IT Insights Blog — cybersecurity

Hackers are at it again — not that they ever really broke it off. Normally I don’t get too wound up about data breaches. Since no one ever e-mails me, I was OK when the hackers hit my Yahoo! account, and the breach of retail giant Target didn’t bother me personally since I’m not allowed to shop there anymore. But now they’ve gone too far!

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.

Today is a great day in the ongoing history of the United States. We just held our 58th presidential inauguration. It went off with pomp, dignity, more flags than you could count, and an absolute boatload of security.