If personal data for 10,000 NASA employees can be stolen, as reported in a Nov. 29 Columbian story, “NASA employees demand probe following data theft,” so can your personal data. As a retired electrical/software engineer, I’ve worked with computers since 1966. I have seen them shrink from the size of a row of refrigerators to what you can carry in a briefcase or pocket. The smaller they get, the more information they can hold and the easier they are to steal. High-security government agencies have had vital information stolen by someone just walking out the door with a laptop or memory card.
I’m especially worried about “The Cloud.” It is just computers in another building somewhere under someone else’s control instead of yours. I know there must be physical and electronic security in place, but thefts continue at the highest level. I see the trends over the years, and they are scary.
Be careful with your important information and where you save it. Ancient enemies of China just walked right through the Great Wall three times in its first 100 years. How? By bribing guards at a gate. Be careful what “wall” protects your data.
Paul Kingery
Vancouver
