Truth About Computer Security Hysteria

Southern Road Trip (interview #12)

DAVE ATTELL HOSTS "Insomniac," one of the best travel shows on TV today. It airs on the Comedy Central cable network. It's definitely not your ordinary travel show. The comedian recently shot a special episode ... where he filled a car with gas and went on a quick "one-tank tour" of the south.

These audio inter­views will record what "cyber-terror­ism" means to Joe Six­Pack. We'll hear from people at gun stores, truck stops, adult novelty shops, waffle houses, you name it!

By sheer coincidence, I slept in a string of southern motels for a few months. So I decided to swipe Atell's comedy idea. I dropped in on various establishments and did unscripted computer security interviews.

But there was a catch.

I gladly interviewed anyone but the experts. It's time to learn what computer security and "cyber-terrorism" mean to the average Joe SixPack.

And I had real fun with these audio interviews. You'll hear from people at gun stores, adult novelty shops (!), restaurants, you name it...

WE CONTINUE WITH an interview with Alan Pierce, the Emergency Management Director for Franklin County, Florida. He has a realistic grasp of security priorities combined with a pinch of humor. Check out this excerpt from part #2 our interview:

Alan:

...I was at a conference, and I believe it was an emergency management conference a couple of months ago (about eight months ago), and we had a guest speaker at one of the luncheons who was a nationally renowned terrorist expert. And he was talking to us about all the different difficulties and all the threats of cyber-terrorism, and of course we were looking at trying to eat lunch and get our travel vouchers. [That's] what we were concerned with! But he was very emphatic that it was a serious threat and, you know, we applauded him and got our bounties and went home.

During our interview, Pierce talked about the data he receives from federal emergency management offices. "We get a lot of information from the feds," he related, "and [the threats of cyber-terrorism] may be embedded in there ... [but] it's put in a way that it doesn't strike us as being a high priority."

I should note Pierce's observation flies in the face of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who consistently equates cyber-terrorism with physical terrorism. {sniff} I smell a disconnect between Ridge and his worker bees.

Common sense, folks. You won't find it in our nation's capitol, but you will find it near the shoreline of a small Florida county.

This impromptu interview is 11½ minutes long. Certainly you can spare 1/6^th of an hour to listen to it! And if you ever drive through Franklin County, I hope you'll drop by the Emergency Management Office to say hello. Tell 'em Vmyths sent you. Enjoy.