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Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder of Internet security software Kaspersky Lab, was recently interviewed PC World where he talked about his views regarding cybersecurity and the evolution of malware. In response to fixing the problems with malware on the Internet, Kapersky says:
“The Internet was never designed with security in mind. If I was God, and wanted to fix the Internet, I would start by ensuring that every user has a sort of Internet passport: basically, a means of verifying identity, just like in the real world, with driver’s licenses and passports and so on. The second problem is one of jurisdiction. The Internet has no borders, and neither do the criminals who operate on the Internet. However, law enforcement agencies have jurisdictional limits, and are unable to conduct investigations across the globe. ... There is no such thing as anonymity on the Internet, for the average user.”
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Even if the Internet were Kaspersky’s ideal police state, it wouldn’t help much. It would give law enforcement the ability to trace a crime back to the last compromised computer in the chain that was used to conduct the crime—an ability we already have, more or less. This computer would be the property of one Mr Joe Average, who would be completely oblivious to the crime. The major effect of pervasive identification would be to raise “identity fraud” to the number one slot on the cybercrime list, since anyone with half a clue would commit that crime before engaging in any other crime.
There’s no such thing as anonymity on the Internet, for the average user, but your typical organised cybercrime gang is way above average.