Psst! Obama warns all about cybersecurity

President Obama, who has his own specially encrypted BlackBerry, now proclaims that October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

That was among the headlines on some technology blogs Thursday -- a few spots above "WARNING: New Facebook Malware Attack Is Spreading."

Irony at its finest.

Obama writes in his proclamation: "In the Information Age, the very technologies that empower us to create and build also empower those who would disrupt and destroy."

At first, it sounds a bit reminiscent of the Bush administration scare tactics many became sick of. But he has a point.

Many Americans are constantly connected to computers and smart phones, feeding them countless pieces of personal information.

Ten years ago, seeing the gratuitous amounts of private stuff we plaster on our Facebook profiles and Twitter pages would probably incite a panic attack. Then, when you consider that Mint -- now a property of Intuit, which makes Quicken -- has bank and credit card information of millions of Americans... Yeesh.

These systems aren't invulnerable. And it's probably not a bad idea to take a month to think about the things you upload daily.

-- Mark Milian

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Photo: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Philip Akalp]

Agreed: Let's take some time out to consider all the things we upload or share on a daily basis. When an individual's private or financial information is stolen, it's unfortunate; but when the information of millions is compromised, that is tragic and can put the brakes on our financial system.

Proclaiming October as "National Cyber security Awareness Month" is a good move toward national financial stability. By simply increasing the public's awareness, we can drastically reduce the number of successful exploits and create more barriers for cyber-thieves and criminals.

[steve rodriguez]

Obama worry more about Islamic Terrorist!, instead of wanting to read them their Miranda Rights!