Make Your Online Identity Safe Again (3) - One Code To Rule Them All.

We live on a society, and one of the responsabilities we have is to follow a set of rules for the greater good. The Code of Ethics is no different from this rules. In my opinion, this are the most essential baselines we all have to follow just because we are human beings. The code of ethics at Disney World is extremely long a specific, I had a set of rules to follow on almost every single scenario I worked at.

Mission and vision are present in almost every code of ethics I've read. Most of them are looking forward to create a better society. It makes sense for them to be placed there, because those are the goals of the company. If a company knows what and how it wants to reach its goals, it will do great. 

As a worker, you have to be completely trustworthy to you client. They have to feel confortable giving you the information you need to develop a project. I think this may be one of the most important values at Disney World, you have to be approachable to children that may be lost or that just want to ask you something about the park.

Most codes of ethics include respect on their pages. There's a popular phrase on my native language that says "A donde fueres, haz lo que vieres". It means that if you are traveling to another country or working with someone that has different values than you, you have to follow that set of rules and conducts. Respect is the key to a better society. 

PS:  I just re-applied to work at Disney World, I'll keep you posted about it.

Make Your Online Identity Safe Again (2) - Don't Let Your Risks Be Risks!

I had the opportunity to work for Walt Disney World on 2016, and I realize that I keep relating things I learn there with every single topic we've covered on this course, so I might just share them with you as well for you to easily understand  them.

Every single thing we do in this world has its risks. Waking up has its risks. You may get off of bed and slip on the floor and get hurt, or you could wake up late because you didn't hear your alarm. When we take this concept to computer science, the moment you turn on your computer for the first time, and connect it to the Internet, you are a target and you are taking the risks of going online.

I am a not interesting target, and surely, our knowlegde as computer science engineers make us more difficult targets because we are aware of lots of the problems we have on a daily basis. But an enterprise is a great target to attack. You could control their finances, the information of their employees and clients and God knows what else they could do with all that data. Luckily, someone tought and registered a way to manage this risks: They created frameworks for risk management.

The U.S. (I'm assuming) Government adopted the NIST Framework: It includes 6 basic steps that can be cycled as many times as needed.

1. Categorize Information System
2. Select Security Controls
3. Implement Security Controls
4. Access Security Controls
5. Authorize Information System
6. Monitor Security Controls

In Disney World, I also had to follow some "frameworks". For example, if we saw a bag forgotten on a place, we first have to wait to see if anyone claims it. If not, you have to call security because it could be a bomb or something dangerous. After they decide if it's dangerous or not, they decide if we should keep the bag or if they have to take it. Then they follow some protocols to ensure the safety of all the guests and cast members. 

Make Your Online Identity Safe Again (1) - The Other CIA.

It is common to think on the U.S.A.'s Central Intelligence Agency when we hear the "CIA" name. It even makes more sense when we are talking security, but SURPRISE! There is another CIA!

I still don't know what format will I use for this series, so for this special ocassion I will talk about something that we all students from the Tec de Monterrey have suffered of: "Las Inscripciones" (a.k.a. that period of time where all the students have to make their schedules at the same time)

So, you may be wondering, "What does CIA mean to you?". When we are talking about computer and information security, one of the most important concepts is the CIA Triad, three components to measure how protected your information is. "C" stands for Condifentiality, "I" for Integrity, and "A" for Availability.

So let's talk class registrations. Why are they always a mess? Imagine that the Tec de Monterrey HAS to fulfill the Triad before you create your schedule. The first thing you have to do, is to enter to your account. By doing these, the ITESM can manage that ONLY YOU can see your information. You can manage your payment, insurances and courses to take there, this is an example of what confidentiality is.

By the way, here's a Top 10 list of words that shouldn't be your password:

1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345
4. 12345678
5. football
6. qwerty
7. 1234567890
8. 1234567
9. princess
10. 1234

So, please, if you have one of these on your bank account, make youself a favour and change it!

Going back to our subject, let's say you already chose your courses, and you are happy with your schedule (this has never happened to me, by the way), but suddenly, when you want to show it off to your friends, it looks nothing like the one you made, heck, you even had a course on Saturday. This would be a problem of Integrity, the information has to be protected so no one can alter it without supervision.

