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The Shellshock exploit in Linux/Unix. If you haven't heard about it yet you haven't visited a news site today. Yet another "11 on a scale of 1-10" security flaw in software being used by literally millions of computers all over the world.
This story is what journalists call a "standing head(line)", meaning you can just break out the last story you wrote on a similar topic (Heartbleed), change some words, ramp up the urgency and <boom> you have your article for the paper/website.
I'm only partly kidding about "End Times" and here's my point. I'm reading a pretty good apocalyptic thriller called One Second After (which I recommend, btw), which discusses the consequences of a EMP attack on the United States. This is that massive electric surge which would occur in the atmosphere as a "side effect" of exploding a nuke high up and supposedly would fry every electronic device within "line of sight" (however distant) of that explosion. In the book all electrical systems die instantly, planes crash, cars crash or stall, because every complex device contains hardware susceptible to such an attack.
What's interesting in the book the only automobiles which still run are ancient models restored by enthusiasts without any electronics in them whatsoever.
"End of Times" may seem far-fetched to some extent. I don't mean literally the return of the Anti-Christ and the final battle between "good" and "evil" or anything like that. What I mean is a gradual roll-back of our utter dependence on digital devices and the Internet.
If you doubt, consider this: PC World recently had an article advising small businesses what to do about PCI compliance issues involving their credit card processing machines. PCI compliance is the requirement that every business which processes credit cards electronically has to jump thru some very high hoops to prove that their hardware and internal systems meet high standards of security in how they handle customer data. I say HIGH because it's clear even companies like Home Depot, Target (AND SONY!) are unable to meet or maintain those standards.
What was PC World's advice for small businesses? They suggested going back to authorizing credit cards with phone lines instead of Internet---and even went further to suggest considering going back to the old "ka-ching!" swipe machines and hand-written paper copies of sales slips. Now isn't that an example of "throwing in the towel" when it comes to relying upon our new digital world to get better and better at taking care of all our needs??
I bet some of you are too young to even REMEMBER when the sales clerk used to put your card on top of a multi-part NCR ("No Carbon Required") form and imprint your info onto the form by "swiping" the machine over the card.
It's very very hard for someone in China or Russia to hack into a paper copy of a credit card transaction.
Ah, the good ole days...
Thoughts?
This story is what journalists call a "standing head(line)", meaning you can just break out the last story you wrote on a similar topic (Heartbleed), change some words, ramp up the urgency and <boom> you have your article for the paper/website.
I'm only partly kidding about "End Times" and here's my point. I'm reading a pretty good apocalyptic thriller called One Second After (which I recommend, btw), which discusses the consequences of a EMP attack on the United States. This is that massive electric surge which would occur in the atmosphere as a "side effect" of exploding a nuke high up and supposedly would fry every electronic device within "line of sight" (however distant) of that explosion. In the book all electrical systems die instantly, planes crash, cars crash or stall, because every complex device contains hardware susceptible to such an attack.
What's interesting in the book the only automobiles which still run are ancient models restored by enthusiasts without any electronics in them whatsoever.
"End of Times" may seem far-fetched to some extent. I don't mean literally the return of the Anti-Christ and the final battle between "good" and "evil" or anything like that. What I mean is a gradual roll-back of our utter dependence on digital devices and the Internet.
If you doubt, consider this: PC World recently had an article advising small businesses what to do about PCI compliance issues involving their credit card processing machines. PCI compliance is the requirement that every business which processes credit cards electronically has to jump thru some very high hoops to prove that their hardware and internal systems meet high standards of security in how they handle customer data. I say HIGH because it's clear even companies like Home Depot, Target (AND SONY!) are unable to meet or maintain those standards.
What was PC World's advice for small businesses? They suggested going back to authorizing credit cards with phone lines instead of Internet---and even went further to suggest considering going back to the old "ka-ching!" swipe machines and hand-written paper copies of sales slips. Now isn't that an example of "throwing in the towel" when it comes to relying upon our new digital world to get better and better at taking care of all our needs??
I bet some of you are too young to even REMEMBER when the sales clerk used to put your card on top of a multi-part NCR ("No Carbon Required") form and imprint your info onto the form by "swiping" the machine over the card.
It's very very hard for someone in China or Russia to hack into a paper copy of a credit card transaction.
Ah, the good ole days...
Thoughts?
