The Edward Snowden revelations simply reinforce, in a big way, what information security experts have been warning of for years, says Haroon Meer, founder of Thinkst.

"Because it's major news that cannot be avoided, states and enterprises are now paying serious attention to issues we have been warning them about for over a decade," says Meer. "It has forced into public consciousness the notions of privacy and the Internet, and served as a wake-up call for states, politicians and economic powerhouses."

Meer says the leaks point to the vulnerable position technology consumers find themselves in.

"South Africa is largely a technology consumer. So, we can hope that a realisation will grow that you cannot simply buy more imported technology to address vulnerabilities. The leaks point to the need for more home-grown technology and the need to grow local ecosystems. We can only hope to see governments like South Africa seeing a need to step in and support the growth of a home-grown technology industry."

SA's support of the open source movement also puts it in the fortunate position that it would be easier to wean the state off imported technology, he says. "We could use open source to build ecosystems to help us out of this mess," says Meer.

He says this is not because such software is inherently more secure than its closed source alternatives, but because it offers interesting possibilities for developing nations to catch up quickly.

For enterprises, the Snowden revelations have underlined real threats that information security professionals have been warning business management about for years, says Meer.

"For a long time, security people have had trouble convincing management that well-funded and organised attackers are targeting their data. Now, there is a growing realisation of the value of data and the responsibility businesses have for protecting data."

Meer will address the upcoming ITWeb Security Summit – which takes place at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg from 27 to 29 May – on the impact of the Snowden revelations, and their relevance for SA.

He will highlight the most interesting and damaging case studies, as well as their implications and possible solutions. For more information about this event, click here.

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Leigh Angelo
011 869 9153
leigh@tradeprojects.co.za