiar, simply because we don't yet know how to handle it safely.  Of course, that isn't an argument against ever trying anything new, but it is a warning about the additional risks involved.

barriers to entry

Thus the acceptability of electronic banking depends on several factors, but a perception that it is riskier than traditional banking, whether or not this is fair, will slow down the adoption.
 
 

There are several base mechanisms in play, including various forms of encryption and e-signature.

Meanwhile, there is a growing army of people motivated to crack these mechanisms.

Technical solutions are important, but they must be combined with social solutions.
 

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	This page last updated on November 5th, 1999  Copyright © 1999 Veryard Projects Ltd http://www.veryard.com/projmgt/internetrisk.htm