Virtually present

The Internet does bear some resemblance to the much ballyhooed American Wild West,with its somewhat anarchic disposition.Fortunes are made and lost online, and robbers and con-men lurk. But like the Wild West, the Internet, too, is gradually aging, the wild oats are growing into nicely tended fields, and some semblance of order is appearing. One of the policemen on the block is Carlos Moreira. And Swiss Style caught him between trips.
It’s midnight. Do you know where your data are? Seriously? It may sound flippant, but as things are evolving in the world of information technology, there will come a time in a not-too distant future, when this little needling thought could cause a few sleepless nights and long headaches in the business community. For Carlos Moreira, CEO of Wisekey and peripatetic promoter of online security, the question is crucial to the evolution of the digital world. Especially considering the drumfire of news about banks “losing” data to tax authorities, CDs bearing names and account information of heavy-duty German tax finaglers winding up with the Finanzamt, or companies and agencies getting penetrated in cyber attacks.
“We are not talking about some hacker in China trying to shut down the electrical system in New York,” says Moreira. Cloak-and-dagger type warfare has been going on since World War Two and the famous ENIGMA encrypter, he points out. What happened in Switzerland with the private banks was low-tech stuff, individuals getting a hold of the right identity and entering the bank’s database. “Some banks are still using dBase [one of the oldest database management systems, the Editor] and s ystems from the 1990s, with the client name and address in one file,” says the longtime specialist in electronic and information security. “Segregating and encrypting data is the kind of stuff you have to do each day, it’s like brushing your teeth.” read more…