Saturday, April 21, 2012

April is the Cruelest Month for Critical Infrastructure Security


We have none other than T. S. Eliot to thank for the prescient and uncannily accurate observation he made 90 years ago. Of course he was probably referring to something else ... I can tell you if you really want to know.

As my brother from another mother Earl Perkins just noted in a Waste Land-esque post yesterday, hoards of self-appointed guardians of realm have decided that it's time to call out the government and corporate conspiracies behind the grid modernization movement. Those scheming elites who either by design, or negligence, are setting us up for a future that would make Cormac McCarthy's The Road look like a stroll though Disneyland.

Perkins, just a hair's breadth away from boiling over, says: "Alright, that’s enough!"

And continues:
I cannot pick up a news feed or peruse a blog about ... industrial control security (e.g. securing the electric power grid, water, transportation, intelligent health care systems, etc.) without reading yet another story about how life as we know it will end any day now once mysterious governments and other dark elements of the Underworld wreak havoc on our comfortable lives. They will hack into nuclear power plants and cause meltdowns, they will control transportation systems and airport control towers and cause wrecks to occur and planes to crash, they will pollute the rivers and shut off the power, they will etc. etc. etc.
Alarmist people, please chill out. Why not use your energy for something more constructive? Take a photography class. Learn how to bake. Re-connect with family. Bike across Europe. 

Alarmists, I bet if you were around when our innovative ancestors were putting the finishing touches on the first wheels, you would have shouted that this technology would eventually lead to deadly cart, then chariot, then coach and car crashes. And certainly the mobility wheels would enable would threaten our privacy.

Alarmists, I can sympathize. Like you, I sometimes feel anxious. Spring-time stirs my dull roots too with memory and desire. But hey, let's use that energy to build and to secure. Not to tear down.

Listen, Earl's a reasonable man, but you don't want to see him when he's angry. Here's his post in FULL. Have a peaceful weekend all.

Image credit: Pieter Breugel via Exploring "The Waste Land"