This Is a Warning Not a Watch

British Cybersecurity chief Ian Levy says a “category one” cyber-attack, the most serious kind, will happen soon. Levy, directs the National Cybersecurity Centre which categorizes breaches like hurricanes, and the big one is on the way, he warns. The only way to prevent it is to fundamentally change the way businesses and governments think about cybersecurity. Rather than wringing their hands about which security products they should buy, organizations should focus on managing risk, says Levy. A good start? Figure out the value of the data they hold and how much damage would be done if it was lost. He thinks it may take the inevitable category one attack to prompt real change. Only an attack of that magnitude would result in an independent investigation or government inquiry. It will come to light that the organization that was breached didn’t understand what data they had, what its value was or the impact it could have outside the organization, he predicts.