Published December 20, 2011 | 
Well, we were hacked. Some script kiddie ran what appears to be an SQL injection hack to gain access to our site, simply to prove that he “could do it” and plastered a couple pictures and a couple slogans as his calling card. SO what does this have to do with a business site, and why am I writing about it? I’m glad you asked…
I don’t want to focus on this “script kiddie”. I suspect he wasn’t a “real” hacker, instead he’s someone who simply knows some scripts and makes general mischief. If he was a “real” hacker, he wouldn’t be bothering with our small business site. I’d rather focus on the symptoms and general thoughts that lead up to this kind of malicious mischief.
There seems to be a tremendous disrespect that permeates our society today – just look at recent news reports. A gang of around 50 girls recently tried to attack another girl in her own home, and attacked two police officers who tried to intervene. The “Occupy Wall Street” crowds in several major cities who are violently protesting, committing sexual assault, and defecating in public, including directly on police cars. Or how about the incidents of violence this past Black Friday where a woman used pepper spray on a crowd, injuring several, simply to get a low-priced video game system?
If this continues, history will repeat itself. Karl Marx called these kinds of folks “Useful Idiots”. They were useful in securing power for those who wanted it. I’d like to coin a different term – “Useless Idiots”. I’d also like to focus on a different term – the “Idiot” portion of that statement. Yes. these folks are being “Idiots”. By being goaded into acting this way, they are allowing themselves to act without thinking. Unfortunately, this is all-too common – even in today’s business environment.
In business, as in life, we can often get better results by thinking BEFORE we act, instead of acting before we think. I urge you to think before acting. Maintain respect. Don’t be an idiot.
/rant
