For the most part the bait on the phishing hooks have no allure. The millions of dollars belonging to some deposed royal in need of rescue are far too obvious. The notice of an unpaid invoice excited a flash of concern once, but was not alarming enough to prompt a click. The other day an alert warned me I was on the verge of going over my email limit. Credit to the phisher, it was a novel approach, but there are worse fates than a lapse in emails. I do not know what crafty social engineering will grab hold of some anxiety or exploit some desire of mine, vault past my skepticism and compel me to open the door to the bad guys. But the moment awaits.

According to one cybersecurity expert we spoke to about how mining companies can guard against attacks on their increasingly network-connected operations, more than nine out of every ten data breaches originate from the sort of shotgun approaches listed above or more nuanced and targeted “spearphishing” attempts. 

In other words, network security really only becomes a technology problem after the breach has happened. We humans, equal parts intelligent and impulsive, are the biggest vulnerability.

Related: With more mines being connected, how are they being protected?

What if you and I were among the 14 million Facebook users who, it was recently revealed, had personal information, activity logs, and most recent searches among many other private details stolen? Sure, we can all see a poorly baited hook for what it is. But what about the line of attack an enterprising hacker could devise knowing that we are up at night and exactly what it is that keeps us awake?

Rachel Tobac, who heads the internet security firm Social Proof Security, and whose job it is to reveal to companies what their vulnerabilities may be, says the best approach when your credentials are at stake is to act as though everyone is out to get you, but to be nice about it. A pose she describes as “polite paranoia”. Perhaps it could be advice that we Canadians are now uniquely positioned to follow, given our reputed disposition and the fact that cannabis is legal in this country. A more sober-minded take is that the bill has come due for all the ostensibly free network-enabled services we have gorged ourselves on, and the cost is that we must be on constant alert for when the information we have given away is turned against us.