Back in Business
Hooray! My blog site is back up and running… quite a scare we had there. Luckily, I am back to write about an interesting topic this week that we covered in 50N which was cyber warfare. This topic really got me thinking… especially with the recent events that occurred in the most recent presidential election. It is interesting to learn of the United States’s passive role in fighting this recent “attack.” How are we to set a strong precedent if we allow the Russians to conduct such activity without any repercussions? Truly mind boggling. I was asked in class about my stance on this issue, and now that I have had some time to reflect, I have come to a conclusion. I believe that the actions carried out by the Russians are a form of warfare (violence for that matter) against our country. An election is an extremely important process, and ANY kind of sabotage should not be tolerated. This makes me think of all the negative things that can be spread with one click of a mouse. The internet is now being used for much more than searching for one’s preferred clothing brand. An email chain, with a certain “bad” link can lead to destruction. My dad always told me when I was younger not to open any email from a person or company that you have never heard of. As it turns out, his warning was indeed rational. He instilled this in me about 6 years ago; good thing I got a head start on this prevention because this has become an increasingly detrimental issue.
I thought our conversation this week was quite stimulating, and I enjoyed hearing all of my classmates’ opinions on the issue with Russia. I am looking forward to our next discussion!
profsmith
November 16, 2017 @ 1:50 pm
We are so glad you’re back! Great post. I hope you make sure to tell your dad that you continue to remember his advice.
Deciding how to classify a person’s or state’s actions is an important first step, and I’m glad to see you came to a thoughtful decision. The next question, especially given where you came down, is to ask yourself, “Now what?” As our guest said, you should consider options that encompass everything from traditional, physical world responses to cyber responses (or combinations). I don’t think it is easy to decide this question today because there’s no history here. Everything has pros and cons, but I find it easier to consider the pros and cons when I at least know what responses have typically occurred in the past. No such luck here! But this also means that you can’t be wrong!