Internet Security? Who Really Gives A Damn!

I noticed this morning, that USA Today (TechnologyLive), had linked back to an article I wrote earlier this year on SlimWare Utilities ( tools designed to clean up, and maintain, computer systems).

At the risk of sounding ungrateful (which I’m not), I would have  much preferred that they had linked back to an article dealing with computer security. Allow me to draw an analogy to explain this – an article on “How to Upgrade Your Kitchen”, has limited value if crooks have just stolen the kitchen sink.

The reality is – we are immersed in a mess that has reached virtually unmanageable proportions. We are now at a full blown crisis stage vis a vis Internet security.

The tech speak, which this situation engenders, reminds me in a sense of the political rhetoric we are constantly exposed to – everyone has identified the real problem/no one has identified the real problem; everyone has a problem solution/no one has a solution, everyone seems to discuss it/no one truly discusses it. The end result? It appears as if no one seems to give a damn. So, we just keep on piling up the victims of cyber crime.

Finger pointing, and finger wagging, is the order of the day. It’s the developers fault; it’s the users’ fault; it’s the very nature of the backbone of  the Internet; it’s the lack of effective law enforcement; it’s the lack of truly effective security applications; Internet security is a business, so it’s unlikely anyone is going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg; …………… Round and round it goes.

I continue to shake my head in wonderment over the kafuffle caused by the BlackBerry conflict with Middle East countries requesting access to encrypted BlackBerry corporate email services.

The truth of the matter is – on a broad scale, the number of people affected is miniscule, as compared to the number of people impacted by cyber crime EVERY day.  Yet, this is one story that won’t go away – one that is constantly updated by mainstream media.

Criminal activity, on the other hand, that has substantial impact on consumers, business, and government (think Stuxnet), continues to get short shift. Talk about reality displacement!

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