Welcome to Cyber Cyber Cyber Cyber, the newsletter that explains cybersecurity so that humans can understand it.

This new, 𝚍̶𝚊̶𝚒̶𝚕̶𝚢̶ infrequent missive into your inbox will bring Cyber Thought Nuggets (TM) from our farm to your table.

Cybersecurity is not just a incredibly weird technical discipline. It's also political. Because it's about power--who has it, and who does not.

If you're reading this, you probably have no Cyber Power at all. Because of the great asymmetry in Cyberlandia--it is super easy to hack somebody, but terrifically difficult to prevent such attacks--mere mortals have no real defense against the dark arts, and even well-resourced militaries and spies get hacked all the time.

Now, I could verge into a mind-numbingly BORING digression about machine learning and how future advances on the 5-10 year horizon might change that power asymmetry, BUT THIS IS NOT A BORING NAVEL GAZING NEWSLETTER for other wonky wonk wonks like this wonk (me).

What hacking and mass surveillance have done is transferred vast amounts of political power from the people to the military, the police, and the spies.

Without pointing fingers at any particular person or agency, consider what that means to how our society, or any society, is run. A new source of power to coerce and to destroy, unchecked by any countervailing force, will eventually, we may speculate, overbalance our current system of government--if it hasn't already.

We may in the abstract we concerned about this. We may in the concrete be like HOLY FUCKING SHIT WE LIVE IN DYSTOPIA CRINGE IN HORROR MY EYEBALLS ARE BURNING HOLY CHRIST!!

I won't bore you with technical details unless they are absolutely necessary, but rest assured, I am well-armed with technical details. Do you feel lucky, punk?

We live in strange times that are only going to get stranger. Cybersecurity issues are a major reason for that.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

Welcome to Cyber Cyber Cyber Cyber, I'm J.M. Porup, reporting without pants.