Let this be a lesson in security for everybody

The past week we’ve been seeing the results of people and government agencies not taking security seriously. If you needed another reminder why internet security shouldn’t be cheaped out on, take the case of the still unresolved hacking of the Bangladesh Bank and the $80 million that managed to find its way here in the Philippines: authorities have determined that the attack could have been prevented had the bank not used second hand, $10 (Php 460) switches that didn’t have a firewall.

Worse still was the fact that those switches that were connected to their network were also connected to computers utilizing the SWIFT global payment system, allowing the hackers to gain access to credentials required to make high-value transfers to their own accounts.

If that wasn’t enough, the lack of sophisticated security means that authorities have a harder time trying to determine the source of the hack – all that they’ve found are the people who’ve received the payments and not the actual hackers themselves.

In cybersecurity, you really do get what you pay for – something that the Comelec is probably learning the hard way today.