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How to resolve AdBlock issue? Why can’t our systems manage cyber security properly?
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
HOW has the world changed since we had remote work? And how has this impacted cyber security? Why has there been such an increase in cybercrime?
According to Denis O’Shea, who created Mobile Mentor back in New Zealand in 2024, it’s because our systems aren’t built for today’s conditions.
“Most of the crime we see today happens on computers, on people’s laptops, primarily Windows devices, and that’s where a lot of the attacks are aimed,” Mr O’Shea told Talking Business. 
“And one of the reasons that’s happened, and hackers are being so successful, is that a lot of the security infrastructure and tools we put in place were designed in the last century, before we had the vocabulary we have today around cybercrime and ransomware.
“Back in the day, we had tech passwords.
“Passwords were an amazing invention back in 1961 but now they are the single biggest reason for hacks because people’s credentials get leaked or people reuse those same credentials on different websites, and then they get stolen and sold on the dark web.”
Corporate domains are not cyber safe
Mr O’Shea, who is also Mobile Mentor’s chairman, said the other problem was people and companies having a concept of a corporate domain “and thinking everyone inside the domain is safe and everyone outside is bad”.
“Well that doesn’t work anymore because we are all taking our devices home, and we’re working on the train and plane,” he said.
“So we have security constructs and ideas from the last century that a lot of companies are still reliant upon and they’re just not fit for purpose in a day and age when we’re getting hundreds of spam emails and phishing attempts every day.”
Mr O’Shea said Mobile Mentor had addressed the issue of cybercrime by “making security invisible”.
“We know we need more security but what we need to try and do is not make it in your face,” he said.
“What we’re trying to do is use the modern tools we’ve got to enable people to go password-less and embrace things like single sign on and biometrics on our devices.
“So we’re using our faces, our fingerprints or our voice.
“There’s a whole bunch of other things we can do to put additional security on devices that enable people to be more secure than they ever were before.
“But we’re hiding it, we’re making it invisible so it’s not in the user’s face.
“But if someone is trying to breach that device, it’s a really good defence.”
Multiple-layer defences are there to use
Mr O’Shea said this more successful approach to defence was being done with layers of Microsoft technologies that most companies already haven’t yet gotten around to using.
Mr O’Shea also envisaged a time when companies would become password-less. He said most people already have devices in their pockets, their iPhones, that can read their face. This system can also be used on personal computers.
“The technology is there, we just need to be very deliberate in saying ‘this is the technology we are going to use’ so that we can move our employees away from relying on passwords,” he said.
Mr O’Shea said passwords were very easy to hack because “human beings are lazy”.
“We know from research that 6% of people use their pets’ names, and their date of birth,” he said.
“We know a huge portion of people use a spreadsheet or a word document which is sitting on their computer.
“We know that Gen Z put their work passwords on their phones.
“So human beings are lazy. We can’t remember complex passwords to every application that changes every 90 days.
“The sooner we get away from that and rely on who we are, rather than something we know, the better we will all be.” 
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
https://shows.acast.com/talkingbusiness/episodes/talking-business-22-interview-with-denis-oshea-from-mobile-m
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