Time to Tell #secrets

The sun rises and sets like clockwork, and yesterday’s innovations are gone tomorrow. Except, it appears, in cybersecurity. Cyber defenses from a generation ago linger front and center, even as the coming wave of quantum computing is poised to reshape the digital world. Steve Grobman, CTO for McAfee, makes the case that our current defenses share far too many traits with legacy immunology practices. It’s time to get smart. Because the way it’s always been shouldn’t always last. It’s time to ask, can we act in time to change the future?
Creative Direction x McAfee Brand Team  /  Project Lead and Written by: Mark G. Murray  /  Creative: Mel de Beer  /  Art Direction: Wilkin Ho  /  Agency: Four Winds Creative

//   You have to assume that adversaries are already accessing your most sensitive data. It’s encrypted, but they still find it valuable. They’re not worried about decrypting it today, since they’re counting on quantum to do so in the future. Over 70% of all network traffic is encrypted, much of it over an untrusted network called the Internet. Our most critical data lives in the cloud, cybercriminals and nation states can siphon off that data today, and unlock it tomorrow when quantum cryptanalysis becomes practical.


//   JFK — So let’s ask:
Does it matter if today’s data can be unlocked 5-10-15 years from now? Consider this: even in 2020 some of the documents in the National Archives related to the Kennedy assassination, nearly 60 years ago, still retain redactions for current national security concerns.

//   Turing — When the British cracked Germany’s Enigma code in 1941, it provided critical information to Allied land, air, and sea forces that ultimately shortened, and won the war. Yet the sensitivity of that project was so great that even people working on it weren’t aware of its objective. And even after victory, we kept this story secret for 30 years


//   Now, think about the data in your environment. Two things matter: the sensitivity of the data, or how important it is, and the understanding how long it must be protected.


//   We plotted a handful of examples. We place Social Security Numbers more to the left: clearly, we never want to lose a Social Security Number, but we must be realistic in recognizing 60-80% are already compromised. At the same time, they serve as an identifier aross a lifetime, so we place them higher on the chart. Contrast that with pre-release earnings for a public company: given their importance in the days before their announcement, they must be plotted to the right. But given how long their importance is, we place them at the lower end of the specturm. Finally, think about national secrets, many will be at the top right,

>>> Explore more: TIME TO TELL #quantum
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