WannaCry, or WannaLearn?

Unless you are living under a rock (with no WiFi), you are sure to have heard about the biggest cyberattack known to mankind, which is still wreaking havoc as this article is being typed.

Did it ever happened to you when you were a kid, that a parent or teacher reprimanded you for getting hurt while doing something dumb? It would probably have sounded like this:

"See what happens?!" or even worse... "I told you so."

That added a particular sting to the skinned knees or whatever other minor flesh wound of boyhood I endured as a result to poor choices while at play.

Fast forward a few years, and here we are - grown adults, professionals, community members, family people. We are all supposed to be more serious now, having learned from our mistakes, and hopefully even from the mistakes of others. We are now living in the age of responsibility and consequences - the stakes are higher, people depend on us. Wisdom rarely arrives instantly, we need to learn to learn from the world around us. Seek mentors, role models, stand on the shoulders of giants - or at least learn to tell the people who generate drag or lift apart from each other.

OK, this prelude is getting painfully long - I'll jump right into it.

Google has the highest security standards of any tech company I know. I will not go too deeply into how insanely secure the Google Cloud is (I did a short writeup on this last year) - I will just leave it at saying that these guys have their bases more than covered.

Heard of Google Project Zero? They are a league of Googler white-hat hackers that keep us all safe, making the world a better place. All day they look for vulnerabilities. They go beyond making sure that Google's security environment continues to be "eat off the floor" clean, they also look into Microsoft products, Apple, DropBox, everything...

If they find bugs/vulnerabilities, they notify the company at fault (ie: Microsoft). If they do nothing about it within 90 days, they disclose it publicly, causing a fun-to-watch-while-munching-popcorn humiliation in the process. This is brilliant, because it rises the tide for the entire industry - all these companies now have to step their game up for us to live in a more secure place.

Just like we as people have become dependent on technology, so has society and the major institutions that touch all our lives. The viruses of yesteryear were annoying, the cyberattacks of today are devastating. Today's technology increases the power of both those who attack and those who defend - at an ever-increasing rate.

One would hope for this cyber-arms-race to be controlled by the "good guys". But let's not be simplistic, this is surely a more complex issue than a caricature of the white hat hackers vs. the black hat hackers.

This is not so much about good vs. evil - it is more about responsible vs. irresponsible. Greedy vs. good citizen. Careful vs. sloppy. The truth remains that there is little we (the general public) can do to stop against attacks of this magnitude, but there are measures we can take to prevent it from affecting us. In the meantime we can hope for the IT giants to collaborate with each other as a united front, a coalition of the competent, so that they can stay two steps ahead of the cybercriminals - and if they ever find a cybervillain skilled enough to put them on their toes... then neutralize the threat by hiring them, and paying them a super cushy salary as their Site Reliability Engineer.

Conclusion for the regular folks like you and I:

WannaCry is a harsh reminder that the world is changing, very quickly. The world is changing faster than we are willing to adapt to it. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves why we do things a certain way... and if the answer is "well... because we have always done it this way." or "I dunno, go ask your mother" or something of the sort - then we really need to step back and evaluate whether it is worth to learn another way.

Here is my question to you:

What do you use your personal computer for?

I am willing to bet everything in my wallet that 90% of people would say "Internet". For work we will use word processors, spreadsheets whatnot. We might use an email client. But the bulk of what the bulk of us will do will be on the Internet. With tools such as G Suite (formerly Google Apps) you can do away with Microsoft Office / Outlook. For the vast majority of people today, there is simply no need for a PC with a Windows operating system, the lion's share of Mac users could also be "cutting butter with a chainsaw". You do not need it*. The Windows operating system is a problem. Working only with files that are stored locally in your computer or local server is risky, impractical and expensive.

In my humble opinion, the only 100% safe OS out there is the Chrome OS. It is Google-grade security, easy to deploy organization-wide, and to keep current and ticking along without ever having any problems. Just check out today's higher end Chromebooks, the hardware and apps available are getting better every day. You would save money and headaches by just going to the cloud. Put all your info in Google Drive - accessible from any of your devices, secure, and easy to use. You will then just chuckle and shake your head when people are running around because they got "locked out of their hard drives by the bad guys".

Just go to the cloud. I know it is a huge change for many... "because we have always used the Windows system". But we need to smell the coffee and realize that Microsoft was not born in the cloud, and has done a very poor job at adapting its technology to the increasingly demanding standards of today.

As much as you love the familiarity of what using your computer has always felt like to you - please know there is a better way out there. But hey, it is your decision. I am not here to force anyone to do anything they are not comfortable with. At least do yourself a favour and always download the latest service pack/patches.

But if you ever become a victim to ransomeware, cryptoworms, trojan horses, LOIC, or whatever the heck the NSA comes up with next... there might be a little voice in your head that tells you: "I told you so!"

If you need a helping hand to safely and easily migrate to the Cloud, feel free to reach out to me. CloudLion will do the heavy lifting and accompany you every step of the way.

Stay safe!

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*Of course there are many who need to do graphic design, with programs such as Illustrator, Photoshop. Or 3D renderings, sound engineering or music production. Yes. 100% yes. You know you need a computer, be it Mac, Alienware or anything of your choosing. But this may likely change in the near future.