Follow-up: Grave Threats Coming from Cybersecurity Professionals and Big Tech Firms

This is a follow up of https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hitoshikokumai_podcast-cybersecurity-digitalidentity-activity-7050283757328613376-UndF

In 2001 we were already witnessing that biometrics vendors were claiming that biometrics would relieve the population from the pains of passwords. Several years later the voice of “Kill the password with biometrics” was coming from most of the leading Japanese electronics firms, say, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and all the major telcos under the nod of the relevant agencies of the Japanese government.

I once took up this issue with a reporter at a major business newspaper. He quickly agreed that it was obviously wrong to allege that biometrics deployed with a default/fallback password was capable of killing the password. He later came back to me telling that he cannot write on this issue. Should he write, it would be quashed by the company in view of the collective power of all those wealthy firms as big sponsors. He was comparatively a good reporter. Other reporters simply disappeared into silence.

Around 2013 global IT firms like Google, Apple and Microsoft were loudly claiming that removal of the password would make cyberspace a safer place. Also among the loud voices was the remark “Kill the password dead” by White House Cyber Czar — https://www.linkedin.com/posts/isaac-bewarang-2a615510_white-house-cyber-czars-goal-kill-the-activity-7050797693257809920-iVGn

I would assume that most of the security professionals are now well aware of this falsehood and might well be telling themselves that they are ready to speak up if someone else with louder voice speaks up, say, they would not speak up until other influential people have spoken up loudly. They might possibly be waiting for someone who is as powerful as the White House Cyber Czar to speak up.

Now that huge amounts of money have been spent(wasted) for lowering the identity security globally, with those suppliers and promoters encircled with huge vested interests. it would be naïve to expect them to voluntarily admit that they were wrong even if they are fully aware that they were wrong.

We have long been engaged in an uphill battle with few allies and are still amidst an uphill battle with few allies. The news of Pentagon leak may well be impactful enough to change the situation — “Weak Identity Authentication — To be Enhanced or Further Weakened?” https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hitoshikokumai_doj-opens-investigation-into-leaks-of-apparent-activity-7051032625817272320-66mN