Is the Canadian Government Computer Savvy Enough to Protect Our Privacy?

For years the BlackBerry has been a staple of government communications in both the U.S. and Canada, now the Canadian Privacy Commissioner is wondering if Canadian government employees (and politicians I would assume) know enough about computer security to prevent breaches of out privacy. A news release from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (and an article in the Vancouver Sun), highlights some areas of concern like:

• Wifi security
• Wiping computer hard drives before donating computers
• BlackBerry PIN to PIN messaging
• Storage of information on mobile devices

None of these problems are terribly unique to the Canadian government, any government, or even you and I, I’m not sure many of us are handling our day-to-day mobile lives in a way that is 100% secure. I think the timing of the report is good, since it is Cyber Security Awareness Month and all, but will the Privacy Commissioner’s report make any difference?

Doubtfully.

Oh sure, more hard drive’s might get a better wipe or something, maybe a few wireless routers will switch to WPA2, but I think overall there won’t be tremendous changes because…

We don’t really care about online privacy or security terribly much.

I know this will rankle many of you, but let’s face it…do you encrypt your iPhone backups, your hard drive and always use secure WiFi? No, of course not. Neither do I. We all figure that we’re not really at risk. And yes, the government should take all these precautions and I think for the most part the big things will be done. However, real change? A wholesale change in attitude towards computer security? Yeah not likely.

Okay, let me have it in the comments.