GIULIANI: Big Brother is Always Watching, and He’s Not Who You Think

“Personal privacy –a thing of the past,” says former NYC mayor

BY KATHY KAHN

There’s something lurking above you: “The Cloud.”

“That’s where everything is stored today,” former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani told business owners and cyber-security staff from West Point Military Academy at an event hosted by the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation on October 1.

Speaking to a group of 150 business owners from around the Hudson Valley, Giuliani said changing times call for changing the way businesses and individuals protect professional and personal information and assets.

“Before the Internet, security was a safe that couldn’t be moved with security guards around it. Now everything is in ‘the Cloud,’ and all the measures taken before the age of the Internet aren’t going to keep businesses or people’s personal information secure.”

Saying identity theft was fastest-growing crime in the nation, Giuliani, president and chief executive officer of Giuliani & Partners since leaving his mayoral post in January, 2002, said the U.S. military is the best and most prepared for cyber threats because, “They’ve been at it long enough and keep up with the times…the rest of the government is not,” he told the audience.

“People have been lulled into a false sense of security by credit card companies, who typically will only hold them responsible for the first $50 if their card is stolen and it is reported immediately. It’s a write-off for the companies, but it is not protecting vital information: your Social Security number, your birthday, your parents’ names—all of this information is stored by governmental agencies and others in ‘The Cloud’—and typically, any hacker who is any good can get into your personal and financial statistics in about eight minutes with the right information,” said the former NYC mayor.

Rather than expecting the government to protect Americans’ private information, as well as provide security for the business community, “This is a job that needs to be done by the private sector, because the private sector can create miracles. Government can only do a somewhat adequate job.”

Citing the changing job market and growing permanent unemployment, Giuliani said the need for trained cyber-security agents is a market that could put the United States back on the map as an industry leader. “Our manufacturing jobs have gone offshore, as have other businesses. This is one business we can grow and perhaps help America’s economy by creating jobs.”

  consumer fraud, cyber security, Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, military security, national security, Rudy Giuliani, september 11, terrorist attacks, west point