Once upon a digital time, you could operate a computer without fear of being hacked, catching a virus or worm, or becoming the latest victim of a ransomware attack. While the good guys have been coming up with ways to fight back against the bad guys ever since the first man ventured online, unethical cyber sleuths always seem to stay one step ahead.
As a result, few people would dare operate even an iPad or smart phone nowadays without having proper protection for their software and hardware. After all, you have a lot to lose if your personal database is accessed, from having your bank account emptied to private photos posted on the internet, all without your consent or knowledge.
Those thoughts occurred to me while talking with a friend last week about whether they should get vaccinated against COVID-19. My friend wasn’t making a political statement about the coronavirus or freedom, nor taking a principled stand against vaccines in general, he just hadn’t gotten around to it, saw some people were testing positive even after getting a shot and didn’t see why it was such a big deal.
A few years before, that same friend’s computer crashed and died after he stupidly opened a random email from someone probably claiming he won an international lottery he never entered and can now use that money to extend his auto warranty. While he was fortunate the bad guys did not get into his bank account, as he uses such primitive passwords that a 5-year-old hacker could figure them out, he did lose every single file on his PC.
That included several years worth of photos. A large selection in iTunes. Emails and paperwork for just about everything he owned. He still hasn’t been able to recapture everything he lost, and likely never will.
That’s why, as he told me proudly, he uses some of the most stringent computer virus protection you can buy today. The cost was irrelevant; he wasn’t ever going to be caught unprepared again.
At the same time, I told him, you’re allowing your body to be completely unprepared for the pandemic, which has taken more than 4.4 million lives worldwide. I personally know three local residents who were not vaccinated and died from the virus – plus two more people in Cherokee County passed away in the last week, increasing the total number lost here to 45 – and I’d hate to see anyone else added to that grim list.
And the vaccine is free to all.
The Cherokee Scout, and myself personally, do not support government-imposed shutdowns on private businesses, as that’s going way too far. At the same time, we support the rights of those businesses to enact public safety measures to protect their employees and customers, which is very much a conservative position. Getting into fights, verbal or otherwise, with store workers over these kind of arguments is shameful.
To me, wearing a mask, keeping your distance and getting vaccinated – in essence, being a good neighbor during times like these – sounds a whole lot like making sure your computer virus protection is up to date. If you wouldn’t go online without making sure you have something watching your back, don’t go offline, either.