HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2015-09-09, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, September 9, 2015
1
www.clintonnewsrecord.com
NewsCl
Record
PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860
53 Albert St.
P.O. Box 39 Clinton ON NOM 1L0
(519) 482-3443
www.clintonnewsrecord.com
gyp] POSTMEDIA
MARIE DAVID
Group Advertising Director -
Grey Bruce Huron Division
519376-2250ext514301 or510364-2001ext531024
19
NEIL CLIFFORD
Advertising Director
neil.clifford@sunmedia.ca
LAURA BROADLEY
Reporter
cli nton. reporter@sunmedia.ca
DAWN JOHNSTON
Sales Representative
cl i nton.ads@sunmedia.ca
TERESA SMITH
Front Office
clinton.classifieds@sunmedia.ca
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 G51)
2YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 05)
SENIORS
60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST)
120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 051)
Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a
typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous
item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be
charged but that balance of advertisement will be paid for at the
applicable rate. In the event of a typographic error advertising goods
or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Ad-
vertising is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time.
The Clinton News -Record is not responsible for the loss or damage
of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for
reproducing purposes.
Publications Mail Agreement
No. 40064683
RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES:
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
53 Albert St., Clinton ON NOM 1L0
(519)482-3443
We acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canadian
Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.
Canada
Member of the Canadian Community
Newspaper Association and the Ontario
Community Newspapers Association
editorial
Why aren't we talking about data security?
tth Canada's fed-
eral election pro-
ceeding apace, and so
many issues left uncovered
within the scope of recent
and upcoming debates, this
column is focusing on tech
policy issues that I think
deserve further attention.
I draw the candidates'
attention to the issue of
information security and
data privacy.
It's no secret that scads of
data from infidelity -themed
website Ashley Madison
were released recently by a
hacker group called Impact
Team. Now this information
is out in the wild, causing
widespread panic.
As data security expert
Troy Hunt said, "This inci-
dent needs to be
approached with the
understanding that for
many people, this is the
worst time of their life and
for some, it feels like the
end of it."
That personal havoc
would certainly go a long
way toward explaining the
suicides possibly linked to
the hack.
But the Ashley Madison
hack is only one episode in
an ongoing story about how
the Internet is broken, in
large part because every-
thing is broken.
As Quinn Norton, a jour-
nalist who covers the
hacker culture, points out,
"It's hard to explain to reg-
ular people how much
technology barely works,
how much the infrastruc-
ture of our lives is held
together by the IT equiva-
lent of baling wire."
The Ashley Madison
hack, and other high-pro-
file hacks, are just symp-
toms of an ongoing disease
that poses a real threat to
the quality of life for every-
day people online.
Systematic attacks on
personal information are
nothing new, online. But
they are becoming more
popular, in part because
news media are covering
them more. Stories like the
Ashley Madison story, or
the Sony hack, or the Jen-
nifer Lawrence and other
Hollywood nudes, are
almost impossible to resist.
They're the stuff that a gos-
sip columnist's dreams are
made of. They also carry
the promise of the illicit, of
seeing the unseen and
knowing the unknown, the
seductive pull that makes
all hacking attractive.
But when we associate
hacks with titillating infor-
mation like nude photos, or
sexy texts, or even the
blathering misspelled
emails between industry
executives about how to
solve a problem like Adam
Sandler, we miss the more
serious ramifications of
such attacks.
For example, consider the
recent attack on health
insurance provider Prem -
era Blue Cross. Eleven mil-
lion members of the service
were affected. Their per-
sonal information went
everywhere; Premera is
now on the hook for two
years of credit protection to
all customers.
Similarly, retailer Target
is now paying out up to
$10,000 per customer
affected by a 2013 data
breach related to credit
card information. They're
not alone: JP Morgan,
Home Depot, and eBay
have all endured similar
attacks.
These are real people.
This is real money.
And Canadian systems
are just as vulnerable as
any others. Witness the
most recent Wal-Mart data
breach this past July, in
which up to 60,000 custom-
ers were affected.
Any candidate worth his
or her salt should be draw-
ing up a data security plan
as part of a larger tech pol-
icy platform. It's an easy
investment to make that
protects a wide variety of
Canadians at the personal
and financial level. It's a
simple way to make every-
one safer.
But establishing such a
plan might mean actually
listening to scientists,
whether they work on
global warming or on infor-
mation security. And lately,
Canada hasn't had the best
track record with taking sci-
ence -- or any kind of evi-
dence -based policy -- very
seriously.
Madeline Ashby is a stra-
tegic foresight consultant
and novelist living in
Toronto and a columnist
with the Ottawa Citizen.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The News Record welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed and include a daytime phone number for verification purposes.
Letters can be sent care of the Internet at clinton.reporter@sunmedia.ca, sent via fax at 519-482-7341 or through Canada Post care of The Edi-
tor, P.O. Box 39, Clinton, ON NOL 1LO.
CLINTON NEWS RECORD — HOURS OF OPERATION
MONDAY: 9:00 - 5:00 • TUESDAY: - CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • THURSDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • FRIDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: - CLOSED
ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 2:00 • PHONE 519-482-3443 • FAX: 519-482-7341
www.clintonnewsrecord.com
The Clinton News Record Follow us on Twitter.
Find us on:
has joined the online twitter.
J facebook® conversation. @ClintonNewsRcrd