IT Insights Blog — security

When discussing the overall state of information security, it's commonplace to suggest that everyone is at risk, and that hackers will eventually manage to get past anything put in place to stop them. Commentators frequently assert that the question is not whether this or that business or organization will be hacked, but when the hack will occur. It's a gloomy worldview that sometimes feels not just pessimistic, but wholly defeatist, in a "What's the use in even trying" sort of way.

It's funny how we attach romantic allure to things that aren't really all that appealing. Take pirates, for example. Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, because sometimes people are silly like that. And, yes, pirates as they exist in pop culture, as well as in the popular imagination, have a distinctive and amusing way of talking. And sometimes we probably all want to say more things using fun S-words like "scurvy," and "scalawag," and "scurrilous."

There's a new film about Mary Stuart, better known as Mary, Queen of Scots, that's set to be released on Dec. 7, exactly three months from today. Creatively titled Mary Queen of Scots, the historical epic will feature Irish-American actress Saoirse Ronan as Mary, and Australian actress Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth I, who was consistently antagonized by Mary's Catholic loyalists and survived numerous plots intended to elevate Mary in her place.

Tomorrow is World Password Day. I mean, we guess it is. That's what everyone is saying, at any rate. And since we here at the IT Insights Blog are suckers for a good official or even semi-official day — or, you know, maybe we're just shameless go-alongers — we have climbed aboard the World Password Day Express, and we invite you to join us, because this train is leaving the station.

For people who are not independently wealthy, retirement is no sure thing. Not the way that, say, death and taxes are. It's like you can't quit your job before you die because you had to pay so much in taxes that you never managed to save anything for retirement. This upbeat outlook brought to you by the Center for Positivity, Optimism, and Hopeful Platitudes.