I hesitated posting this entry since it seems more personal than business related. The “softer” side, if you will.

Tim Russert, who grew up 3 blocks from my father, moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press” has passed on much too early. This is truly a tragic loss — to Buffalo, to politics, to family & friends. The odd thing about today’s electronic/media/technological-age is that our DVR has Russert’s (unknowingly) last episode, and the following tribute episode with Tom Brokaw.

It can be easy to forget that behind the bits and bytes of technology, there are real human beings. Either an audit log, or a digital video recording — many of these moments are actions by people. It caused me to interrupt the scheduled delete/rotation and instead, those two episodes are tagged, “save until I delete.”

A former mentor and boss passed away at a much too young age, just a few years back, similarly sudden and tragic. At work, his technology accounts were immediately deleted and in some cases, suspended. Many at work called this step callous and insensitive. But the sad truth is there are elements out there ready, and willing to take advantage. And in Identity Management, we are sometimes on the front lines of technology response when there’s a human tragedy. It’s not callous — it’s about security.

I can only say that when we work with bulk files, HR data feeds, ACLs and workflows we take just a moment to remember — it’s not just line numbers or data elements — its human beings.

Filed under: Provisioning, Security