We are hearing in the news of quite a few companies and government departments getting "hacked", with personal data from us customers, employees, and constituents getting stolen. Just recently, the city of Akron, OH had their Bureau of Taxation "hacked" with information from filers stolen too. With few exceptions, public statements telling us that we need to go in and change passwords, and to make sure that we are using secure passwords - including helpful information on how to create one - are trotted out.
Wait a minute! WE didn't get hacked, YOU did. WE were collateral damage! Why don't YOU make sure your systems are more secure so WE don't have to worry about our passwords getting stolen?!?
Me? I'm a little tired of the "pass the buck" mentality. Sure, we need to make sure our passwords are secure, but we need passwords to access YOUR systems. Just make sure you keep YOUR doors secure as well.
© Emittravel 2013
I do get a bit annoyed because I might have "had" a strong password that is now compromised because their system was infiltrated...
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the reasons I'm against the push to put everything in the 'cloud'. We can't even keep bank, tax and government sites secure. Why on Earth would I trust my stuff in the cloud?
ReplyDeleteAnd call me a conspiracy nut, but you gotta' believe that behind this breach is some bureaucrat or politician trying to make a name for themselves by reducing costs - to the point that the security of a government website is left to someone who just learned how to spell 'HTML'.