But the Tec is actually pretty good on the first two letters! Our information is confidential, and it has integrity. The problem is that it is so hard to access to the portal at the same time as the other 7000 students from Campus Guadalajara want to enter as well. When your turn to create your schedule is at 10 a.m. you're doomed because the site will not be available. Just when you need it the most, you'll find it very troubling to enter. Backing-up your information is normally a way to ensure daya availability, so, have your hard drives backed-up somewhere folks!

I heard that they are thinking on changing the name of the CIA Triad to the CAI Triad, but I think that would be a loss. How will everyone start talking about the Triad without an obvious reference to the Intelligence Agency?

Make Your Online Identity Safe Again - Introduction to the Course.

Welcome to my blog for Computer and Information Security! You may remember me from such blog series as "Surviving at the Software Industry" and "On The Topic".

This semester I'm on a pilot program for the ISC semestre I at the Tec de Monterrey Campus Guadalajara. One of the courses I'm taking is Security with Ken Bauer. This is not the first time I have a course with him, neither the first time I write for one of his classes. I hope you all enjoy what I write and that it can be helpful for someone in the future.

I am not sure on what will my format be for this series, but stay tuned for more.

On The Topic 4: Netflix Cancelando Shows.

El día de hoy Netflix anunció que terminará su contrato con las Wachowskis, terminando así la producción de la serie Sense8. El drama muestra a ocho personajes de diferentes nacionalidades en un ambiente de ciencia ficción donde se topan con temas políticos, religiosos, sexuales, sociales (a.k.a. todo lo que el liberalismo protege y promueve). Hace unas horas, con el anuncio de la cancelación, como es de esperarse, hubo "revuelta" en Twitter, personas cancelando sus subscripciones, y subiendo capturas de pantalla a la red social, mostrando a Netflix como el enemigo, aquel que destruyó un legado.

Este tipo de cosas ya no me sorprende, pero no estoy de acuerdo con ellas. Fue hace solamente 4 años que el estudio Netflix compartió su primer producción original: "House of Cards", y ahora cuenta con más de 120 shows que solamente se encuentran en su plataforma, donde siguen trabajando con alrededor de 50. Pónganlo en perspectiva. Netflix en 4 años es la productora de contenido más grande que cualquier televisora americana, es la que más shows activos maneja y cada serie es aclamada por los críticos y público en general.

No es ninguna sorpresa que tengan que empezar a cancelar shows que, aunque tengan aficionados, o excelentes historias por contar, no son lo suficientemente relevantes, o populares para que sea "rentable", al final del día, el dinero influye mucho en las decisiones de una empresa. Las explicaciones del CEO de Netflix, Reed Hastings van mucho más allá del dinero. En una presentación televisada, Hastings comenta que el estudio está llevando a cabo muchas más series de las que debería, y que deben tomar más riesgos para el futuro y crear mejor contenido.

Quizás el día de hoy cancelaron tu show favorito, y hay posibilidad que el día de mañana sea el mío, pero hay que pensar qué queremos lograr antes de mentarle la madre al encargado de las redes sociales de Netflix via Twitter, amenazando (probablemente en vano) con que vas a cancelar un servicio que se ha mostrado superior a lo largo de este lustro, sin tener en claro nuestro objetivo.

Vamos a crecer, y romper la burbuja que se ha creado alrededor de nosotros. Sí, quizá tú eres un gran fan de Sense8 y todos tus amigos igual, se reúnen a platicar la serie y lo excelente que es, ¿Cómo Netflix puede haber cancelado una de sus top 5 producciones de toda su historia? Sal de la burbuja, ve con otras personas que no pertenezcan a tu círculo social, a tu área de especialización, o que no sean de mente abierta, platica con ellas y pregúntales cuál es su opinión de Sense8 y lo más probable es que ni siquiera hubieran escuchado de ella.

Espero que la próxima vez que se anuncie algo así podamos tener iniciativa y dar crítica constructiva en vez de comentarios hirientes al aire que no lograrán nada.