IT Insights Blog — certification

More than 30 years ago, when lap top computers were the size of suitcases, I was a finalist for an important position in our nation’s capital. I wanted the job bad. One evening, the man I would be working for called and asked whether I knew how to use computers. His question caught me off guard, because I’d never seriously used one. I was stunned.

There are two kinds of people in this world — those who like standardized tests, and those who hate them. It’s safe to say that those who perform well on standardized tests are those who like them — those who perform poorly on these tests are usually embarrassed by their scores, and therefore hate the tests.

As someone who has had his identity stolen, I’m a big fan of cybersecurity. Please don’t accuse me of physically abusing a deceased equine. I know I’ve written on this topic a number of times before, but it’s important. Besides, beating a dead horse is an idiom that means “to continue in an endeavor that is a waste of time since the outcome has already been decided.” The outcome of the cybersecurity war is still very much in question.

In these turbulent times, a company without well trained security professionals is like the 2017 NBA All-Star Game — an onslaught of attackers and zero defense.

Hey, remember the data breach, announced last year, that compromised 500 million user Yahoo! user accounts? Remember how Yahoo! followed that up by announcing a second, separate incident that involved 1 billion compromised accounts? In case either of those slipped your mind, on Wednesday Yahoo! announced that they “may have” experienced yet another data breach. Naturally enough, perhaps, Yahoo! laid these nefarious deeds at the doorstep of state-sponsored hackers. They didn’t name any particular countries, but cybersecurity experts are pointing the finger of blame at either China or Russia.