7 security lessons learned from Game of Thrones

With new hacking techniques, malware, viruses and threats being created faster than Melisandre’s demon smoke babies – the web is definitely full of dark terrors. Here are seven security lessons learnt from watching Game of Thrones.

>> Small things can become big problems

In the age of big data, risk once deemed minimal may pose serious threats to companies concerned with keeping the information they’ve collected private, but that begins and ends within the companies and the lengths they have gone to keep data secure.

Nobody took the dragons or dire wolves seriously in the beginning of Game of Thrones, but by season 3 they were capable of wreaking havoc and wiping out armies.

Small issues can grow into serious complications if left unchecked.

Everything from employee access to information, to the changing of passwords on a regular basis is uniquely important.

>> Faceless men are everywhere
There is a global network of anonymous hackers, connected through common causes. It is nothing new for these faceless men to attempt to breach network security. Legislators are almost always one step behind, while cybercriminals and hackers are always looking toward tomorrow and how to breach the security of tomorrow.

The implementation of new technology, hybrid cloud storage systems, data-splitting, cryptography and centralized storage databases are becoming the norm.

>> Walls of fire don’t always help
Modern firewalls are complex and take months to become familiar with, but even the most complex firewall is only software and by its very nature has defects. It can be easy to bypass firewalls with forged IP addresses, especially if someone has access to the same LAN segment as the network they're trying to breach.

Sometimes all hackers need to breach a firewall are the magic words, or if they're anything like Daenerys Targaryen, they'll be immune to fire.

Password theft is the easiest way to break into a network, and the methods attackers have devised to steal passwords have become far more devious.

>> Keep your friends far and your enemies farther
Access to data by individuals within a network, or by trusted employees isn’t always safe. People with access to networks can gather massive amounts of data with limited resources and small windows of time.

In September of 2015, Morgan Stanley realized that 730,000 account numbers were stolen by an employee, whom had been gathering account numbers over a period of three years and had them transferred to a private server at his home. It would be wise to keep all sensitive information under wraps, or behind a massive ice wall, just like in Game of Thrones, unless you want to get a be-loved character gruesomely killed.

>> The dead can come back to haunt you
Many small businesses, midsize companies and even large corporations assume that once the hard drives on their computer systems are wiped, they can sell the computers or throw them away without worry, but as we’ve learned from Game Of Thrones, dead doesn’t always mean dead (long live Jon Snow).

Larger companies however, would do best to ensure that data they want gone stays gone.

>> The iron price
The biggest issue among leading information security experts is a lack of understanding of cloud-based security. The vast majority of web-based companies put more of their financial resources into security software than they put into hardware and the people working for them.

The value of data continues to rise, while the value of human beings with access and control of data has remained stagnant.

>> The old Gods, or the new Gods
From mom and pop small businesses to corporate giants, with each new advances in information technology, new threats arise. From mobile applications to quantum computing, security must develop and adapt in order to cope with the changing times.

Obviously small to midsize businesses, as well as a majority of single users, have no choice when it comes to using data storage companies as it is cost effective. In that case, those organizations may want to pay extra attention to security practices, redundancy and multi-layer security and encryption procedures.

Game of Thrones may seem completely detached from the reality of IT security, but even the most impenetrable castle can fall if someone inside can be convinced to open the gates and let wildlings in!

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