Sometimes we need to control an environment in order to achieve our goals and guard against decay.
This applies both online and offline, so today we’re going to talk about me securing my house against an outside threat. No, it’s not home-defense or something similar talked about. It’s about pest control.
I live in the country and every winter field mice seek shelter in buildings, some of which just happen to be my home. Now I have nothing against mice, but they carry disease and poop everywhere, specifically where I keep and prepare food if they can find it.
This is obviously more of a health issue than just an inconvenience. I can’t tell you how many times I dreaded cooking something because I had to check to see if there were mouse droppings in my pans.
For illustrative purposed, mice are going to represent individuals like identity thieves, data miners, and other individuals that want to use your information against you.
Physical and online security mirror each other in a way. They both require cutting off access to certain areas or information from those you don’t want to have access. This can be both benign like parental controls on search engines or necessary in regards to things like your banking information.
They both additionally require having things that deter and punish unauthorized access. In regards to my mouse problem there are a few things that I could do, one for each of those categories.
For deterring mice from coming in I use pepper oil. Pepper oil can be purchased or made at home and is basically concentrated things like peppermint and similar plants in a liquid form. The smell drives off mice and certain other pests without the need for me to kill them. Much preferable for all involved.
Next I deny access. I find as many holes as I could and filled them with steel wool in order to prevent them from getting into places I didn’t want them. This combined with deterrents makes it less likely for mice to get into where my food and cookware are.
Now there are things I can’t plug, like air intakes for my furnace. This means I have to have something that will prevent them from making the mistake twice, or some other consequence. This generally takes the form of a basic mouse trap. And it usually humanly kills them without me having to wait around for a mouse to show itself.
Additionally things like cats can help with mice problems, but my cat has wondered off and probably isn’t coming back.
Now for information security thing like passwords and hard to access codes help keep you accounts secured. Virus scanners and other malware detectors are also employed in order to help keep your information safe. Then (which this subject is beyond me) you have fail-safes that deal with inflicting consequences on those who try to get into your data.
The analogy isn’t perfect but the control of the environment is the same. If you are using a real world or online home base you need to make it secure so that you aren’t going to be losing resources or other tools for your life and business.
The reality is that people are rather loose with information and people with the right level attention and an active mind can result in them getting access to information they don’t necessarily should have access to.
I once saw a whole sales spread sheet of a local business just tossed into the recycling. It would have given me a pretty good idea of what, where, and how much for some of the local economy and the flow of resources as well.
Opportunities for getting data are everywhere. It’s our personal job to limit just how much information is available to others.
What information have you accidentally given access to?
Think about it.
Sincerely,
The Irreverent Gentleman
gentlemansuniversityofmanliness 