We seem to now live in a world that wants to solve a problem with the same approach that caused the problem in the first place. We all have heard about people who drive faster to avoid getting a speeding ticket. There are countless examples of people who gamble themselves into bankruptcy in order to cancel a betting debt. And we all know a loved one who feels if three pills will relieve their headache then six will work twice as well for any pain disorder. The recent security breaches at a multitude of government agencies (i.e. Veteran Affairs, FBI, etc.), commercial data brokers (i.e. Choicepoint, Lexis-Nexis, etc.), scores of banks (Bank of America, Wachovia, etc.), businesses (i.e. AIG, ING U.S. Financial Services, etc.), universities (i.e. Boston College, Kent State University, etc.) and many more key economic sectors should tell us that we are doing something horribly wrong. These organizations have been entrusted with protecting our assets, our way of life, and in today’s global environment, our very lives. Yet, they seem to only want to throw more technology at what is not a technology problem. 

We seem to now live in a world that is fixated on the ends while completely disregarding the means. Before the loss of nearly 100 million American identities in the last 2 years, privacy advocates shouted loudly that we should protect our personal information from all kinds of abuse both foreign and domestic. Even after countless breaches and millions of confirmed victims, the cries of those injured still fall upon deft ears. People, real people that live next to you, go to work with you, that are contributing members of your community, now have criminal records as a result of identity theft, as well as considerable financial troubles as a result. How would you feel if one day you awoke to the police knocking down your door with an arrest warrant or have your life’s savings seized for something you didn’t do? Today, when these types of events occur, we as a society have somehow decided that we no longer care how it will be resolved just as long as it doesn’t affect us and someone else settles the matter. 

We seem to now live in a world that is focused only on possessing the way out instead of perfecting the process of creating solutions. So many now walk the path of least resistance that this has created a canyon too large for our minds to cross. In my security consulting practice, there is a consistent pattern that has emerged where organizations are looking to other organizations for all of their answers. Has the culture of self-reliance evaporated along with our ability to see and acknowledge the obvious? Everyday, we defer to others to decide our future quality of life such as retirement planning, medical procedures, career paths, child rearing, and even to the degree of what foods we should or shouldn’t eat. We as a society have somehow deluded ourselves that if someone else makes a decision for us, we are somehow relieved of any responsibility and may then easily play the victim. It is no wonder that our largest institutions now rely heavily upon each other to solve some of the simplest problems. 

We seem to now live in a world where bigger is explicitly better, even when we know deep down that this just isn’t true. Our largest institutions now collect, store, and share information about every aspect of our lives without any serious consequence to its loss or abuse. Organizations now know what you like to read, movies you enjoy watching, people you have dated, websites you have visited, and even recorded whole conversations that you once thought were private, and worse yet, will store this information for the rest of your life. Why is this being permitted when the evidence clearly shows they themselves have abused this right? Do we now lack the ability to act in our own collective best interest? We create the world we live in everyday. If experience has taught me anything, those that live in someone else’s creation are surely to be devoured by it. 

The world we live in is ours to change. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. It is now time to stop the needless abuse of our personal information by requiring real security of our systems and forcing a mandatory shelf life of our data. It is now time to demand that our information become our personal property right to be used only as we see fit. Our names, places of residence, phone numbers, key identifying numbers, financial histories, and anything else needed for someone to steal our identities must be placed back into our hands for its best protection. For who best to protect something than the one who has the most to lose? It is now time to require real accountability for the abuse of our personal information by those it has been entrusted. Together, let us create a world where our names and their associated histories are truly ours to control. 

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