Crash!

I found out this morning that the VPN connectivity between the organization that I am supporting and the parent has been down for over 2 weeks. I find it interesting that organizations that rely on interconnectivity to conduct business often are blind to the most sensitive areas of the enterprise that could jeopardize business operations.

I wonder what the difference between being blind to something and choosing ignorance looks like? If systems are architected from the get go with continuity of operations in mind then clearly blindness is a condition caused by factors beyond the control of the system operator. Conversely ignorance is just being stupid because in a world of uncertainty it is certain that a system crash will occur. What concerns me the most is that the systems that are most critical to our national security, such as water and power, are still governed by the same principals of blindness and ignorance.

I know that we don’t live in an ideal world and in that ideal world systems would be designed from the start with clear requirements to ensure that the core business that the system supports is assured at all times. In the commercial space folks can get away with a lot more than in the government arenas. However that too is a challenge in that the Federal Government relies heavily on commercial support to conduct the business of the people. In the past ten years there has been a convergence of information and this integration has changed the face of the planet that we live on. At the same time I think that we are living in one of the most precarious and dangerous times in human history.

One of the more popular theories as to why we have not been contacted by extraterrestrial life is that there simply is no intelligent life out there in the Cosmos. It could be argued that civilizations that reach the point of being able to travel or just simply communicate across the vastness of space simply implode and “burn out”. I look at the world today and think that we are at that crossroads in human history where we can rise up and continue to evolve or simply burn out and vanish into oblivion.

The daunting and yet wondrous fact that is staring directly at us is that we have the choice. We have before us an awesome task of transforming not just how information is processed but how that information impacts the world. The sooner that we collectively and individually realize that our connections are what make us stronger the closer we will be towards taking those evolutionary steps that ensure the survival of mankind.