While we await the premiere of the seventh installment in the famous series, Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, we’ve decided to look back on the original trilogy to look for subtle security tips that are hidden in films.
Pop culture, especially when it concerns robots, spaceships, and technology, can show us a lot about data protection and strategies to prevent possible cyberattacks.
Hiding places can be found
In The New Hope, the original film, Princess Leia managed to record a message on R2-D2 in the hangar that she’d been held captive in. Later, the lovable robot escaped with his companion, C-3PO, and they made it to Tatooine.
There they found a young Luke Skywalker who, after playing around with some buttons, succeeded in unlocking the holograph message that the princess has left on the machine, which also included blue prints of the Death Star.
All of this valuable information was protected by what is known in the real world as security through obscurity: a strategy that uses a secret in the design of a program to hide information. Its defenders don’t think it’s likely that anyone could discover what’s hidden but, without a good encryption, Darth Vader could have easily accessed the information saved on R2-D2 (if he had managed to capture the two friends).
Small vulnerabilities, big problems
At the end of the film, Luke Skywalker is able to blow up the massive Death Star with just two shots: applied to the right spot, a small hit can cause huge damage.
Something similar happens in IT security. Sometimes it’s the small vulnerabilities in the most basic of software that serves as an entry point for cybercriminals, allowing them to carry out complex attacks, steal information, or take control of the entire network. The conclusion is that, in order not to wind up like the Death Star, be sure to look after the security of your devices, up to the smallest of details.
Hackers with Jedi abilities
We also see in The New Hope that Obi-Wan Kenobi shows his Jedi abilities to trick the imperial soldiers, playing with their minds to make them believe something different to the reality.
Cybercriminals use a similar trick to make programs miss certain details. Many types of malware include what is known as a rootkit, which hides in the operating system and stops the malware from being detected.
The importance of good training
In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke had to decide between sticking with his Jedi training or rescuing Han Solo and Princess Leia. Despite his masters advising him against it, he went with the latter. As a result of this, he couldn’t save any of his friends and ended up losing an arm. Perhaps if he had continued with his training he would’ve been better prepared.
Security professionals don’t have to rescue any princesses, but they also can’t afford to let their training be an afterthought. It’s important to always be prepared as cybercriminals are constantly developing new and more sophisticated strategies.
The secret of the Ewoks
Even the loveable Ewoks from The Return of the Jedi have something to show us: they may have only used simple weapons, such as wooden catapults, but that didn’t hold them back.
As a whole, simple security strategies are extremely useful. One of the most basic, the application of various security layers to protect devices, hasn’t lost its use despite ever more complex attacks. If you use different tools, they will each cover the deficiencies of the other.
The post How to be a cybersecurity Jedi – 5 things we’ve learnt from Star Wars appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.
