• “Ransomware Doesn’t Scare Me; Listeria Does”
We put a lot of chemicals on our bodies (think: soaps, creams, nail polish, makeup, hair dyes) on a regular basis. The ingredients in these products are (hopefully) balanced so as not to harm us, but what if someone gained access to the exact proportions for each ingredient in, say, a shampoo? Further, what if they could modify the amount of each ingredient put in a bottle? Then we might have angry customers calling the company to complain about sudden hair loss and long-term damages to their health. For any product containing substances that could be substantially harmful in slightly larger amounts, the recipe should not be accessible online, and the addition of these substances to products should be carefully guarded to make sure that a machine malfunction or hack does not fiddle with the quantities. Not only would the company suffer major damages in reputation and revenue as they recall the affected products and compensate those affected, but chemicals can cause permanent damage to the body, especially if misused in the long term. I remember a news story of a girl losing her hair and eyesight due to something maliciously added to her hairbrush and eye drops. It’s scary to think about and even scarier to experience.
• “Who Invited Her?”
Without Sara’s input being taken seriously by at least one person, the discussion would have continued without its participants questioning their path of automation. More money would have been invested into newer technology without considering the very premise of putting things online. The vulnerabilities that the consultant revealed would not have been found, let alone addressed, leaving a high chance of worse damage being dealt, such as listeria. Sara speaking up during that meeting challenged the decisions of her higher-ups and questioned the assumption that new, shiny technology is just better. Regardless of how well it can perform, it can’t be used willy-nilly without overcomplicating the process and introducing more and more vulnerabilities. Whether they ended up seeing the value in her words or not, the men who laughed at her and tried to apologize for her learned a hard lesson that day: that a woman with a lower position in the company hierarchy can give input that has a large impact on the very core of the company’s ideas.
