Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, compares current cyber fears to Cold War hysteria

Cyberattacks are causing as much panic today as the possibility of a nuclear attack did during the Cold War, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told interviewers in Australia on Monday.

“We used to fear the atomic bomb when I was young, and you used to come home from school and sirens would go off for a test on every corner,” the 65-year-old computer pioneer said during an appearance on Lateline that this week on Australia’s ABC television network. “Now we fear all the cyberattacks and hacking. What’s the next one we’re going to hear about?

“Is one going to come close to me? Is it going to hit me? Could they really take out our electrical system, turn off our internet, how far can it go? And it’s getting worse and worse year by year, not better and better,” he added.

Although “The Woz,” as he’s widely known, left Apple ages before the tech titan released its signature iPhone in 2007, he told Lateline that the current dispute between the Department of Justice and Apple could set a dangerous precedent if the government is allowed to cite national security concerns in order to compel companies into designing products that can be compromised.

The Justice Department in February asked a District Court judge in California to force Apple to subvert its own security measures so investigators could access data off a suspected terrorist’s iPhone, but eventually relented after being assisted by a third-party that successfully hacked the device.

With similar cases still open elsewhere, however, Mr. Wozniak said the Justice Department has set its sights on Apple’s iPhone because the government wants to “force them to manufacturer it [their] way so that it gives up security.”

“And cybersecurity is the greatest threat we have now,” he added. “Cybersecurity means you’ve got to develop computers and products that are secure, and that’s ultimately important.”

“What if the FBI was able to go to any company, any time they felt like it and said you have to build a product our way? I don’t think that’s right,” Mr. Wozniak added.

“[People] have a right to private things. I’ve a right to private thoughts, too. I don’t want somebody knowing how I feel about certain things, that’s who I am, and we’ve got to retain a bit of our humanness.”