Security

It is often said in computer circles that users are the most frequent cause of system insecurity. The recent phone hacking scandal is a classic example: users not changing their default PINs.

Likewise, what has recently become famous as 'blagging' has long been known known in computer circles as 'social engineering'; in a famous case the uber-hacker Kevn Mitnick phoned up a military base pretending to be the harassed aide of a senior officer who had forgotten his password; a fellow hacker had discovered the aide's name on a piece of paper found in a dumpster. The result: Mitnick got told the password and could access the military network.

Security measures are a hassle for users, and therefore users hate security measures.

It is therefore with interest that I see that the Government's laudable aims to improve security on mobile devices has been waylaid by Sellotape.