D. Beware hackers.
You're going to hear a conversation about how to keep your computers away from hackers, listen carefully and then answer the questions you here.
Let's talk about how widespread the problem is. Many people think the number of companies or government agencies whose security is breached is small. Is that the case or not?
No, I think anybody who has information online...it's gonna be a huge concern for anybody.
Mostly because if you've got information on these websites, anybody can actually get into them.
The thing that you need to know is how to be careful. It's kind of like think of it as a security system in a building,
let's say. If you have a security guide in the front, you're protected in that area. You need to do that all around the entire circle.
let's say,to make sure that your entire information on these websites is completely protected.
I...I read a statistics that said that something like 75 percent of companies online have been hacked whether they know it or not. Is that...that's huge?
That is huge. In fact, It can be minor to major. Most of them are usually on the minor scale that being some information getting in.
And at this point of time, a lot of experts are saying that the hackers that are going into these sites are juveniles, usually in their late teens to early twenties.
And most of time, they're really just doing things as a challenge as a way to get in, because it's something they can do.
Now, Mathew Bevan, who's...who's a former hacker, who became a security consultant.
Now, tell us about that, this happens a lot? This...right now, this is happening a lot.
Mostly because these hackers that are young, juvenile children, or teens, as we have said, really know the industry.
They know the computer so well, even more so than a lot of the security, You know, computer systems that are already in place.
They've really become kind of an asset, or they could be a consultant as Mathew is. Because they really know how they've got into them.
And these are the people that a lot of corporations can actually use, because what they are doing is they're fighting the holes in the firewalls, which are the protection device between the different security system.
And they're really kinda getting into the loopholes or the niches there.
By doing that, this is great information that companies can use, because they may know "Okay, that... part of that...our website is not, you know protected."
You were a hacker, and how important is that for you in your current job which is as a consultant for companies who fear hackers?
Well, in my current job, what I can do is bring expertise that perhaps only hackers actually understand, it's kind of a perception of computer systems, sort of a holistic overview.
And sometimes you get people who come from, perhaps a sales background, and they move into IT in a company, or you know, they may just be programmers...turned security experts.
I'm not diminishing the expertise that they have, but sometimes there are very tiny things that they can overlook just because they're so in-depth within a system.