If security were easy it would be called convenience Published April 26, 2010 By Col. Rusty Wilson 721st Mission Support Group commander CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN AIR FORCE STATION, Colo. -- For the life of me I cannot find the words "convenience" and "security" on the same page in the dictionary. In fact, I don't see either word listed in a thesaurus as related to the other. At this point I'm sure most of you are thinking "this guy is a bit off his rocker, of course the two words are not related." I am happy most of you immediately recognize the nonsense of relating the two, but I'm troubled by how often we do forsake security simply for convenience sake. Think about physical security. Almost without a second thought, most of us lock our homes and cars on a regular basis. We do so because we've been conditioned to do so. Both our house and car contain items we don't want to lose, but more importantly, it may very well be a matter of personal safety. So what happens when we go to work...we complain...we forget and bad things happen. "Why do we need a badge to get inside a particular building or facility?" "Why do they have to check every vehicle coming on base?" "What do you mean we have to take a VIP through a particular check point?" "Why can't I use a thumb drive?" "Is it really necessary for my password to be so complex?" "What do you mean I can't write down my password?" In today's environment we simply cannot afford the luxury of convenience in regards to security. We need to make sure to protect the information, the resources, and the coworkers (and ourselves) we've been entrusted to protect. This means we need to be more vigilant than ever to thwart those bad guys looking to do harm or to steal information. A long time ago I heard the quote, "no man is totally worthless; he can always be used as a bad example." I never did figure out whom to attribute the quote to, but I do strive not to be that guy...that bad example. History provides us with volumes of bad examples. One noteworthy example might be the guy that made the call to drag a big hollow wooden horse into the city of Troy. Today we are all targets from a whole new group of bad guys; smart and clever bad guys that span the spectrum from the pimple-faced teenage energy drinker, to lone and organized criminals, to sophisticated state sponsored actors. Although their motivations may vary, they are all looking to exploit weaknesses we have not taken the time to mitigate. What are we to do? Practice and live the basics. For starters, pay attention to all the warnings out there. Do not open unsolicited e-mails from folks you don't know. Don't "click" on Web site links you are not sure about. If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. Protect your personal information. Be vigilant and suspicious. If you notice something that seems out of the ordinary, report it. Secure your office, home and auto. Follow established procedures. Don't ask other folks to take shortcuts for your convenience. Don't attempt to talk around classified. Be very careful of putting anything on your computer; either personal or official. Most importantly, put up with and appreciate a little inconvenience. In the end, it may very well save yourself some major headaches, maybe some money or, in the extreme, the life of those counting on us to do our duty.