ECB contacts information is stolen

24.07.2014

 European Central Bank (ECB) announced that from its web site information containing e-mails and other contact information of the bank contacts was stolen.

Bank ensures that the theft did not concern the internal systems and databases.

Also there was no market sensitive information lost. The stolen database served as a part of ECB web site, using which the invitations to conferences and other events were sent.

The theft came to light when the letter with the money demand for the information stolen was sent to the ECB.

The Bank will contact persons whose personal data was stolen. ECB seriously tool the crime committed against it and reported it to the German police, that has already started the investigation.

Bank information security experts said that they have already improved the weak places in the bank’s system.

Source: http://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2014/html/pr140724.en.html

Expert’s opinion

 Alvin Toffler, god bless him, formulated the idea of the "Third Wave": the wave of the information. It splashes in the "Information Society".

As any other wave, information was immediately examined, measured, and laws were derived from its behavior.

So the law was found as to increase of information in the society. The law is an exponential function y = e ^ x, which immediately showed that the increase in information inevitably leads to "information crisis."

"Information crisis" characteristics are:

1) acute contradiction between the person’s disability in the perception and processing of information and growing powerful streams of information.

2) The emergence of a huge amount of redundant information that overshadows and complicates the perception of useful information.

3) The emergence of economic, political and social barriers that prevent the spread of information.

Paradox! The world has accumulated a huge data potential which can not be effectively used by people simply due to their limited ability to perceive such large amounts of data.

And even the use of computers cannot save the situation, because the information processed by the computer becomes the new information and powerfully complements the already existing ocean of data.

So, there is no need to worry about the loss of any data anywhere.

If it is not a special order - then no one can really use this data.

And if there is a special order – it is likely that amongst the thousands of these correspondents of ECB - only one contact was the one that was really valuable to the thieves. And this one is unlikely you.

And in order not to worry about the fact that someone, somewhere, somehow accidentally found your phone number or email address - analyze the protection of your business.

Here, the most narrow places are the one through which you can actually be attacked and the ones that should be strengthened and protected.

Yaroslav Lomakin ( Managing partner of “Honest&Bright” company)