Richard Bray

Canadians may not be cheerful when they file their tax returns electronically

Ken Cochrane became chief executive officer, Information Technology at Public Works and Government Services Canada in December.

Her boss says things like: "We know how to build systems that never fail." Her company puts the word "unbreakable" in bold red letters in the centre of its print advertising. So Oracle's Chief Security Officer could be nervous.

Two great e-mails came in last month, from both ends of the country. One contained a photograph from snowbound Halifax showing a doorway so packed with snow it was used to chill beer. The second, from Vancouver Island, depicted "West Coast Storm Damage;" it showed a cedar deck sprinkled with raindrops and one plastic chair blown over backwards.

North Americans have become accustomed to telephone service that survives practically anything. When catastrophe closes roads and cuts electrical power, often the telephones are still working.

Who plays more games? The people trying to penetrate networks and wreak havoc, or the vendors who dream up products and services to thwart them?

Simply buying firewalls, intrusion detection systems and anti-virus software to prevent IT disasters is like sending money to a university and expecting a PhD by return post. It's not that easy. Without trained people, the investment in IT security may be worse than useless if it leads the enterprise into false confidence.

A quarter century ago, amid the manicured lawns and ornamental ponds of the suburban Ottawa campus of...