49 DECEMBER 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Live by the Computer and Die by the Computer by Britt Storkson - Owner, P2FlowLLC When I first started writing articles commenting on the overuse and ill-advised use of computers to control everything, I thought I would run out of material to write about in a short time. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It seems like every day another new issue with computer controls rears its ugly head, and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Consider a New York Post article titled: “MGM losing up to $8.4M per day as cyberattack paralyzes slot machines, hotels for 8th straight day,” which tells about hackers who deliberately disabled the MGM Grand Hotel (in Las Vegas) demanding a reported $30 million dollars in ransom. If nothing else, this makes a really good argument against having a “smart” home, “smart” business, or “smart” anything else for that matter. All of these devices are interconnected to one computer system which is capable of monitoring and controlling them. What a great idea! With a few mouse clicks, one is able to see the status of each item and turn it on and off at will. But all of that “space age” computer control comes at a price. With this convenience and level of control comes interconnected vulnerability. All it does is leave one exposed with many entry points to admit malware, ransomware, and a large variety of other “wares,” which are fully capable of disabling the system on command from a remote source. I’ve long advocated a global/local approach to this task - meaning each device operates independently and logs its own data instead of continually sending the data to a central computer platform which leaves everything open to hacking. Data can be read and stored or transferred to a mainframe using a thumb drive, SIM card, or similar device which in turn completely isolates it from any external alterations. This can work for anything from slot machines to water pumps and everything in between. This global/local approach has many other advantages as well. For one thing, it’s far less expensive than the interconnected equipment which, I believe, is primarily why it isn’t being widely used. Another advantage is the equipment can be taken out of service and maintained without impacting other equipment on the network since it’s completely independent. Alarms can be serviced by using a low-cost relay switch to indicate there’s a problem and dispatch maintenance personnel to check it out. Now if this seems too simple, it’s because it is. It reminds me of a quote from Microsoft founder Bill Gates: “Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.” It’s not quantity we’re after; it’s quality. While a little may be good, more is not necessarily better. The airplane analogy is a good one as everything that goes into an airplane must be evaluated in terms of the weight it adds. Too much weight means the airplane may not even get off the ground, much less perform successfully while in the air. If the weight contribution cannot be justified, it will be left off of the airplane. The same concept should apply to computer controls. If the presence of certain devices and amount of software needed to operate the machinery cannot be justified, it should be left out. It’s only common sense, but then, nowadays, common sense isn’t that common. Britt Britt Storkson may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com
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