No, don't spend public funds to protect students' homework
On Mobile Guardian, lithium-ion battery fires, and attacks on the supply chain.
Can you handle the truth in the face? Here's what some of you privately told me about 3 recent stories.
One of the things that make it a pleasure to post regularly is the very thoughtful and insightful comments that many of you write.
I do learn a lot from them.
Unfiltered Fridays
While most leave comments, some of you also message me – due to seniority or industry affiliation that makes it unwise or impossible to comment publicly.
I've always thought this was a pity.
But what if I gave some of these (non-confidential) insights an airing every week? Let's call it "Unfiltered Fridays" for the unvarnished truth from tech leaders on the front lines.
Completely anonymous, of course.
The only question: Can you handle the truth if it hits you in the face?
Preventing another Mobile Guardian
When I asked for suggestions about how MOE should evaluate the next vendor for cybersecurity, a CISO told me dropping them is a knee-jerk reaction.
The thinking:
- Cyber security is a balance between cost and data.
- The data here is essentially students' homework.
- Vendor is already ISO27001 accredited.
- It's a low-cost SaaS provider.
It boils down to the ROI
Last week, a fire broke out at a Digital Realty data centre in Singapore. According to the SCDF, it started in a battery room containing lithium-ion batteries.
Due to its propensity to reignite, the firefighting was protracted.
Speaking about the growing use of lithium-ion batteries in the data centre industry as a whole, a senior operations executive told me it boils down to the TCO.
Li-ion batteries have:
- Long 10-year lifespan.
- No regular maintenance.
- Smaller than lead-acid batteries.
The lithium-ion explosion that wasn't
When I wrote about the pagers that exploded, I shared my initial thoughts about them stemming from lithium-ion batteries, before explaining that it's really explosives.
Someone pointed out that some readers might be misled. If you were, I'm sorry!
Make no mistake about it though, I expect supply chain security to be a much more closely watched topic now.
What do you think?
Agree, disagree?
Look forward to hearing from you!
Feel free to message me on LinkedIn (My LinkedIn Profile is open), email me by replying to my newsletter, or just drop me a text message if you know me personally.
