The Internet is run by the Coen Brothers, not Disney.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I were invited to attend the premiere of the movie Burn after Reading at the Toronto film festival. We were thrilled to go, and my wife even came within a whisker of Brad Pitt when she was walking down a hallway (unlike the throngs of fans who were waiting outside).  It was an exciting event, but there was a small problem.

Burn after Reading was a movie by the Coen brothers.  If you are not familiar with their movies ( including Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit) you know that their movies have a dark side. Things don't usually end up well for their characters. It is not a "happily ever after" kind of place.


Reading about the recent hack of the IMF made me wonder about the Internet, and more specifically, the seeming rise of "hacktivism", international espionage (spies can spy from the comfort of their own home) as well as the increase in identity theft perpetrated by gangs and organized criminals.

In a former life, I led an IT department at a large college. Each year, the college graduated a class of hackers network security specialists, and you know where this group of students practiced - on my network.  Since many of my team were graduates of the program, I knew my network was secure from both the students, but also outside nefarious activity

In our rush to convenience on the Internet, with the promises of the magic of the iCloud, (and the Cloud Computing that was around before Apple invented it), more organizations are moving critical data and information to data centers hosted by others.  In many cases, the security at these data centers will be an improvement, but IT leaders cannot just assume it is so.

I don't promote a bunker mindset, the Cloud offers some great ability to increase the effectiveness and functionality of my organization which is one of my primary responsibilities as an IT leader. I do advocate entering the arena with your eyes wide open, and not end up like a character in the latest Coen brothers movie.