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The other day, I was skimming my LinkedIn and came across a post about how changing corporate culture isn’t the answer to cybersecurity. In response, I used a Hamilton quote. Because, of course. What Hamilfan doesn’t make constant references everywhere?
As a parent who works in cyber, I’m painfully aware that teachers don’t have the resources or access to the skills they need to teach our children how to protect themselves. I’m also painfully aware that the same is true for most parents. I’m also painfully aware that I was that parent only a few years ago. But, as our kids increasingly need to use technology in school and at home, we have a responsibility to protect them. If you really want to freak yourself out (or just learn about some of the cybersecurity problems with schools), one of my clients released a whole analysis about the data school’s collect and education’s cybersecurity problems.
So, here are the five cybersecurity lessons I learned from Hamilton: The Musical to help my Hamfam raise cyber aware kiddos.
Wait for it, wait for it
I am the one thing in life I can control
That’s right. We’re the one thing in life we can control. I was an early internet adopter. (Shout out to all my AOL chatroom peeps from the early-’90s!) I was going on dates with people I met online in college. (Yeah, suck it, people who said going on dates like that was so horrible… I’ll see your Match.com and raise you a Tinder.) If I’ve learned one thing as an early adopter, it’s that tech isn’t going anywhere.
In cyber language, we don’t stand a chance against hackers. Except, and here’s the kicker, we can control ourselves even if we can’t control the actions of others. Burr’s inaction ultimately led to his downfall. He waited for it, but when he finally chose to act, he ruined his whole life. (Burr’s history after the duel is pretty sad. The duel destroyed his reputation, and his power hunger led him to try to create his own semi-empire, which failed. Then he moved to England, only to return to the US where he re-started his law business but never recovered his reputation.)
In other words, you can choose the option a lot of people take—to wait for it and ignore the importance of cybersecurity. However, if you’re proactive rather than reactive, you can protect your identity, your kids’ identities, and your finances.
(Scammin’) for every book he can get his hands on
(Plannin’) for the future, see him now as he stands on (oooh)
The bow of a ship headed for a new land
In New York, you can be a new man
Technology is a new land. In fact, data is often referred to as a “landscape,” “environment,” or “ecosystem.” In other words, we’re standing on the edge of a new future for which we need to plan.
That means we have to scam books and read. In reality, data security doesn’t need to be confusing, and, often, it isn’t.
Sure, some of it is super technical. If you made it this far in this post, you know more than about 80% of the rest of the world. But finding the right resources that make it manageable is hard. In part, that’s why I’m writing this post. I’ve learned a lot in the last few years, and realize that it’s not always easy to find information that makes sense to the non-coding person.
With the rise of the internet, we have more access to information than we did before. Yet, finding good, accessible information is often difficult. If you’re looking for a good starting place, I’d suggest following some of these ladies in cyber on Twitter:
Or you can read some of these websites:
InfoSecSherpa’s Newsletter Nuzzel
Look into your eyes, and the sky’s the limit I’m helpless!
Down for the count, and I’m drownin’ in ‘em.
Throughout most of the musical, we’re all led to believe that Eliza was an intellectual second to her protagonist husband. However, if you think about things a bit, Eliza was a pretty darn intelligent lady who went on to accomplish some pretty amazing things. Sure, the final song details them. However, if we think about it, history shows a different story.
Historians explain that Alexander highly valued her intelligence, and she likely transcribed some of the Federalist Papers for him. She was a single mother after he died, never remarrying. She went on to fundraise, started two orphanages (DC and New York), petitioned for his army pension, and spent 50 years collecting his writing for publication. She was, truthfully, anything but helpless.
In other words, you need to be a Cyber-Eliza. Even if you’re insecure about your cybersecurity knowledge (see what I did there?), you’re not helpless. Tools exist to help you. You just need to reach out and find them.
As parents, we teach our kids “stranger danger.” We understand the visible stranger dangers—white vans with creepy guys handing out candy or that weird looking profile on social media.
It’s the invisible threats that we need to start working on teaching them. It’s 100% ok not to know things at first. I started there. However, it’s not ok to pretend these threats don’t exist. They do.
Click through to read all of “5 Cybersecurity Lessons I Learned From ‘Hamilton: The Musical’” at GeekMom.If you value content from GeekMom, please support us via Patreon or use this link to shop at Amazon. Thanks!
This post was last modified on December 21, 2018 8:18 am
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