IS Governance Word of the Day: Wetware

No, this is not the word that describes what the models are, or are not wearing, in the annual swimsuit issue of a certain sports weekly. It is a term that is used for the same reason the words "Front Towards Enemy" appear on a claymore mine as illustrated on the left. The word is defined in the book that I am currently reviewing (and the review will be posted later tonite), it is defined as the "software" running on a human computer - the brain - and the corresponding hardware."

The more formal definition, from various sources, is what describes the human nervous system. The bottom line is that it is synonymous with the basis for social engineering attacks. That is the "hacker's clever manipulation of the natural human tendency to trust". So as we need to tell uneducated soldiers which way to point the weapon, we must educate our users to be more suspicious of attempts at social engineering.