What 'Star Trek' Tells Us About Information Security

Science fiction usually has little to say about information security. As in the real world, it too often gets in the way of getting work done. Star Trek is no exception, as explored in this ha.ckers.org posting "What Star Trek Predicts About The Future of Information Security".
You really ought to read the whole thing, but here are some of the lines that stood out to me:


Physical security will always be a problem: How many times have we seen people open up random access panels on the Enterprise and start pulling out chips when something goes awry or just start swapping them out right and left?

They don't use money in the future. Probably because consumers are so sick of having their credit cards stolen is my guess.

Why didn't they bother to root-kit [Lt. Data]? I'll never know.

I can't even tell you how many times the Enterprise has managed to damage the one and only dilithium crystal that they have on the whole ship. Why, for all that's holy, wouldn't you just bite the bullet and pay to have two on board? Yes, I'm talking to you, Jean Luke [sic, should be Jean-Luc] and you too Mr. CISO.

The vast majority of times someone has entered in a password on the show, it has been by saying it out loud. Which, incidentally is almost never - giving you an idea about how lax security will be in the future.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353119,00.asp