Draw the virtual curtains
In our ever-faster virtual world, even the back alleys get traffic. I had that principle of basic security brought to my attention this afternoon by a quick email from someone I haven’t seen in years. You see, secrecy through obfuscation may sound great when you’re reading a cheap spy novel, but there are spiders and robots in the equation now.
I’ve been a collector of family data for over two decades, and the names have always been kept using software; after you’ve redrawn a chart for the umpteenth time anything that adds a bit of accuracy to the bookkeeping is welcome. So goes the data, so grows the data, to a point where the sheer volume leads to a bit of sloppiness in how it is stored.
I have a public presence (several of them, actually) and I try to respect the privacy of those around me. In reading through this blog, you will not find my name. My “public presence” also doesn’t hide away; if you want to find the blog, simply Google for it. However, experimenting with software changes takes place elsewhere, and my “other server” (I don’t have an “other car”, so this compensates) has a non-standard name and is kept in a non-standard place.
But then there are spiders and robots. Faceless, roving, scooping up everything in their path and carrying away traces. I’d forgotten to “lock the doors and draw the curtains” with the result that some of my work turned up in the arms of the all-seeing Googler. Which, by extension, meant that my data was visible to anyone else who happens to search for the right term and make it past the first page.
I’ve made a few changes this afternoon; the data that shouldn’t be available via the net no longer is… I now have password protection, access limitations, robot evasion files; all of the restrictions that I use in the public eye now are in use on the private one. A bit of a steep learning curve to take on just before supper, but thanks to various tutorials and FAQ files my brave little server now has some virtual armor. Too bad I hadn’t done so BEFORE the fateful visit from a roaming spider back at the end of January. I’ve also made an official request to have any references removed from the “cache” and I’ll be waiting to see how long it actually requires. Something leads me to believe that this is a bit like Island mud; easy to pick up on the feet but harder to clean away.
For anyone else who needs to “draw the curtains”, the answer is to learn about your server and then apply the experience of others. If it doesn’t need to be on the web, then it shouldn’t be. Next stop: VPN.
