Traveling the Journey of Light | Photoblog Thoughts, feelings, and techniques behind the photography of Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston

The Evil Ones Who Lurk in the Dark Destroying the BytesPosted by drfl on August 26th, 2009

Before my days as a photographer, in February of 2003, I was working as a Senior Engineer at the largest privately held credit card processing company.  It was supposed to be one of the happiest times of my life - I was young, I was about to be married, my career looked good.  Then “The Intrusion” occured, and in an instant everything went out of control.

The largest reported credit card hack up to that time happened, my company was the target, and I was in the think of it all.  Over 10 million credit cards had been siphoned out of our servers by the Russians via a Chinese implanted backdoor.  In the ensuing months I became physically worn and gained 30 pounds, emotionally drained, and I was uncertain that anyone would ever hire me again.  The good news?  A year or so later, one of the perpetrators was eventually caught, but not because of hack itself, but because of a completely unrelated charge.

The scenario I illustrated, while true, does sound like something out of a Hollywood film.  The actuality is that the important data is usually much easier to obtain.  Many individuals and companies lack security believing they are immune – “We don’t have any really sensitive data.”, “No one would ever hack us.” “We are not a financial institution.”   In reality, these are the primary targets as these are the easiest.  If a company or individual only has 1/10 the useful data of a more secured company, but it is 100 times easier to obtain, than its a simple matter of math.  Sure the big hacks get the headlines, but the small ones go unnoticed and as a result not prosecuted.  10 sets of low-risk data=1 set of high-risk data. 

When I read a recent Gawker Article about an individual who’s Flickr account was hacked and subsequently terminated, the memories of that February gone past overwhelmed me again.  3,000 photographs, years of work, gone, all because:

1. The individual didn’t back up the data.
2. Flickr didn’t back up the data.
3. The individual had lax or no security.
4. Flickr had lax or no security.

 
Most people are placing the blame on Flickr, but in reality, the onus was on the individual to backup and secure his data.  Who’s to say that Flickr will even be in business tomorrow?  Companies on the web come and go and very few survive.  Sure, Flickr has made it further than most, but that is still no guarantee.  In the brave, new world of digital photography, the key word here is digital.  Like all information stored in bits and bytes, it should to be secured and backed up under the photographer’s control.  No one is more responsible than you.

What do I do?  I have been forever changed by the events I witnessed first hand.  I backup my data three times with an offsite copy.  My photographs and digital information are perhaps my highest regarded assets and most protected after my family and pets.  Cameras can be replaced, prints can be replaced (as long as you have the files), but the memories can never be replaced.  Chubb, Inc. recently conducted a poll that asked the question, “If you had a fire (or other natural disaster) and your family and pets were safe, what is the number one thing you would want from your household?”  The #1 response: the family photo album.

Lastly, what’s up with the image associated with this post?  Every time I think of those past days, I need to go to a happy, peaceful place complete with blue skies and the sound of soft rustling leaves.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/8, 1/40 sec.
Pikes Peak, Colorado