Security

Two friends of mine have had their email accounts hacked into and hijacked.  This has happened within the past 6 months.  Both have had bizarre messages sent to many in their email address books, messages that are clearly bogus.  One explained that she had taken an unexpected trip to London, had not told anyone, but had lost her wallet and needed money to get back home.  “Please send money”.  The language of the note was clearly not hers, as it was certainly written by someone for whom English was not their native language.  The most recent was a colleague from work, whose personal email was hijacked, and the message was simply a link which sounded like something she might have sent as a joke, but which was actually for a Canadian drug company, whose page for Viagra and Cialis came up when you clicked the link. 

It amazes me.  We have had the internet for how long now?  The email providers are designed and run  by the most highly trained and technologically sophisticated computer nerds we’ve got. If we were to have a threat level for our computer security systems, we would be at level red.

 And yet, we don’t have a built-in security system on our basic software  programs which would stop this.  It is reliant on the user to continuously update, to purchase the latest and greatest of malware and security updates.  We are advised to make up convoluted passwords that we can never remember. Then we keep them all on a list in the drawer of our desk, or on sticky notes plastered to the computer screen. Many people can’t do it, and just use their name spelled backwards, their dog’s name, or the numbers 123456 (or, if they are feeling tricky, 654321).  In other words, there is a market to make money from the prevention of hacking.

I admit that my sophistication about computers is very low.  I am like the car owner who just puts in the gas and goes.  But that means that I am the exact target market for both the hackers and the software companies.  It seems to me that there is an inherent conflict of interest in the prevention of hacking…..if it becomes totally prevented, the market to prevent hacking will disappear.  And, of course, this appears to be the preferred business model.

Luckily, neither of my friends suffered anything  more than the embarrassment of their father-in-law receiving a Viagra ad, or having to explain 100 times that no, she did not take a secret trip to London.  But it could have been much worse. 

Why, oh you who are experts in this area, are there not software programs which prevent this type of intrusion into our cyberspace automatically included in the basic package?  Why has no one been able to design a program that can do this, and is, if needed,  updated without action from the owner?  To me, a member of the technologically illiterate masses, it would seem that it should be relatively easy for you smart ones to come up with such a system. 

Keep me secure.  Bring the threat level down to green. Just do it.  I don’t want to think about it.  I want to be able to just turn on my computer and go.

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