Hardly a day goes by without media reports of dramatic cybersecurity breaches somewhere in the world, and we have come to accept that substantial resources are needed to prevent these attacks. Little thought, however, is generally given as to whether cybersecurity breaches are as important as the media and cybersecurity experts would have us believe. Perhaps the media and experts are merely serving their own self-interests. This paper takes a calm, risk-based look at the importance of cybersecurity.

Taking a high-level, contrarian view, Odlyzko examines the current state of the world and the skewed view of the world among technologists. His conclusion is that natural disasters and human conflict cause far more damage than cybersecurity breaches. Odlyzko assesses cybersecurity threats from a risk-based, cost-benefit perspective that would be familiar to most bean counters. He also suggests that perhaps the greatest threat to cybersecurity is the negligence and natural stupidity of people.

Basically, Odlyzko asserts that we already have the tools needed to reduce the risk of cyberattack; we simply need to better apply them. A well-argued, interesting, and risk-based approach to the threat of cyberattack, rising above the experts’ rhetoric and media theater normally associated with reports of these attacks.