Hack attacks

Opinion: May 20, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

By Bart Chilton

McClatchy-Tribune

The confluence of social networks and business technology is so tightly linked today that it requires thinking anew about responsibility and requirements to keep us protected.

Social networks – Facebook and Twitter and all the others — began not as a way for businesses to compete but for fun. Nevertheless, when business saw opportunities to make some dough, it too got involved, and big time.

If individuals have hundreds of Facebook friends, why can’t local heating and air conditioning companies have thousands of current or would-be customers as friends? And, why can’t a car company have hundreds of thousands? Well, they do.

Take Ford Motor Co., which has built a social network empire with more than 1.8 million Facebook fans and more than 206,000 Twitter followers. In other words, social media isn’t just for kids any more.

HOAX INVITES DANGERS

Late last month, markets (and investors) witnessed the result of a hack attack. Someone hacked into the Associated Press’s main Twitter account and sent a hoax message about the White House being bombed and the president being injured. Although it didn’t take long to learn it appeared to be a tasteless ruse, financial markets fretfully tumbled. And while the markets soon recovered, not everybody was unscathed. If you happened to be on the wrong side of the meltdown, lost money, and then couldn’t get back in time for the recovery, then this thing was more than just a hoax to you.

What if this had taken place on several news sites at once? It could cause market mayhem.

Just because the thousands of uber cool apps and the across-the-board rapid growth of technology might seem awesome doesn’t mean we shouldn’t reassess our laissez-faire approach to regulating certain technologies. Some businesses, for self-preservation, might install or refortify firewalls. Others won’t. Should regulators require super-sized cyber security? Well, if the potential result of not having appropriate safeguards in place is that it might impact more than just a single company; it might impact markets or our economy, or it might impact you, my answer is a big “yes.”

Bart Chilton is a commissioner on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the author of “Ponzimonium: How Scam Artists Are Ripping Off America.” Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.