Brown-John: In an age of cyberattacks, ‘pay attention to your privacy’

By: Lloyd Brown-John

I am not a fan of either social media or of the extent to which so many people and institutions have become impacted by social media.

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I have a thing called my dumb cellphone. Dumb because I don’t like it as a phone and use it solely for sending texts and checking weather.

I find it bewildering how many people pack a smartphone around simply to create an impression of having something pressing to do. How many grandparents pack expensive cellphones simply so they can show others photos of grandkids?

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And while I fully understand how employment and business can demand a person host a cellphone, personally I have never found a compelling need to carry one about.

And I have no interest in such ”conveniences” as online banking. I still do my income tax with pencils and an eraser.

However, in a world where technology has submerged businesses and institutions into mandatory swamps of complex computer-based systems, I can both appreciate their necessity — and vulnerability.

Governments and institutions worldwide are grappling with cybercrime and ransom demands.

The number of those seeking to gain money from ransoms, hostages, scams and simple old-fashioned fraud is mounting. Many older adults have been victimized simply because scams and frauds are often difficult to detect if you’re not entirely comfortable with electronic devices.

ElderCollege volunteer instructor Kevin Cosgrove, who has significant expertise in dealing with computer and telephone fraud and scams, suggests that we all need to take responsibility for protecting our personal information.

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But when we put our trust into what have become favourite targets of cyberattack scumbags — our public hospitals and other vulnerable public institutions — we do so under a presumption that private information is protected.

Our medical services are vital and often we access them under stressful circumstances. Until the recent ransomware attack targeting local hospitals, very few of us would have been aware that our health information was under a common provider, Transform Shared Service Organization.

Wisely, the hospitals did not cave in to the cyberattacker ransom demands. However, the cyber criminals’ response has been to publish personal data on something called the dark web. This poses dangers to those whose private information was compromised. Illicitly obtained information offers a veritable candy shop of opportunities for other lowlights to steal identities and undertake assorted forms of personal harassment or scams.

Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyi, for whom I have great respect, was criticized for an apparent slow response to the ransomware attack and its potential consequences.

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Wise and considered responses to critical situations is a quality of leadership. Doubtless, Musyi was as upset as anybody at the hospitals’ cyber losses.

Certainly we can presume him accountable, but for what? For placing trust in a shared service provider? For not anticipating that a bunch of depraved computer hackers would attack vulnerable hospitals? For presuming in the goodness of fellow humans?

Governments and law enforcement agencies are struggling to cope with rapidly changing technologies which far exceed most of our abilities to even imagine. Moreover, this massive shift in technological capacity is just beginning. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers endless opportunities to open more doorways to ransom demands, scams, fraud and simple crime.

We learn from mistakes. I would reckon our hospitals and government institutions are on a constant technological learning curve. These ransomware attacks likely will increase.

Let’s stop blaming those who do their utmost to serve us by trusting their hired technologists. Let’s pay more attention to the many ways we already provide gold mines worth of personal data to whomever wishes to mine the data for whatever purposes via cellphones.

Pay attention to your privacy, it really does matter. And support our hospitals in this, our mutual crisis.

Lloyd Brown-John is a University of Windsor professor emeritus of political science. He can be reached at lbj@uwindsor.ca.

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