Item — HN Reader

I certainly agree with much of your attitude toward American hospitals. But I don't think dragontamer's point had anything to do with greedy American corporate hospitals. So mentally substitute "community-owned co-ops of small rural hospitals out in farm country" if you need to.

The point is, just like it says in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution - "...insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence..." - that protecting everyone from large-scale, organized, high-skill malicious activity is a bedrock function of any national government. NONE of the hospitals, water treatment plants, small corporations, city governments, ordinary citizens, etc. should need to worry about high-cost, high-skill self-protection against ransomware groups - any more than they should have to hire and equip private security forces to protect themselves against mafia enforcers, Russian paratroopers, or missiles launched from North Korea.

2 comments

So… the USA needs a cyber-force! And if mass media manipulation is a problem, perhaps even a psy-force.

it's true that domestic orgs should be guaranteed peace and stability at home on American soil. But the us government only guarantees you and your property/business interests to a limited degree abroad and domestically as well.

Banks and stores in US routinely employ private security. There is no reason why US public should foot the entire security bill of Tiffany's or CVS.

US gov should have defensive and offensive cyber capabilities deployed strategically to assist and deter, but uncle sam can't babysit each and every it vendor or client.

US gov also needs to hammer shit IT practices and make it too expensive for bad guys to do harm and too expensive for "good guys" to be morons.

Para. 2 - Yes...but notice how few people or organizations need private non-cyber security. And even when they do, it's usually a tiny number of modest-training, modest-pay security guards. If half a dozen bandits with automatic weapons started robbing a Tiffany's - is Tiffany's expected to have (or foot the bill for) a security team armed & ready for that? Or would public (city / county / state) law officers be expected to arrive ASAP, and take over?

Para. 4 - Lordy, yes. Though that needs to be competently done. Starting with setting up a computer version of Underwriters Laboratories - that could drive the sellers of Internet of T*rds crap out of business (at least in the U.S.), revoke Experian's right to operate a database full of sensitive financial information, etc.