Power to the Users

Privacy is something we all strive for, but there is no sure-fire way to keep your data and system safe.  A system administrator can monitor users and use various methods to discover hackers, but this will not keep them out of the system.  There are always other holes that a hacker can exploit.  While monitoring is encouraged, it alone will not keep your system safe.

We can also control how open our system is.  If we are too open then it allows hackers to access our data and abuse our system.  However, if we are too closed, then it diminishes our productivity.  Data can be protected by keeping all sensitive data on machines that are not connected to a network or the Internet.  Who is now unable to access the data, the hacker or the user?  Most likely both.  Restricting access to the point that it hinders the users from accessing their own data is absurd.

Perhaps the best method to prevent hackers from attacking a system is by helping system users understand the dangers of hackers.  They need to know how to do their part to prevent sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands.  Your system can force users to only select passwords that are strong and also require users to change passwords frequently.  Helping users do their part to keep the system safe allows your system to remain accessible while limiting the power of hackers.

The Copy Engine

A recent experiment by Google shows that Bing is likely copying Google's top search results.  While Bing's and Google's search algorithms are different, they show very similar results in their top 10.  It makes sense to copy results from Google--their search engine is the most popular and it arguably returns the best results.  While Bing tries to improve their search results, they instead discredit their validity.  Bing's commercials show people that have become robotic because they have been overloaded with search results.  The cure for these people is to stop using search engines, and to use Bing's "decision engine" instead.  Their commercials focus on how they are different from other search engines, but their search algorithm focuses on copying results from Google.