Posts About Trust
Who Needs a Website?
I am asked this question so often, “Who needs a website?" Back in the late 1990s I started designing websites under the name of “Instant Web Pages”, to introduce small business owners to the new Internet. Websites were just getting going then and not a lot of...
Deception as a Cyber-Defense
Deception as a Cyber-Defense In a recent article I talked about how governments are adjusting their approach to collecting signals intelligence data in the fight against national enemies – both terrorists and unfriendly states. What about private companies and...
Bulk Equipment Interference
I remember a time when encryption standards were controlled by the government. The respective national information security agencies would not allow the export of software (or hardware) that contained new encryption algorithms (formulas) unless the software/hardware maker could provide the agency with a “key” to break the code.
Those days are gone. Computers have progressed so much that hackers can create their own encryption algorithms on the fly without any outsiders being given a key or an export license.
How do hackers get in?
Governments and most major companies have installed
extensive cyber security defenses. However their weakest links are the
contractors and independent devices that have links into their computer
networks.
These smaller contractors often do not invest in cyber
security at the same levels and many of the independent devices have little or no
security.
Do you use Google Chrome?
Have you noticed that many of the smaller websites you visit using Chrome now carry the admonition of “not secure”? These websites have not changed, Chrome has changed.
Elections and Cybersecurity
99% of votes in the USA are either cast or counted by computers. We have invested in computerized elections because they reduce miscounts, help voters with disabilities, improve access to voting for rural voters, and speed up delivery of results. That’s goodness. Unfortunately, we have NOT invested in strong security for our computerized elections.
Will the Russians again meddle in the upcoming American elections?
I’m sure they will.
And why shouldn’t they? Especially when we do the same thing all the time.
Problems cannot be solved…
…without breaking them down into issues.
Like so many other things in life, problem solving activities have an “80-20 Rule”. To correctly address problems, spend 80% on your time on the problem and 20% of your time on the solution. Most people do it the other way around
Knowledge is Power
You, the parents and taxpayers, have the right to speak out at the Board meetings. Go and exercise your rights. As citizens, you also have the right to vote in WOCCISD elections. Go and exercise your rights.
You also have the right to remain silent…and accept the status quo.
How will YOU vote for the $25 million bond issue? Where are YOUR priorities? What’s important to you as a parent, and/or a taxpayer? Early voting starts in just a few weeks on October 22nd.
Where there’s smoke there could be fire.
At a recent school district meeting, an unnamed district employee, in relation to people raising issues about the district’s recent grades from the Texas Education Agency, was quoted in the local paper as saying, “Don’t listen to the noise”. Is that all the district hears when its constituents identify problem?