If attorney Rod Ponton was embarrassed by being unable to figure out how to turn off the cat filter on his Zoom call during a hearing in Texas’ 394th Judicial District Court a couple of weeks ago, his experience at least did not force him to resign, as members of the school board at Oakley Union Elementary School District in California were forced to do after they inadvertently livestreamed a virtual meeting in which they criticized and belittled students’ parents.
Board members were discussing the comments that parents had submitted about COVID restrictions, and board president Lisa Brizendine said they just wanted the school to act as “babysitters.” Another board member, Richie Masadas, joked that some parents wanted their children in school so they wouldn’t be around when the parents took drugs. “It’s easy to hide behind their screen and put a comment down, but when you’re face-to-face with people, it’s a whole different ball game,” Masadas said.
He and the other board members would regret what they said when they realized their comments were being livestreamed, and they felt compelled to resign en masse.
Holding meetings remotely has its perils, most of them simply embarrassing. The attorney, Rod Ponton, said after his difficulties with the cat filter on Zoom, commented, “I wanted to be known as a great attorney, not as a cat.”
Cybersecurity
Indeed, the internet can present more serious problems than embarrassing cat faces. The White House has selected a top National Security Agency official to lead the Biden administration’s response to the SolarWinds hack. Anne Neuberger is leading an investigation into the breach and is directing federal agencies compromised in the hack to seek remediation solutions. She has also worked with the private sector on addressing the attack, which also compromised many businesses’ security.
Earlier this month, hackers remotely accessed the water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida, briefly changing the levels of lye in the drinking water. The level of sodium hydroxide — the main ingredient in drain cleaner — was changed from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million, a level that could have badly sickened residents if it had reached their homes.
Kia Motors America, Inc. also had an extended systems outage likely caused by ransomware. While the company tried to downplay the problem, a Bleeping Computer report said hackers apparently breached the system and were asking for 404.5412 Bitcoin, about $20.9 million, to remove the virus. Customers have been unable to pay their car loans, remotely start their vehicles, or access other functions using Kia's infrastructure. Dealerships reported being unable to process customer orders or even to look up information on check engine light codes.
It’s a problem that insurance risk manager Gerry Kennedy of Observatory Strategic Management has been warning about over the past decade. “The penetration of utilities has been an issue for years,” he wrote. “Now this is true systemic risk in action! Another line of business that is now of concern would be Utility Service Interruption coverage which may or may not be on policies but at this point should be a mandate to put on a policy to protect [insurance] agents …. Utility service interruption coverage endorsements vary widely as to what utility services are included, whether both direct damage and time element loss are covered, and whether transmission lines are covered. Now add Hack as a peril causing loss!”
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