CSIT

Hacking Handbook

Thoughts on the TalkTalk breach

With the recent TalkTalk security breach impacting potentially 4 million UK customers my phone was ringing off the hook from late on Thursday 22nd October. Regularly when a big cyber security story hits the front pages I get asked by the media for expert opinion given my role at Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) – the UK’s Innovation & Knowledge Centre (IKC) and lead academic research centre for cyber security.

Is this the end of usernames and passwords? #csitsummit

At the recent World Cyber Security Technology Research Summit hosted by CSIT I had the pleasure of scribing one of the breakout sessions titled “Is it the end of the road for username and password? If so what are the alternatives?”.

The answer, given recent high profile breaches, might surprise. It’s not as clear cut as you might think. One thing is for sure however. There is a huge amount of opportunity in this area.