DECEMBER 20 — Malaysian users of that social service we used to call Twitter had a good laugh when someone shared a story about being forced to use the song Beat It at an official event, all because it was the favourite song of a Datuk.
Imagine coming to what you expect will be a formal affair and instead be greeted by the late Michael Jackson’s enthusiastic crooning.
There was no possibility of deciding if the song was appropriate; all that mattered was currying favour.
That is unfortunately too much the case in all aspects of the country but dangerously so when it comes to what has now become that tool that underpins the modern world: technology.
It is a failing of our country that we do not reward merit as much as we do connections.
I have grown up watching people simper and bow to those with rank and wealth; including my own father.
It broke me a little seeing my father immediately stand up to smile and greet a man who was once one of his closest friends but who later was instrumental in destroying his career.
He hurt you. I hate him. That was how I felt then and that is how I still feel now whenever I see any mention of him in the news, which is thankfully less often as karma did knock him down a couple of pegs.
My father, however, is a man who has courtesy so ingrained in him I have never heard him swear. With his children he was dour and prone to giving one-word replies, but then perhaps he was just tired.
Tired of always having to put on his best face, smile and look like he was thrilled to be greeting men who were far less intelligent, skilled and hardworking but were immensely talented at, as the saying goes, falling upward.
I remember being dismayed on my very first day at a job when given a stack of past speeches to read, written by my then boss.
It took me just one sentence to realise he was, to put it less politely, an idiot.
How could you write dozens, perhaps nearly a hundred speeches and start them off with Yang Bahagia (the happy) instead of Yang Berbahagia (the honourable)?
Not a single person had corrected him and not a single person who had read the speeches had apparently realised they sounded like buffoons on stage.
Alas I do not have the patience of my father nor his ability to hold my tongue so I very often, to his face, called my then-boss an ass.
This is why I am not in upper management.
Unfortunately far too many people aspire to higher ranks and often those who bluster their way to the top aren’t always the most competent thus we have people far out of their depth managing our IT and security.
It was embarrassing to watch the recent videos shared by a hacker who apparently compromised an important institution.
This is Tech 101: if a network has been compromised, maybe secure that network before deciding to host online meetings on said network.
Why then do so many competent professionals eschew government service? It is simply because they know they will often be hampered in performing their duties,
They will forever be beholden to the whims and fancies of clueless senior officials who can’t even be trusted to use WhatsApp without somehow accidentally sending some overseas hacker their life savings.
Every week I have someone trying to steal my Wordpress or social media accounts but I periodically do security checks, ensure my passwords are secured and that I have two-factor authentication on my most important accounts.
I also don’t link anything to my bank account because I wouldn’t want to be that guy who woke up one morning to find out someone cleaned out his savings thanks to a linked debit card.
The problem is what seems simple to me is like a foreign language to many people. It’s not just the old but even some young people struggle understanding the hows and whys of security.
That’s why I believe for banking institutions the onus should be on them to make banking safer instead of trying to leave it to customers.
I had a friend who could not convince his mother not to click on email attachments from strangers because she would insist, “What if it’s important?”
Malicious people will take advantage of the overcomplexity of securing personal data and human naiveté.
You don’t blame the sheep for wolves attacking; you ask the shepherd what he could have done better.
We need better shepherds and an acknowledgement that personal data privacy and protection often goes over the heads of too many.
It’s not that they are stupid. It’s that things have just become far too complicated, far too quickly and leaving too many people behind.
I don’t want to wake up one day to find that my EPF monies are gone just because someone higher up didn’t want to pay for IT upgrades as their KPI included cost savings.
It is still important to keep the public informed of common scams and threats but the burden of securing our data and institutions should fall on the shoulders of competent guardians.
When it takes a hacker to point out just how bad we are at safeguarding our important IT assets, will it only take an utter catastrophe before things finally change?
All I have is hope and a good password manager.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
