Worry about risk management, not cyber attacks

Dubai - People should take advantage of future technologies to monitor their homes, say experts

In an era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and increased connectivity, a full protection from cyber attacks is "impossible", but "manageable", according to experts attending the Knowledge Summit in Dubai.
Speaking during the first day of the Knowledge Summit, cyber security experts urged Internet users to exert more effort in risk management rather than placing their fears on cyberattacks when using technology.
Khalifa Al Shamsi, group chief corporate strategy and governance officer at Etisalat, said while connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT) is the future, people should take advantage of these technologies to develop themselves, ease their life and monitor their homes.
However, serve providers and entities must educate general public on the dos and donts they should follow when using technology. "It improves life but there are basic things to be done on user level. As a service provide, Etisalat ensures there's protection against availability of access, encryption in connectivity that would be used by normal person who doesn't know standard of access, but end user must also be educated to do their part."
Pablos Holman, inventor and cyber security expert, likened technology to "sugar" that people must assess its benefits versus its harms to the life. "You have to make smart choices and not allow technology to take over your life."
He added: "People need to figure out how big of a threat there is against them, and make a rational choice accordingly of how much resources they need to expand on to make themselves in a less risky situation."
Referring to the new iPhone X facial recognition, David Rose, CEO of Ditto Labs and Expert on Future of the IOT, said similar systems are expected to be implemented on cars and robots soon to make it "effortless and hard to defeat." He said the average end user, though, shouldn't worry beyond using a two-factor authentication and password manager.
Al Shamsi said while the main concern for large organisations and governments is protecting their assets from external organisations, they should identify their vulnerabilities, assets and exposure level. "We will never achieve 100 per cent protection against external attacks, but we have to identify how fast we can react to attacks."
Held under the theme "Knowledge and Fourth Industrial Revolution," the two-day summit discusses the dimensions and key components of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as its profound effects on all aspects of life, including society, the economy, academia and culture.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai