The newly discovered Internet bug "Heartbleed," which puts consumers' personal information at risk online, demonstrates shortcomings in Internet security, writes
New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo.
"Heartbleed is further evidence that we don't have our house in order when it comes to Internet security," Edward Felten, a computer security expert at Princeton University, tells Manjoo.
Manjoo says the new bug shows that the Internet remains a young industry "vulnerable to all sorts of unseen dangers, including simple human error. Today's digital systems are complex and penetrate every corner of our lives. It is impossible to lock them down."
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He compares the Internet industry now to the chaotic early days of other sectors, such as meatpacking and autos. Regulation and industrywide cooperation brought safety improvements in those businesses, but it took time.
However, it's not clear that can happen with technology, Manjoo writes. "We're constantly storing more of our important information on more new kinds of hardware run by more complicated software. All of it is increasingly interdependent, which makes the whole ecosystem more vulnerable."
"There's an underlying process here, which says that as devices get more memory or power, people add more complexity to a product — until it becomes so complicated that it's too difficult to understand," Felten explains.
"As our engineering methods get better, our products get more complicated, so we're always out at the edge of complexity that our engineering processes can handle," he adds.
At large technology companies, security is often "an afterthought," Manjoo notes.
To be sure, John Pescatore, director of emerging security trends at the SANS Institute, was encouraged by the industry's response to the Heartbleed bug.
Consumers probably won't be affected much, because most large Internet sites have made fixes, he tells
Bloomberg. "Pretty much up and down the line, responsible disclosure has been followed."
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