Man in charge of cybersecurity for 2020 Olympics has never touched a computer

06:18 cherishe 0 Comments

In other words, now’s probably a good time to get all that valuable data onto removable physical media.

On 14 October, the Minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Yoshitaka Sakurada was questioned by opposition party members in the Japanese Diet. In one particular exchange with Constitutional Democratic Party member Masato Imai he made a surprising revelation.

Masato: “Have you ever used a personal computer yourself?”

Sakurada: “From the time I was 25 I ran my own businesses, so I always had secretaries and employees, and so I never touched a computer personally.”

Masato: “I can’t believe that someone who has never laid a finger on a computer is in charge of cyberspace security measures.”

Sakurada: “That is being handled comprehensively using the full resources of my office and the national government. I have confidence that there are no flaws.”

This is great news for me, because now I am clearly qualified to manage an F1 team despite never having seen a full race, and not really understanding how it works. All those driver guys and wrench-holding dudes are pros though and know what they’re doing anyway.

In Sakurada’s defense, however, his role is more of a delegator, overseeing a wide range of responsibilities – cybersecurity only being one fraction. No one can be expected to be an expert in all facets of the Games. But even considering that, I’d still feel iffy about putting a guy who has never touched a computer in charge of the register at Wendy’s, let alone a massive global event.

Despite the disconcerting news, comments online were more in awe that such a person could function without ever booting up a computer.

“Doesn’t he know you can get porn on there?”
“Forget cybersecurity, how does he get any work done nowadays?”
“Maybe he’s like the younger generation and only knows smartphones and tablets.”
“He’s a master of cybersecurity. The only foolproof way to prevent security breaches is to not have a computer at all. Genius!”
“Big deal. It’s not like the president of a steel company knows how to work in the factory.”

The 68-year-old minister’s remarks came at about the same time that Microsoft Japan warned of a heightened risk of cyberattacks to Olympic host countries. In the same year as the Games, Microsoft will be ending its support of Windows 7, creating a sort of perfect storm and potentially leaving many organizations with vulnerable systems during an exceptionally dangerous time.

Personally, I would tell any business to put in the effort to switch to a Linux distro rather than a highly used one like Windows in the interest of more reliable security. But what do I know? Let’s ask the head of cybersecurity…

Yup, that looks like some good wine alright. Ah no worry, businesses in Japan have a great track record of updating their operating systems.

So, everything should just work itself out over the course of the coming months. But just in case, I think I’ll dust off that spindle of blank DVDs on the shelf and do a little burning.

Source: Golden Times, FNN Prime, Hachima Kiko
Top image: SoraNews24
Insert image: Wikipedia/Rama



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