Queen's University

Major cyber attacks uncovered

2011-08-10

Queen’s University School of Computing professor and computer security expert David Skillicorn is available to talk about news that security experts have uncovered the biggest series of cyber attacks ever.

The report by security company McAfee says hackers infiltrated more than 70 government and business organizations over five years, including the United Nations and the Canadian government, and believes there was one ‘state actor’ behind the attacks.

Dr. Skillicorn says people need to realize that the Internet isn’t as secure as most people think.
“The fundamental thing is everyone thinks they are in a nice neighborhood, but when you are on the Internet, it’s like you are walking down the darkest streets of the world. If you are on the Internet, you are everywhere. There are billions and billions of people with access to the Internet and some of them are really bad people who will hack into your system and steal important data,” says Dr. Skillicorn.

To arrange an interview, please contact communication officers Michael Onesi at 613.533.6000 ext. 77513 or michael.onesi@queensu.ca or Christina Archibald at 613-533-2877 or Christina.Archibald@queensu.ca at Queen’s University News and Media Services Department in Kingston, Ont., Canada.

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