Summary
1. The main reason for Verizon Business releasing this report is not as a public service. 2. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) has been heavily criticized with calls for its elimination. 3. When it is made clear that most infiltration into databases is not just by young hackers, but large criminal organizations, the more urgent the need will be perceived to better protect information on the carrier side of the router.
Analysis
Undoubtedly, having a “Verizon Business Risk Team” is a nice stroke of marketing to large corporations. Not to mention it was a bonus with the publication throwing in the fact that it is a “Networx vendor,” to remind people of the heavy reliance by the federal government on the RBOC.
The report may indeed be an “objective view of...data breaches.” However, in pointing out that “[t]he big money is now in stealing personal identification number information, together with associated credit and debit accounts” makes the idea of a carrier potentially having access to private information less threatening. In also “quash[ing] the widely held belief that insiders perform most hacks,” again, a greater need for security is required “from external sources.” It is a pretty compelling statistic that in 2008 alone more...records were compromised...than the previous four years combined.”
This is one case in which the ends justify the means. We have talked about that without DPI, the large carriers’ networks are at tremendous risk.
