A holiday greeting to Canadians.
Welcome to Cyber Security Today. It’s Wednesday July 1st. I’m Howard Solomon, contributing reporter on cybersecurity for ITWorldCanada.com.
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Happy Canada Day to our Canadian listeners. Because it’s a national holiday I won’t keep you long from your celebration of the country’s 153rd birthday. But I want to talk briefly about where we’ve come from. When Canada came into being in 1867 communication between distant relatives and friends was limited to hand-written letters. Replies might take a couple of days or more. Businesses were used that kind of speed. If you needed something faster you saddled a horse or hooked up the buckboard. A Mac was an apple from a tree, a cloud was in the sky, a facebook was a collection of sketches and soft wear described the clothes you wore. A key board was something you hung your house keys on. Chips were something you ate. A mouse was a creature on the floor to be yelled at.
And then someone tamed electricity …
Today we get impatient if there’s been no reply to email within five minutes, we blab our lives to the world on social media, no one buys software because it’s in the cloud and a mouse is a thing on your desk you yell at. And some guy you tune into on a podcast regularly hectors you about two-factor authentication.
In terms of global communications this is a wonderful time in the history of civilization. For crooks it’s also a golden age of crime. So as you reflect on the benefits and imperfections of Canada today, also think for a few minutes if you’re doing enough to keep yourself and your family safe online. If you want to learn more about how to do that go to the Government of Canada’s Get Cyber Safe page at GetCyberSafe.gc.ca.
Have a wonderful Canada Day.
That’s it for Cyber Security Today. We can be heard on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or add us to your Flash Briefing on your smart speaker. Thanks for listening. I’m Howard Solomon