On the joy of writing...

Let's start with a story. The story of a child lost in books; in a dream world of fairies and dashing heroes and dark, dastardly villains who somehow were always considerate enough to let world be saved and had the good grace to come to spectacular and satisfying ends. The child grew up to move on to bildungsromans of simple people being transformed into larger than life legends. Next in line were tales of ethical dilemmas and conundrums that had deep existential implications. These stories defined the child's life. There came a time when the child's hunger for stories could no longer be fuelled by what had already been written... ever. The child wanted stories that had not yet been written. The child began to write.

This could be the story of any author. There comes a time in the life of every author when he or she starts searching for a story that has not yet been written. The story takes birth and grows in their mind. And there comes a time when the author has to sit down and put the story down on paper. The story has to be told. And that is when the child becomes an author. And that is how stories get told. Stories that will be read by children tomorrow, thus fuelling more authors and more stories. There are people who turn their nose up at the non-storytellers; those who are unable to come up with stories of their own.


I say there is no such thing. Everyone has at least one story to tell. Sometimes that story is saved for the tiny ears of a grandchild decades after the story comes to life. Sometimes the story comes to life in magnificent dreamscapes, only to be shattered every morning by a rude alarm bell and reality. Sometimes the story takes on an ugly reality in the form of lies and make-believe. But there is always a story. Everyone has their story. What is this post about anyways? This post is about that story; your story! Write it down. You owe it to yourself and more importantly, to the story. So what if you never publish it and make money off it? So what if no one ever gets to read it. So what if even you wince as you read it. The point is that the story got told. The point is that you set it free. And who knows where the story might go from there? It just might light a spark in a child's mind; a spark that will lead to another story. And therein, your story will find it's purpose. In the end, it's all about stories.


Cogito Ergo Finito

Virtual Vulnerability and the Big Bad Wolf!

Let’s go back to childhood, when mama told us time and again, ‘Do not talk to strangers!’ And we followed this advice in every way we could; ranging from responding with scowls to perfectly innocent smiles, to installing peepholes on the main door. This anti-social behavior might well have protected us from a range of unimaginable horrors, including abduction by the neighborhood psycho and being cheated by the ever-hovering conman. Amen!

A decade or so back, something changed. A new form of interaction entered our lives; the internet. And suddenly, everything in our lives had a virtual implication. Our mails went virtual, our classrooms went virtual and even social interaction went virtual. However, mama’s advice did not go virtual. Because the internet was all about talking to strangers! And talk to strangers we did; first through simple chat applications, then through VoIP applications and now via thousands of mushrooming social networking sites.
Popularity is no more about having a date of a Saturday night or the number of people hiding in your apartment to surprise you on your birthday. Popularity now lies in the number of connections/friends you have on your social networking website and how many of them blink online on your chat list.


Now, stop for a moment and think: How many of these ‘friends’ do you really know? How many of them have you met? How many of them do you know are real people?You will realize that you have indeed slipped and have been talking to strangers. People you do not know, people you would not recognize if you walked into them in office tomorrow, people who just might be completely different from who they say they are (and that cute photo with the puppy might well belong to another complete stranger!) And these people, in some measure, are privy to a lot of information about you.


Think for a moment about your virtual presence. Various mailboxes, chat IDs, social network profiles. Casual stuff, no worries! One step further. Postings on professional job sites or matrimonial sites, memberships in online forums and communities, a mention in employee listings of organizations you’ve worked for with all contact information listed. This might be a little more serious. But then you are not worried, right? Let’s try once more. Bank accounts (most banks offer online transactions), credit card accounts, phone accounts (again, online billing and transactions), Demat accounts, insurance accounts… Your entire life is at risk.


Having established your vulnerability, we now introduce, the Big Bad Wolf (yes, we didn’t forget him). Let’s call him BBW! Disguised in Grandma’s clothes, he is lurking online, just waiting for you to slip up. While all the anti-virus software of the world and your firewalls will keep him out of your computer, they cannot keep him out of your head. BBW holds a PhD in what is called Social Engineering. Social Engineering is defined as the art and science of getting people to comply with your wishes. And BBW does that very well. Here’s how!


BBW starts off by identifying a target group or a person. In this case, let us assume he is targeting you. He draws up a list of attributes and characteristics that will appeal to you. Using this list, he creates a virtual identity. This virtual identity has everything from a job to a social network. This new character, let’s call him Nice Joe, will be exactly the kind of guy you like. Soon enough, you will bump into Nice Joe in an online chat room or a discussion board. You might receive an add request, or a mail citing common friends. And if BBW has really done his homework, you will want Nice Joe for your friend and send him an add request!


Very soon Nice Joe, now NJ to you, will be your best buddy! NJ and you start spending hours together online. Online games, chats, putting up discussion boards, feeding each other’s BLOG traffic… the best virtual pals ever. Sending files to each other is a common occurrence. One of these files NJ sends you will have what is called a sleeper application. This particular application is the type that takes root in your system, and quietly records all your keystrokes and sends it to him. NJ, or rather BBW, now knows exactly what you wrote in that mail to your girlfriend/boyfriend, how many shares of that new public issue you bought and of course, the password to every account you have.


The story gets uglier by the minute. Through the benign NJ, BBW has broken into your life, and can do just about anything he wants. All your life is at the mercy of a Big Bad Wolf! This story might sound far-fetched, but is as easy to execute as a fried egg, sunny side up. Easier, actually. The BBWs of the virtual world have all the tools at their hands to execute such fraud, and if something like this never happened to you, it probably is because you have been lucky enough to go unnoticed by them so far.


Virtual identities are getting easier to fake day by day and social engineering is becoming an extremely dangerous menace. Stories of fraud are commonplace enough, and the odd tale of a psychopathic homicide that started off with an online flirtation seems to stress just how vulnerable we all are. Call it a raving paranoid conspiracy theory or call it a commentary on the dangers our daily lives expose us to; but the next time you accept an add request on your chat list or social networking site, do spend a minute to think to yourself – Do I really know this person?


Cogito Ergo Finito