5 ms·
Good. I'd rather have an infosec-competent government than one that's an open book to foreign adversaries. The last few months have been embarrassing. We had o
by dcposch 10y ago
Good.
I'd rather have an infosec-competent government than one that's an open book to foreign adversaries. The last few months have been embarrassing. We had one top official run their own email server out of a private basement in suburban New York, unsecured and unmonitored. We had John Podesta, seventy years old, fall for a Russian phishing scheme that involved downloading an executable email attachment, presumably clicking thru the warning and running it anyway.
In the wake of that, political officials may have been scared into caring about infosec. We may be winning the fight against apathy and incompetence -- but we are still losing the fight against hypocrisy.
--
Both the current and previous administrations are full of powerful people who want privacy and security for themselves, while denying the same to the citizens they serve.
The previous administration promised, in 2008, to be the most transparent ever. It proceeded to have an abysmal record with respect to whistleblower prosecution, government transparency, and FOIA obstruction. The new administration looks likely to be even worse.
Laws like the Snoopers Charter, recently passed in the UK, cast an ominous shadow over the whole American security profession. Thoroughly nontechnical old men run our government. We must convince them and the public that strong encryption with no backdoors is critical both for national security and for the preservation of our First Amendment rights.
Call your senators and call your representative. Demand better.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ComputerGuru 10y ago> We had John Podesta, seventy years old, fall for a Russian phishing scheme that involved downloading an executable email attachment, presumably clicking thru the warning and running it anyway What does Podesta's age have to do with anything at all??
- dcposch 10y agoLike it or not, computer illiteracy has had a major effect on recent political events.
- acdha 10y agoTalking to teachers is eye-opening: younger kids are more comfortable with a few specific tasks but on average they're no better than their parents, especially when it comes to things like security[1]. We need a combination of country-wide education and the equivalent of UL/Consumer Reports for buying advice. 1. my wife did have a student protest the no phones in class ban so he could login with Google Authenticator, so it's not like there aren't exceptions.
- jdormit 10y ago> Thoroughly non-technical old men run our government. I took it as implying that old people tend to be less technically savvy (although as the hackers of last generation age this is increasingly untrue).
- m3rc 10y agoA huge number of Trump's staff all run private email servers. Just because things aren't as publicized doesn't mean they're not still problems.
- dcposch 10y agoFirst, who? Evidence please. Second: > The new administration looks likely to be even worse
- m3rc 10y agohttp://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316130-trump-wh-senior-staff-have-private-email-accounts-report http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316130-trump-wh-s... Try googling next time