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paying attention to cyber security

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2019.06.25

In a discussion on cyber security breaches, someone referenced an incident in Baltimore. I had to ask to what recent Baltimore incident was he referring? The ransomware incident? Or the breach of the 9/11 system? Or the theft of city employee data? Or maybe something else?

Having worked in the field, I find it amazing that we now take these things for granted, and that they're so common we need clarification when discussing incidents. My friend mentioned the Baltimore incident (it was the ransomware attack that he had in mind) to highlight that these things are becoming serious and that our response - handing people with limited institutional power a checkbox to complete - hasn't worked.

rand()m quote

I'd see the publicity guy come on the set and I'd go hide in the rafters. The crew would be like, ‘I haven't seen him.' And then they'd leave and I'd go back to work. Because that's what's fun: the doing, not the talking.

—Kurt Russell