Can national security be private?
Can national security be private?
The US President has frequently stated that hackers are one of the main threats to economic and national security of the United States. “Within the country and the government we are not prepared to deal with this problem on a full scale”, - said Barack Obama.
What about other countries, if the leading country of the Western civilization, which pays great attention to the development of modern information technology, considers cyber terrorism to be the primary problem?
In fact Barack Obama officially announced with that statement that the electronic age had begun and the confrontation between technologically advanced states and invisible and virtually invulnerable enemies had started.
There are no borders for cyber-terrorists. They easily penetrate any object in any country where there is a connection to the global information network – the Internet. Hackers pose a threat not only to ordinary users, but also the security of most developed countries.
And not a single country in the world is an exception. The leading media sites, information systems, public organizations, politicians and members of religious orders, businessmen and private information of famous people have been repeatedly attacked by hackers in America, Europe and in the Middle East.
Not only the media and VIPs, but also any stockpiles of weapons - nuclear missiles, aircraft, artillery and tanks – are helpless against virtual weapons, computer viruses and various spyware.
The latest models of military equipment can be destroyed by, for example, false commands embedded by hackers in electronic control panels, or in chips, responsible for the management of a deadly weapon.
Cyber threat warning centers have already been organized in the United States, Israel, Western Europe and Russia to escape digital threats.
But the countries fight hackers with varying success. They haven’t yet managed to ensure effective integrated electronic defense against cyber-terrorists. Reports in the media regularly inform about the attempts to hack computer systems of major Western TV channels, newspapers, news portals, financial institutions, military and defense agencies.
That’s why it may seem that the perspectives of the national centers of electronic security don’t look very convincing. After all, it’s no secret that the Achilles heel of the modern world is the lack of reliable encryption and cryptographic devices to ensure the information security.
It will take years for state structures to fill in this gap. Experts know that the development of information security is directly linked to software used in electronic equipment. Manufacturers often embed "bugs" in chips that couldn’t be manufactured in the country and were purchased abroad. If hackers don’t use them, they serve the interests of the states where they are created.
Strange as it may seem, even in this seemingly hopeless situation there is every chance to successfully cope with the challenge of the time and defeat any hackers using the developments in the field of information security systems, which already exist but haven’t yet been implemented on a massive scale.
The fact remains that obsolete standards of state certification and implementation of cryptographic developments as well as the restrictions and the prohibitions on the use of algorithms of private companies tie the hands in the fight with the enemy, using the most advanced spyware.
What can be done in a situation like this?
Note that the experience of the Americans in the space industry, strategically important for the state, shows that the cooperation with private companies can lead to a rapid, efficient and cost-effective solution of tasks of any complexity, even the continuation of the strategically important national space program.
By the way, this example is also vital because it reminds the issue mentioned above. For some reason NASA cannot continue the national piloted program by their own means and is forced to rent Russian space technology and thus support the Russian industry. They will successfully solve the current tactical tasks only if they allow launching private spaceships, which belong to American companies. In this case they will be able to focus on important strategic tasks, such as the preparation of piloted flights to other planets.
A similar situation is possible today in any country in the field of information security. For example, the developments of "Anсort" to defend information by cryptographic means are far ahead of similar technologies available in the USA and Europe. Moreover, they exist not on paper, but as working product samples. Last year "Ancort" company presented the latest information security system for mobile phones at the world's largest exhibitions of computer equipment and weapons.
According to leading experts, it is superior to all currently existing developments. It was nicknamed “a hacker killer” in the West, and people in many countries around the world want to purchase it. The only question is whether or not this unique Russian development will be required at state structures.
At the beginning of the millennium "Ancort" was a pioneer in the cooperation between private companies and the largest state structures. In the midst of an unprecedented crime against the Central Bank of the Russian Federation ("Fake Letters of Advice"), the largest and most successful hacker attack on the state banking system in the world history, our development provided in the shortest possible time the financial security of the Central Bank of Russia.
Our system has been successfully operating for more than 20 years. "Ancort" cryptographic systems have been used at the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for two decades and criminals have never been able to hack them! The Central Bank of the Russian Federation has been using a private encryption algorithm developed by "Ancort" to defend financial payments for more than 20 years.
The Swedish Royal University of Technology, which deals with expert scientific evaluation and defines candidates for the Nobel Prize, conducted the researches for several years. The commission with Johan Håstad at the head analyzed the encryption algorithm of our company and acknowledged that it was impossible to decrypt it during the lifetime of the Universe using the most modern high-speed computers in the world.
We don’t hesitate to talk about it, because we are aware of the superiority of our own development in the field of information security over the hackers’ Empire. And we want everyone all over the world to know it and be able to effectively counter the threat of the electronic world.
Information security of any country cannot be considered to be only state or only private priority. It also affects the interests of ordinary citizens, businessmen and civil servants.
Each of us is equally responsible for the Freedom and future of their country and the whole world.