When Diana is the editor of the monthly Octagon Technology newsletter she likes to have a theme for the month, last month it was “Get Organised” this month her theme is the “Special Days in February” and to start things off I got Groundhog Day and the task of relating that to cyber security!
How are you going to bring cyber security into Groundhog Day?
A quick look on Wikipedia explained the US and Canadian tradition of watching how a groundhog reacts to its shadow on 2 February:
“… the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den and winter will go on for six more weeks.” (Wikimedia projects 2002a)
The bad news for 2025 is that winter will continue for six more weeks. The good news is this: “While the tradition remains popular in the 21st century, studies have found no consistent association between a groundhog seeing its shadow and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather.” (Wikimedia projects 2002b)
Now for the Groundhog Day cyber security bit…
Thanks in part to the highly successful 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” starring Andie MacDowell and some other guy, Groundhog Day has come to mean “a situation in which events are or appear to be continually repeated.” (Wikimedia projects 2002c). That brings me to cyber security.
Passwords
I was recently working with an organisation and I was not surprised to find that they were not only reusing passwords across services but were also sharing passwords
- The reuse of passwords is just giving threat actors a huge advantage to hack your organisation.
- Sharing passwords removes the accountability of individuals when it comes to your organisation’s cyber security.
I often feel that when it comes to passwords and my articles, I appear to be continually repeating myself.
It feels like Groundhog Day.
But the message has still to reach everybody.
Do you need a push to think about password cyber security?
Try this:
Next
I believe someone is going to link IT support to Valentine’s Day over on the Octagon Technology blog. Good luck with that!
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
References
Wikimedia projects. 2002a. “Groundhog Day – Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, October 29. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day.
Wikimedia projects. 2002b. “Groundhog Day – Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, October 29. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day#Accuracy.
Wikimedia projects. 2002c. “Groundhog Day (film) – Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, October 30. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)#Cultural_impact.
Further Reading
IT and Cyber Security Audit | Smart Thinking Solutions
Photo by Niklas Jeromin
Groundhog Day (1993) theatrical poster image – fair usage
