Security – Does it Exist?
Security is the buzzword everywhere. From cell to celestial the same question – What about Security? From Medical to Travel – Comment on Security? People are paranoid to go out, do things, take decisions without considering the aspects of security. Security comes before planning, in planning and after plans … Its a part of one’s life, office, personal self or professional front. Everywhere is the question of security whether that be personal, relational, assets or data security, information or just for God’s sake His own security of existence in beliefs and within us (Religion vs. Science). But turning the clock a little back, was there so much sense of security in early days, or decades ago? Were people so much concerned? Even that time there were robbers, thugs, criminals etc. So, why much of hype now? Is it because of fear or is it just precautionary?
The market of security multiplied over the years as the data criticality & sensitivity grew exponentially. Moreover, the Internet wired everything in the web thus giving anyone, anywhere access. Good people, bad people all with the same resources, same tools – some knowing their use, and other just trying to get something out of it. Not only the virtual security, even physical security have jumped to new heights for the same reason – the assets are more precious and its like guarding all the eggs, the gold eggs. Guards replaced with passwords, further with Fingerprints or even Facial/Voice/Retina scans or may be DNA scan in future or something more reserved to an individual.
But still, there are hacks possible, the hack which would result in greater destruction not only to the assets but to the owner. Decades back, a hack would have resulted in loss of information or material which now would cause loss of identity to the owner or may be worse! Imagine a data centre holding fingerprint records, or retina scan records to match with. And, some fine day due to a hack, the same scan record is then matched with that of a terrorist. Means, you are now a criminal, coz your identity says that.
Let us take Media into picture now. What is media responsible these days? For creating hype and pre shocks and post consolations + controversies here and there. Journalism has changed the outlook of society. Anyways, that’s a different topic to discuss but one gift of media is the superstitions of security and defence. Someone once mentioned "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature… Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." Nowadays, even if you lock inside a bunker you are not guaranteed “safety”. I ask this question to the ones who boast a lot about security and 100% effectiveness – Do you offer an insurance to my data if my infrastructure gets hacked/attacked/infected ? The answer is an obvious “No”. None can precedent on the upcoming threats, and unseen challenges in this www world. So, what do you say about the offerings of security? They are just defensive measures against the challenges which are threatening the market today, and predicted outcomes of the existing vulnerabilities in society.
… more to come.