Category: Safety
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Learning More from Accidents
When accidents happen, there’s a seductive call to look for a root cause – that is, a chain of events without which, the accident would not have happened. In hindsight, root causes are apparently easy to identify; one works backwards from the accident, identifying causal threads until reaching the “root cause.” It’s simple, and it’s generally wrong.…
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Risk at the Margin
Humans are, generally, pretty awesome at risk management. Why, then, do we seem to be so bad at it – and in so many different ways – when it comes to assessing risk in the CoViD era? Risk Models First, let’s talk about how humans make most risk decisions. Risk comes in a lot of different flavors…
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Understanding Risk
Operating or overseeing a business – whether it’s as a director, executive, or manager – requires an understanding of risk, and especially how it impacts your strategy. But risk is a nebulous concept. It means something different to everyone, so it helps to levelset not just on a working definition of risk, but on approaches…
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Football. CoViD-19, and distributed systems hazards
Looking at the latest trickle of Covid-19 cases in the NFL – specifically in the Patriots locker room – it strikes me that some of the challenges of public health safety are strikingly similar to the issues of distributed system safety in computer systems, and each can help highlight important lessons in the other. Caveats: …
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Environmental Controls at Planetary Scale
Standard security frameworks often emphasize environmental controls, such as humidity sensors and fire suppression, to maximize mean time between critical failures (MTBCF) in data centers. However, the cost and effort of implementing these controls may not be worth it when operating in thousands of data centers globally. Instead, focusing on regional failover and addressing issues…
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Enterprise InfoSec Lessons from the TSA
The TSA’s security practices serve as a valuable analogy for enterprise information security. Like the TSA, security teams often focus on metrics that don’t align with the business’s goals. Weak authentication, limited logging, and reliance on outdated technologies are akin to enterprise practices that hinder effectiveness. Instead, a shift towards flexible security techniques that align…
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The Problem with Password Unmasking
There is a disagreement regarding whether passwords should be shown in clear text or masked while being typed. One perspective argues that password masking reduces usability and offers limited protection against snoopers. However, the opposing view emphasizes the importance of security and raises questions about the effectiveness of unmasking passwords. The ultimate solution lies in…
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Phishing
While we prioritize phishing prevention in banking, other sites like LinkedIn may become targets for identity thieves. The ease of phishing login information and the potential to exploit trust within a professional network highlight the need for heightened vigilance beyond banking. Personal experiences remind us to be more cautious.
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Invisibility Cloak
As the possibility of invisibility draws nearer, its potential implications become apparent. Scary applications include concealed weapons, bombs, and potential traffic hazards. However, in the cool category, it opens doors for urban renewal, architectural innovations, and even portable privacy umbrellas, although such technologies may also have concerning uses.
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False Positives
During my morning commute, I encountered an interesting flaw in an alerting system. My car’s weight sensor triggers an alarm if it detects a possible passenger without a seatbelt. However, this car’s system escalates from a dinging sound to a rapid alarm. My immediate thought was to disable the alarm, highlighting a common security system…