Are Squirrels Winning the Cyber-War?
It may seem like a ridiculous question, but one security expert has highlighted how squirrels may be the biggest threat to global critical infrastructure rather than enemy states and hacking organisations.
Security expert, Cris Thomas has spent the past few years tracking power cuts caused by animals and has unearthed some pretty surprising results. Nearly 5 million people were affected by more than 1,700 power cuts caused by squirrels, birds, snakes and other animals. In fact, according to Thomas’ research, squirrels were to blame for 879 so called ‘attacks’, with birds causing 434 and even frogs joining the list with a mere three.
So, what was the point of all this research? Well according to Mr Thomas, the research was not conducted only to highlight the issue of animal ‘attacks’ but to ‘dispel the hype around cyber-attacks’. The idea was that there is so much fear of cyber-attacks that is not necessarily proportionate to the reality. Thomas cites the “ludicrousness of cyber-war claims by people at high levels in government and industry” as being the inspiration for the study.
So, should we be worried about these squirrels? Well, while animals have caused a significant amount of damage, it is hard to see this as a greater threat than hackers who target individuals, businesses, organisations and even governments for information, passwords and money.
We’re not quite ready to start locking up the woodland creatures just yet, so for now, we will continue to concentrate our efforts on protecting our clients online through our IT supportservices. We can help to keep you online and in business, so if you would like to find out more about any of our services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of our friendly team. Simply give us a call on 01524 581 690 (Lancaster) or 01772 395 693(Preston) and we will be happy to advise you further.
