A security expert tells Newsmax there's no stopping hackers who want to steal personal data because of "pinholes" in security systems.
During an interview with Ed Berliner on
Newsmax TV's "The Hard Line," Charles D. Morgan — the CEO of PrivacyStar and author of
"Matters of Life and Data" — talks about cyber security in the wake of the massive data breach reported Thursday.
Chinese hackers are suspected of stealing the personal data of 4 million former and current federal employees.
When asked whether authorities can stop hackers, Morgan was direct.
"No we cannot. I was doing an interview earlier today and I commented that all somebody has to do is find a pinhole in security and ease through that pinhole and the whole world opens up inside of them," he says.
"You look at some of the most famous data breaches in the last 10 or so years and it was just a small intrusion into one server that compromised the whole enterprise, whether it be Sony or Target or others. A tiny little pinhole and the whole inner-workings, all the data that come, its employees, and customers can be opened up to the world."
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Morgan was then asked if the government is making progress in closing up the so-called pinholes to make networks more secure.
"No way. No way," Morgan says. "The problem is getting worse, the bad guys are getting more sophisticated, and we are opening up more and more opportunities for them with the Internet and things and the enormous data collection that is going to have a route in no matter what we do with the current level of protection we have. We need something way beyond what we have today."
The data breach reported Thursday could potentially affect every federal agency. A crucial question is whether data from intelligence agencies was taken.
"This is an attack against the nation," said Ken Ammon, chief strategy officer of Xceedium, who said the attack fit the pattern of those carried out by nation states for the purpose of espionage.
The FBI, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, is investigating the matter.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said the perpetrators appear to be located in China.
The breach is "yet another indication of a foreign power probing successfully and focusing on what appears to be data that would identify people with security clearances," Collins said.
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