Information Security/Cyber Security

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/threat-spectacular-cyberattack-looms-official-185505164.html;_ylt=AotMcHbqlggVcFMe.957QkaiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTQ2N2JvbjJxBG1pdANDTkJDIEZlYXR1cmUgMgRwa

Ok, so I put that link in a draft a few weeks ago, fully intending on writing something about it sooner. I haven't gotten back to it until now, in the midst of watching "Live Free or Die Hard" again. For those of you not familiar with this movie, there is plenty to find on the Internet, so I will only say that it's about my line of work. I also checked them out today, and I find something very alarming here. References to the movie, which came out in 2007, cite sources that are even older , some even predate 9/11, and detail concern over an attack vector similar in nature. Fast forward to today, and the article above, and you can clearly see that not much has really changed in the minds of those that have the power to make a difference. Sure, there are good things being done, new government agencies, regulation proposals and updates, but underneath all that is still the same skepticism that was present back then. I'm not as concerned about the government end here, they seem to be on board now, albeit typically slow in getting things moving, no, I'm very concerned about industry here. Within the last year, a cyber security bill has been put forth to protect the nations critical infrastructure, but it has failed to pass. I can only assume that lobbyists and special interest groups are purposely trying to make the bill fail, and that leads right back to the industries that the bill is trying to protect in the first place.

We can read headlines that are indicators that there is a growing threat, the nations leaders are actively saying this, yet the CEO's and senior management of the industries that most certainly will fall first are still resistant. Now let us suppose that the U.S. fails to protect this before an attack happens, what about the other nations? Once a successful attack happens, there is no way that the attacker would stop there. No, just like conventional warfare, they would then take the next step and take down another nation, then another, then another. We, the protectors of networks, have a global responsibility, not just a local one.

Air travel

I realized something today that I have missed for at least a year and a half. I get anxious about flying, to the point that I am highly sensitive to my emotions. Those that know me would say that I'm normally in control about my emotions. I will have to pay much closer attention to this in the future to see which emotions are most common. This trip I felt extremely lonely and missed my family before I even left the house for the airport.

TSA had their say again. No surprise this time, because I had forgotten about the new pocket knife that I had added to my right pocket with my companies logo on it. Not a big loss, and understandable this time, still, it seems that they are really picky. Maybe that is a sign that they are doing a good job?

Got to my destination, and my rental car company was short on cars, so I got the silver Ford Mustang 5.0 they had left. I've been dreaming about this for a while, because they often give me cars that are upgrades from what I've reserved, but it wasn't the experience I was expecting.

Day 2 was better, actually enjoyed the mustang, and had a productive day at work. Still missed the family, and tried hard not to stress about the flight home. Think it worked, even though the closer I got to flight time, I did notice some unusual behavior.

During the flight I had an episode that concerned me a bit. It had happened only once before, but not quite this bad. Once the plane reached altidute, the right side of my face went completely numb, to the point that I couldn't even close my right eye. I put my head back and tried to relax, but couldn't get any feeling back. I was starting to get a little anxious and concerned, when my stomach started to heave. I grabbed the air sickness bag and punched the attendant call button. It stopped shortly after I regained feeling in my face. After the plane landed, I called the wife and she was able to do a little research online. The most likely explanation is that my sinuses were blocked, causing the pressure to build up at altitude and compress a nerve, making my face numb. My ear had probably also not equalized either, causing the nausea. Throwing up may have caused both to equalize with the altitude and stop the problems, because it immediately got better and I gave no residual effects a day later. Bottom line is I should not ignore allergy medication during trips and be extremely cautious about flying with a stopped up nose.