Some of the readers of this blog will be aware that I am very fond of reading news and analysis from Stratfor [1] [2]. So, imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail this afternoon saying that Stratfor had been hacked, that there was a criminal investigation, and that there were concerns that the corporate clients of Stratfor had been seen by a third party. Being the suspicious kind of person that I am, I pondered as to why a company like Stratfor would be hacked.

After all, Stratfor’s free clients (like myself) tend to read articles about the security questions of Mexico thanks to its drug war, analysis of hotspots around the world like North Africa and the Middle East, and examine the connection between debt, military power, and rivalry politics between powers like Germany, the United States, Russia, China, and Iran. It would appear as if paid clients get a lot more in-depth analysis, but that is not information I am privy too.

Nonetheless, it is curious to me why someone would go through the effort of trying to find out who is reading Stratfor and who is a customer. Clearly such a person or organization would be up to no good. From what I see, many of the companies looking for help would be looking for intelligence on such matters as the Mexican/Central American drug wars or how to avoid problems with terrorism. It is my hope that none of those companies are compromised as a result of the hacking and that whoever is responsible is brought to justice.

That said, I ponder often about the seemingly insatiable desire of governments for information, knowing that people are interested in reading and commenting on news that governments might not want to admit. This world we live in is one that seems to encourage paranoia, with the absence of security, the widespread desire for anonymity, and the growing span of information that is publicly known about even the most obscure of private people. It is a volatile mixture of information and deception that makes life particularly dangerous in these times.

All too often in life we want to know about others but want to conceal at the same time. If we trust a website or company, we trust them with a lot of personal information–bank accounts, credit cards, addresses, phone numbers, and so on. This sort of information can be very profitable in the wrong hands, and so those who desire to cheat and behave fraudulently search for information by improper means so that they can profit from it, no matter the damage caused to others.

Trust is a huge problem in this world. If it were not enough that it is difficult to trust the governments or authorities that are supposed to serve our interests, those companies we purchase goods and services from who again are supposed to serve our interests (for their own profit, of course), it is necessary as well to deal with the problem that third parties may be involved that are not trustworthy, either because they purchase or steal our information from those we have (perhaps unwisely) trusted. And it is not easy to regain trust once it is lost. Not in the least.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/afghanistan-and-the-tyranny-of-logistics/

[2] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/edge-induced-cohesion-in-the-arabian-peninusula/