South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley announced Friday that, “This is
not a good day for South Carolina.” The bad news was having to admit a
massive security breach in the State’s Department of Revenue that
resulted in the theft of 3.6 million social security numbers and 387,000
credit/debit card numbers (only 16,000 of which, it is believed, were
unencrypted,) This incident affects more than three-quarters of South
Carolina’s 4.6 million population.
Haley characterized this as an “attack by an international hacker,”
but no details have been released about the identity of the perpetrator
while their investigation is under way. The State became aware of the
breach on October 10 but could not close it until ten days later. Haley
said she wants the hacker, ”slammed to the wall,” and certainly she must
feel slammed as well. Was it just the luck of the draw, or are South
Carolina’s cyber defenses particularly weak? This will be a question
that the other 49 states will have to answer.
This incident will also place cyber security on the table for the
presidential candidates as well. Even more than climate change, cyber
security is a big complex issue that does not translate well into
soundbites, 30-second spots or talking points. It is scandalous, but
unsurprising, that this issue came up only fleetingly in the last
presidential debate. Cyber security will someday be seen as right up
there with Social Security, health insurance and national defense as key
measures of our well-being. This attack makes it clear that not only
are individuals incapable of adequately protecting themselves through
consumer grade solutions, and not only do the vulnerabilities of
business place consumers at risk, but government itself is not up to the
task of vouchsafing its citizen’s identity.
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