Even though I’m a bit of a professional nomad, the environments I work in tend to have layers of physical security.<\/p>\n
Sometimes there will be a high fence with CCTV cameras outside, and a uniformed member of staff in a box with *very* thick glass.<\/p>\n
And there will be a keypad- or electronic ID card-triggered entry system in to the buildings.<\/p>\n
Sometimes there will be a high fence with CCTV cameras outside and, two metres away, another high fence. There may be\u00a0unfriendly-looking dogs patrolling a ‘no-mans land’ \u00a0between the two fences. There may be a patrol of uniformed members of staff,\u00a0carrying\u00a0an SA-80 each,\u00a0inside the second fence.<\/p>\n
And again, there will be a keypad- or electronic ID card-triggered entry system in to the buildings.<\/p>\n
My point is that security exists – always – and that the security in each place will be in direct proportion to the type of risk that having that place unsecured could cause.<\/p>\n
Extremely sensitive place = extremely secure layers.<\/p>\n
And so on.<\/p>\n
The same is true of data.<\/p>\n
You own your personal data.<\/p>\n
And you protect it.<\/p>\n
You don’t lend people your credit cards and your PIN.<\/p>\n
You don’t let people borrow your passport.<\/p>\n
You don’t hand out your bank account details to every Tom, every Dick, and every Harry.<\/p>\n
No, you don’t do these things.<\/p>\n
You have more sense than that.<\/p>\n
Similarly, your electronic data is protected.<\/p>\n
When you go online and check your bank statement, and pay a bill, the website you’re accessing has electronic security wrapped around it.<\/p>\n
The front-end and back-end data will be extensively protected by various electronic security techniques.<\/p>\n
This is called…<\/p>\n
Encryption.<\/p>\n
Encryption is a bit of a blunt-edged name, but essentially what it boils down to, is a tool that protects your electronic data from criminal use.<\/p>\n
If we had no electronic security – encryption – your personal data would be exposed (not ‘at risk’, it would be exposed) to every\u00a0malicious mind in the world.<\/p>\n
If we had no electronic security – encryption – your emails could be read by anybody.<\/p>\n
Anywhere.<\/p>\n
If we had no electronic security – encryption – every transaction on the internet (from bidding on eBay through to electronic payments, through to even registering to vote – which, by the way, is a government initiative now) would be exposed to every single nefarious mind, in every country in the world.<\/p>\n
Electronic security – encryption – is the ultimate means of protecting your data.<\/p>\n
And of protecting you.<\/p>\n
And your family.<\/p>\n
Because fraud, and identity theft, will adversely affect everyone in your family.<\/p>\n
So it comes as something of a shock that David Cameron, the Prime Minister to Her Brittanic Majesty, has decided that electronic security (encryption) is a Very Bad Thing.<\/p>\n
Not only is electronic security (encryption) a Very Bad Thing, but he has pledged to get rid of it in this country.<\/p>\n