Consumers lose internet security battle

Beverley Head
Tuesday, 29 March 2011 14:27

Business IT - Security

Individual internet users can no longer expect to be able to manage their own online security according to the head of Australia's peak internet association- and the arrival of the National Broadband Network could compound the problem.

Speaking at a security system launch in Sydney today, Peter Coroneos, the ceo of the Internet Industry Association said that while the problem had been gradually mounting, Australia was now at a tipping point and that 'the capacity of individual internet users to manage their own security has passed." He warned however that Australia; 'cannot move forward as a digital economy until we get the security right.'

The arrival of the NBN meant the problem could get much worse. He said that its arrival meant that ordinary consumers would be driving the online equivalent of a Formula One race car even though 'they are dangerous in an XR6.'

'The capacity to do damage to ourselves and other network users is exponentially higher,' warned Mr Coroneos. 'The faster the network the greater the capacity for damage'¦especially in a cyber warfare scenario.'

Mr Coroneos said that under the mandate NBN chief Mike Quigley had been given, he was charged with delivering an 'open access, undifferentiated layer two network service.' There was, he said, no mandated security requirement.

He reiterated the IIA's recommendation that the Government invest 2 per cent of its $35.9 billion NBN budget on security. Spending those funds to secure the network would be an ideal outcome, he said, although he acknowledged it might not be part of the NBN charter.

Mr Coroneos stressed that the time was now ripe to hold discussions about the NBN's security. 'If the answer is 'no' then we are back to the solutions we are talking about today,' he said, although he was quick to moderate that statement given he was a guest of a security systems vendor, by adding that a multilayered approach to security was likely to always be needed given the unfailing determination of 'the bad guys.'

Mr Coroneos was speaking at a TrustDefender product launch which saw the Australia based security specialist launched three new tools; TrustDefender Pro, a reworking of its current suite of tools; TrustDefender Central Intelligence Server; and TrustDefender Zero.