Texas Tech University Health System reported a breach of their confidential systems in September of this year in a new filing.
The filing indicates that the protected information of more than 1.4 million patients was exposed and or removed from the computers compromised.
See what happened there?
You weren't even surprised. ZERO emotional response.
That's how you know the problem has gotten out of hand. Security posture in this country (regardless of sector) has been proven laughable time and again over the last 4 years.
That being said I have been thinking quite a bit lately about why our posture has slipped so perilously close to apathy...
Here are my thoughts, let me know yours:
Post WWII there was a cultural phenomenon in the "west". There was prosperity beyond compare resulting largely from the industrial innovation and efficiency fueled by the war. Couple that reality with the US governments desire to keep veterans employed with new and ever expanding social programs (on top of the never expired New Deal) and you have a fair amount of financial liquidity and the opportunity for upward mobility. The next century is full of one push button innovation after the next making our lives simpler and more efficient every step of the way.
Wonderful. Fantastic. But....
We innovated so fast that we never had the time to fully understand the repercussions of our progress. We enjoyed the new shiny thing (radio in homes) we were on to the next (television) and the next (space travel). For nearly 100 years we haven't slowed down not one second to consider if we need to make adjustments along the way to grapple with our new technical prowess. Cultural adjustments, social adjustments, parenting adjustments, governance etc...
Thus, in my opinion we have accidentally arrived at a place where we EXPECT ease and simplicity, and if we are not handed things that are push button ready we feel indignant.
Is that an oversimplification, sure, but hopefully with some additional well rounded thoughts of your own we arrive here.
The problem?
Security is largely about inconvenience, slowing down, following procedures and policies. Double checking, verifying, taking the time to make purposeful decisions. None of which fit naturally into the social emotional framework we have constructed.
Thus we are a soft target. Woops.
