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Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Competence Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be - 2

Whoopie!

"We're number one" in competence associated with software systems is shown to be another competence that falls short.

Like the competence discussed in the previous post of this series (Competence Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be).

Dredd Blog pointed out over a decade ago that the Energy Department once upon a time wrote on their website that "Oil is the lifeblood of America’s economy" (The Fleets & Terrorism Follow The Oil).

That Dredd Blog post pointed out that their statement was on their website for a very long time prior to their discovery that what they wrote was in for trouble.

They removed it but Dredd Blog used The Wayback Machine to point out their attempt to hide their competence, which was not all it was cracked up to be (ibid).

Now, with the Solar Winds and Colonial Oil ransomware hacks, modern competence is shown, once again, not what it is cracked up to be:

"The ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline on May 7, 2021, exemplifies the huge challenges the U.S. faces in shoring up its cyber defenses. The private company, which controls a significant component of the U.S. energy infrastructure and supplies nearly half of the East Coast’s liquid fuels, was vulnerable to an all-too-common type of cyber attack. The FBI has attributed the attack to a Russian cybercrime gang. It would be difficult for the government to mandate better security at private companies, and the government is unable to provide that security for the private sector.

Similarly, the SolarWinds hack, one of the most devastating cyber attacks in history, which came to light in December 2020, exposed vulnerabilities in global software supply chains that affect government and private sector computer systems. It was a major breach of national security that revealed gaps in U.S. cyber defenses.
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(The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and the SolarWinds hack). Competence is not all its cracked up to be because trademarks and copyrights are enablers of seclusions and cover-ups by those who misuse them.

Competence is too localized to be all it is cracked up to be, and when the despotic minority exercises it's competence it neutralizes the efforts of people of good will (How To Identify The Despotic Minority, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). 

The previous post in this series is here.