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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

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

—Abraham Lincoln