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As for the cyber threat, I'm sorry to report that I do track that stuff closely and the threat is very real -- the hackers are way way ahead and populace just doesn't seem to be able to understand the nature of the threat and how they personally play into it. I've been trying to explain this stuff since the mid 80s (when we were fighting our first hackers) but there just seems to be no way to get it through to the vast majority and that goes even for most software engineers. I've had to force engineers look at traces of hacker activity coming at their own code before they saw the light .. and it is like a light going on in their heads when they finally come to imagine all programming and network transactions as adversarial.

And so the various big players quietly go along exploring, cataloging, mapping, planting, testing, ... building the arsenal. So take my app. As far as we've been able to determine, there are no Chinese nationals hiking the ___ this year. Yet, with each release of the code a significant number of the downloads and freaking app updates(!) are coming from China. So I guess the thing is getting picked apart to see if it generates a vulnerability into iPhones that someday the right person in the right place (for them) might have installed so that they can take advantage of it. Now I've gone to pains to make sure there is no such exposure but WTF!?! ..

Unfortunately, at this point there is very little you can personally do other than protect yourself from the small time hackers through conventional means and to keep in mind that it's not you, personally, the big guys are after -- they are after the information and systems that you and your machines have access to. And by information I mean everything from org charts to chemical processing details to what the names and interests of your children are. And keep in mind that it's not humans directly doing this (except on rare occasions) but is robotic software just exploring, logging, cataloging, and correlating with human guides. Also keep in mind that they are particularly mapping out social and organizational relationships so that when the communication saying to do X or provide Y is received by you (or apparently sent by you) that it is believed and acted upon.

One of the primary things people misunderstand when they imagine this stuff is to put things in terms of humans trying to break into their accounts and computers when instead it is automatons with infinite patience, persistence, and cataloging capabilities.

So this is the actual world we live in today. For awhile I thought about officially entering this arena on the defense side but I decided that these positions tend to be soul sucking and generally unappreciated. The interesting work is being done by youngsters with doctorates. And so, for now, I just work hard attempting to not add to the mess by being very careful with my own development work. And, occasionally, I let out rants like this and stay clear of facebook .. ;-)

Have noticed (as of lately) have to call the children to see if an email was actually sent from them. Have received one (recently) had to delete (did not open). Was not from one of the children.

Look, here's the deal.

I know you track this stuff, but I am here to tell you, my code is 100% bulletproof against any and all hackers.