Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has warned that hackers might cause havoc by accessing open data, such as that used by transportation applications.
“If you interrupted traffic data, for example, to inform everyone that all the routes south of the river are blocked, so everyone would move north of the river, it would bottleneck you [and] disable the city,” he stated.
It’s been called “the Italian Job scenario” and “the ultimate hack” by Prof. Sir Nigel Shadbolt, who founded the Open Data Institute with Tim Berners-Lee.
Both have served as advisors to the British government and are now strong advocates for open data. According to Berners-Lee, accurate and precise information on transportation in London “truly improves the city.”
Despite this, they cautioned that the risk of such datasets being manipulated with was frequently ignored. As far as security is concerned, people worry about others finding out what they’re doing, Berners-Lee added. When it comes to changing things, they don’t think about it.
Shadbolt urged the administration to see accessible data as a critical piece of public infrastructure that must be protected. It’s a “vital infrastructure” that might be assaulted, he added.
You must be as careful in considering your open assets as your closed ones “when you’re thinking about hardening and establishing an overall cyberdefence posture.”
Furthermore, “Public national data is part of the government’s obligation as clean air is, like the government’s responsibility for clean water… it’s another reason why they have to think of data as infrastructure.”
Shadbolt said that open data has flaws that are often ignored. When it comes to protecting your data, “I believe that frequently we think about the closed material, which we keep in our different safe facilities – but it’s the stuff that’s out there that’s fueling many regular [applications].”
During a one-day symposium in London, Berners-Lee and Shadbolt talked to the Guardian about the potential of publicly available data.
Recent weeks have seen a rise in the likelihood of devastating cyberattacks, thanks in part to the United States government accusing Russia openly of supporting hacking attacks intended to sway the presidential election, and a widespread distributed denial of service attack that took down Twitter and other websites last month by harnessing internet-connected devices.
Philip Hammond, the British chancellor, revealed on Tuesday a new £1.9bn cybersecurity plan and warned that foreign governments’ efforts to hack national infrastructure, banking and military networks were getting more sophisticated. The head of MI5, Andrew Parker, said that Russia in particular was targeting the United Kingdom in an interview with the Guardian. Pinterest
The UK must be equipped to respond to cyberattacks, says Philip Hammond.
Upon being asked whether open data may have security flaws, Berners-Lee remarked that criminals might manipulate open data for profit, for example, by putting wagers on the bank rate or the consumer price index and then hacking into the sites where data is published and swapping the statistics.
It’s vital to remember that even if people believe open data isn’t a huge security risk, it is from the perspective of accuracy.
According to him, “I assume it’s not as intriguing for hackers to get into because it’s public.”
Berners-Lee added that the government has a “vast amount” of work to undertake to make data more accessible to the public. “It’s vital to avoid situations like losing Land Registry data.” Plans for the Land Registry to be privatised by Theresa May’s administration were discreetly scrapped in September.
The ODI and Sport England are teaming together to make sport statistics more accessible.
“How do we enable everyone in the nation feel that they have access to excellent quality information… whether they receive it on the web or not – maybe they get it via TV and radio?” Is there any way to reestablish a culture and civilisation that are built on knowledge, as well as the foundations of democracy?
