I am sick and tired of cyber security fear mongers hijacking so many technical discussions. Even meetings on STEM education seem to always devolve into a discussion on CyberSecurity. The last time this happened to me it reminded me of what it was like back in 1998 and 1999 when IT Consultants were spreading fear in order to charge huge fees to solve problems with the Y2K that many programs had. So I asked the question “Is ‘cybersecurity’ the Y2K of this generation?” and if the hysteria being spread is actually bad for solving these real and serious problems.
As we’ve seen, the threat of cyberattacks is not some abstract problem; it’s a real threat to our nation and our businesses. With each passing day, we learn more about the sophistication and intent of the attackers. For example, we’ve seen a number of malicious spam campaigns using “spearphishing” tactics in recent months, using forged emails and phishing campaigns to trick their targets into disclosing information or clicking on malicious attachments.
