From BBC NEWS:

Facebook bug sees Zuckerberg pictures posted online

In my opinion, Mr. Zuckerberg knew this headline news was a possibility all along. He isn’t without intelligence, after all.

Just as when I listened to the CEO of Blackberry apologize to the masses about recent service outages and delays, I wonder at the over-the-top apologies and addition of more regulations and audits. Is it because we believe in magic now? Should I start writing to Santa Claus again?

We accuse our technology providers of deceiving us, when in reality we are deceiving ourselves.

A few quick points related to the reality of a technological life -

Truth 1: There is no such thing as zero risk

Truth 2: Stuff (also known by another name that starts with ‘s’) happens

Truth 3: Those who disagree about 1 & 2 are lying

The problem with the cases of Blackberry’s outage and Facebook’s privacy breach comes with the implied promises given to those using the tools. Promises that state these things can’t and won’t happen. They can, have,  and will. It is up to the individual to take whatever steps are necessary to mitigate their own risk to an acceptable level, regardless of whatever mitigation the technology provider has in place. For example:

• If your parents ‘would kill you if they found out/saw/read <whatever>…’, don’t put it on any technology
  • The adult version includes the words ‘fired, divorce, not elected’
• If you can’t function when your technology goes down for even a day – or less – have a tested and readily available backup process in place
• If you can’t afford to lose money even for the period of time between the loss and eventual reimbursement, don’t do on-line transactions (or debit/credit cards, for that matter)
• If you can’t afford the time and effort needed to redeem yourself after identity theft, don’t do anything online that includes personally identifiable information

It sounds harsh, but as a consumer you need to be aware of, and take control of, your own risks. Guarantees from providers are no better now than they were when they were on paper. To live and work effectively in today’s technological environment, you should revisit a few life lessons that haven’t changed just because of technology.

Do:

• Take things with a grain of salt

Do Not:

• Put all of your eggs in one basket

Avoid:

• Pies in the sky
• Tails wagging dogs
• Free lunches
• Gilded lilies
• Smoke and mirrors
• Bandwagons

Apply common sense in your approach to using technology. You can find and use trusted and proven providers but, even then, understand that there is no such thing as zero risk. If you can’t accept that basic premise:

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

(Thank you to Phrasefinder for helping me find these nuggets of lost knowledge!)

For additional information on company management of technology risks, reference this article from Boardmember.com about Protiviti’s 2011 IT Audit Benchmarking Survey

Survey: Most Companies Not Doing Enough to Manage IT Risks