CONNECTIVITY, MOBILITY, SECURITY

This issue of HWM was inspired by these three words, partly due to the buzz generated from high-profile device launches from the likes of Apple, Samsung and Sony to equally high-profile security breaches from ICLOUD and Snapchat that have caught both celebrity and the common man with their pants down.

Looking at the big picture, you may realize we’re still at the infancy of this connected world we’re exploring right now.

In the past, connectivity was a slow, lumbering beast that could only be awoken with a special tool that would emit a series of cryptic beeps and whines, the secret code to enter a world called The Internet. The early users of this internet were immobile and bound to their desks as they explored a digital nirvana; an existence of chained freedom. An oxymoron in every way.

Then came mobility, which quickly evolved from hulking notebooks to the super sleek smartphones we use today. This rapid and constant mobile connectivity caught us off guard. Our newfound freedom akin to an infant who is trying to run before fully learning how to walk. Proper protocol be damned, coordination is secondary and the notion of getting hurt falling or crashing head first into a table top that’s suddenly lower than it was last week is never a concern. Our guardians put out safety nets to prevent or minimize injury, but if we aren’t able to identify what is dangerous in the first place, these measures can ever be foolproof,

Internet security is such. It is neither infallible nor should we have complete blind faith on a third party to safeguard our data. We each have a responsibility to ensure our own safety on the internet, the apps we use and the cloud services we sign up for.