Anonymous (Photo credit: Schuilr)
There has been an understandable increase in the rise in security threats over the past decade. As a nation, we not only have to fear terrorists from afar, we now must deal with the ugly face of our own homegrown offenders. Because of recent events, the election and recent violence, gun sales have shot through the roof. The reason given by many is they believe their rights to purchase weapons will be taken away as well as the guns they already own. Interestingly, this debate does not seem to gather national attention unless it occurs in suburban areas of the country. There are many murders committed using guns which never gain national attention which brings to mind there are only certain types of threats which are given real attention.
For instance, there are many corporations, companies, banks, personal accounts, etc. that are hacked every day in our country. Just days ago, NASA’s “Space Your Face” web page was hacked by a hacker calling themselves “p0ison-r00t” who managed to upload some of their own text to the web site. Although this site is not as sensitive as NASA’s satellite monitoring and controlling infrastructure, the very fact that once again someone is able to gain access to government sites is disturbing. Within the last few weeks, Master Card’s blog site called Insights was hacked by “Syrian Electronic Army.” Of course, not all breaches of security represent completely bad intentions. The group calling itself “Anonymous” released information concerning an alleged rape that occurred in August in Steubenville, Ohio. A 16-year-old girl was allegedly drugged and raped by multiple attackers and ridiculed afterwards. Because of the drugs, she was completely unconscious and has no memory of the assault. But, the “rape crew” ensured the info was passed on to their friends and other obstructionists. The crew was part of the town’s popular football team and seemed to be given a pass for the incident. Because of a few reporters who would not let the story die, and Anonymous’ hack of information obtained from the perpetrator’s own computers and accounts (as well as one of the coaches), the story has gained national attention and hopefully the guilty parties will be brought to justice.
Do these events show we are less secure in all aspects of our lives and that we must take every action to protect ourselves? Yes and no. We should ensure we are able to protect ourselves, but that does not mean we should be armed like the Punisher or Robocop to get it done. We should also take as many precautionary measures as possible to secure our information to prevent anyone from stealing it. There are many people who believe we are on the brink of economic and democratic meltdown, and there is only a matter of time before anarchy spreads across the U.S. They are stocking up on food, water, and weapons in preparation for either the zombie apocalypse or the less fortunate raiding their stash in the event of a crisis. But, who can blame them? Unfortunately, no matter how many fun gadgets, movies, or games are invented, as long as there is no preparation, there will always be security concerns, and therefore, reason to worry.
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