We are moving from a static to a more dynamic Web in terms of what information is out there, what infrastructure it sits on, and how quickly it moves around the Web.
This is according to Allen Baranov, SABMiller information security analyst, in his presentation during the ITWeb Security Summit, held at the Sandton Convention Centre this week.
'Web 5.0' is Baranov's terminology for computer services distributed across a number of untrusted devices.
He explained that Web 5.0 refers to a Web made from a loose collection of PCs, each hosting part of the total data collected in the world. It works in a similar way to a botnet.
“The main security risk in this scenario is data leakage, and I don't think we can effectively protect against data leakage; even today where we don't have much in the way of Web 5.0,” said Baranov.
“There are very few examples of this at the moment but it is a tempting technology because, just as cloud computing users share infrastructure to create efficiencies, [Web 5.0] would be a much more radical way of using untrusted infrastructure to create massive efficiencies.”
“Botnets are a prime example of this technology; as the hosts are always changing, their connections are always changing and the botnet 'owner' does not know who owns the underlying infrastructure of their net but doesn't really care.
“Despite the 'liquidity' of the network, the purpose remains the same and all hosts on the network are aware of their purpose and respond accordingly,” he added.
Baranov pointed to the presentation by Caroline Wong, strategic security manager for Zynga Game Networks, who spoke about how some information should be secured in the public cloud, while the sensitive information is left on-premise.
“Some Zynga information should never hit the Web, such as their customer information and secret plans. But other information; such as game information, can move onto the Internet,” explained Baranov.
He pointed to another speaker alluding to something similar, where something like information whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks is created on multiple 'always-changing' hosts, and where when one is shut down, another pops up.
Web 5.0 technology could possibly have serious security implications, he said. “Once information hits this kind of network, getting it out again would be impossible.”
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