Dido Harding Quotes
TalkTalk was not a highly trusted brand before the cyber attack but customers now say that we looked after them in difficult circumstances.
Harding, Dido. Press Conference on TalkTalk Annual Results. Financial Times, Nikkei, 12 May 2016.
Many computer experts and security operatives view this kind of advice and strategy as counter-productive as there are some computer security extremists who so harden computer systems and networks that they function poorly and cause really harmful operational problems. The classic case was the FBI agent in Minnesota who before 9-11 had information that Muslims foreigners were taking flying lessons. She wanted to get the information to the national security FBI people, but she was not allowed to send the information by e-mail. Instead she had to use a "secure" system that was much slower and could not be viewed by the people who might have been able to connect the dots and do something about it. The FBI has now a better balance between functionality and security, but it is a good example of how "security fanaticism" can make us less safe.
The new security procedures for allowing foeign students to study in the United States caused huge delays in the process and messed up a system that had been working well for years. It didn’t occur to the Secretary that a new system might be more efficient. That was the main reason for most organzations changing their systems--to gain efficiency.
Ironically, it was the case that there was even more hacking that was motivated by people who just wanted to prove that they could ‘breach a system’ and the more an organization claims that its data is secure, the more motivation there is for these hackers to demonstrate their prowess.
Diana Mary "Dido" Harding, Baroness Harding of Winscombe is a British businesswoman and Conservative life peer serving as chairwoman of NHS Improvement since 2017. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was the head of the NHS Test and Trace programme until April 2021.