No natural disaster in the last several years has passed without a government official or civilian "expert" using it to raise fears of cyber threats. That is why, after a series of snarky tweets over the last couple days by Rob Rosenberger, I was inspired to create a Google alert for any news item mentioning both the words "cyber" and "Sandy" in the same article.
I created the alert this morning and waited. How long would it be before someone exploited this disaster to promote cyber fear? And who would do such a thing?
This evening I got my answer. Less than twelve hours after creating the alert and in the midst of a still-unfolding crisis, it was the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, who, as far as I can tell, gets the honor of being the first to use Sandy to stoke cyber fears.
(Hat tip to Cato Institute's Julian Sanchez)
Comments