Common sense prevails when a woman knows she is being stalked right?
We take busier routes, travel in groups, recruit an escort to ensure our safety and sometimes we just stay indoors period. And how could I forget? We call the cops. I love to call the cops.
Isn’t it rather perplexing then that large enterprises play Russian Roulette with their reputations?
According to last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal report entitled “Number of the Week: 1.9 trillion,” corportate America is raking in cash as businesses cut costs and boost profits. But it doesn’t seem to know what to do with the money. As of 2010, cash and other liquid assets made up 7% of the the total assets of nonfarm, nonfinancial corporations, according to the Federal Reserve–the highest level since late 1963.
“It doesn’t seem to know what to do with the money.” Laughable.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, CNBC reported that an anonymous hacker group sympathetic to Wikileaks, plans to release e-mails obtained from Bank of America early Monday morning, courtesy of an ‘FYI’ on the group’s twitter feed.
“It doesn’t seem to know what to do with the money.”
However, hackers are never out of ideas. They just practice creative procrastination. Apparently, early Monday morning is one of their ‘many’ moments in time when they will be all they can be. Will it be on your dime? Or maybe, the fall out from the scandal will swallow up some of the profits that is being hoarded. More likely than not, though, it will be a combination of the two.
So why do companies of the caliber and reputation of Bank of America leave themselves vulnerable to the hackers? I doubt it is because they are not aware that they are being stalked. Certainly they know they are not exempt.
Yet hesitance plagues corporate America. They fear spending cash on hiring or expansion because managers still do not have a lot of faith in the economic recovery and want to have plenty of their own funds around in case the financial markets seize up again, the WSJ report said.
Perhaps I should empathize. Maybe you should too. Aww… How about a little sympathy, huh? Maybe? Not.
The fact is , corporations must come to terms with the reality that there exist a uniformed and formidable foe, an army of stalkers that take no prisoners. To date ‘al Quaeda,’ has established terrorist cells in every crevice of the tech industry. Sometimes, they are emboldened and claim responsibility for their conquests, other times they are shy and inhibited. But one thing is certain, these ‘cells’ have been classified into seven malicious categories–that are known:
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Malicious hacker #1: Cyber criminals
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Malicious hacker #2: Spammers and adware spreaders
- Malicious hacker#3: Advanced Persistent threats (APT) agents
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Malicious hacker #4: Corporate spies
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Malicious hacker #5: Hacktivits
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Malicious hacker #6: Cyber warriors
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Malicious hacker #7: Rogue hackers
Now that we have identified them, next time we will explore how they practice their stalk. And in so so doing, goad corporate America into practicing the old adage to “Know thine Cyber enemy.”
Maybe, this is where Bank of America’s short-sightedness lies.
Once we scale this wall, perhaps, they will figure out what to do with the money.
