What Game of Thrones Can Teach Businesses About Security

Game of Thrones is one of the most popular series ever produced by HBO. It takes place in a long ago time and is full of supernatural characters.  While the idea of a computer network in medieval times seems crazy, lessons can be learned.

 

Dragons

Nobody took the dragons or dire wolves seriously in the beginning of Game of Thrones, but by season 3 they were capable of wreaking havoc and wiping out armies.

 

Lesson:
Small issues can grow into serious complications if left unchecked.

Everything from employee access to information, to the changing of passwords on a regular basis is uniquely important. Businesses are using mobile systems more often everyday, but mobile security isn’t quite up to par with larger network security endpoints.

 

Friendly Assassins

Faceless assassins of the House of Black and White who approach their victims anonymously through seemingly friendly interactions

 

Lesson:
Make sure employees are trained to spot cybercriminals who make it a common practice of seeking out and learning everything they can about a target before phishing for their information.

 

Walls of Fire

There is a 700 foot high 300 mile long wall of ice protecting Westeros with magic spells. The spells have been neutralized. Now the wall is just a wall. 

Lesson:
Sometimes all hackers need to breach a firewall are the magic words. Password theft is the easiest way to break into a network, and the methods attackers have devised to steal passwords have become far more devious.

Spear phishers use extremely convincing emails targeted at people with access to passwords and protocols. Encryption and two-way factor authentication are practically useless against attacks from within a network.

Make sure you concentrate on the small stuff or the dragons will be flying.