Availability. It's one of the three major tenets of the Information Security Triangle. (The other two are confidentiality and integrity.) Sometimes we forget just how important availability really is, and how it should never be taken for granted. Availability means information is readily available when it is requested. If a server gets knocked offline and customers can no longer visit an e-commerce web site, its availability has been compromised (and its stock price will probably drop).
Last week I was thoroughly reminded of the importance of availability while visiting the annual PC Expo at the Javits Center in New York, figuring I could write a nice article about some of the new Information Security products on the market. The PC Expo, by the way, is now also called "TECHXNY," a sign of how this show has evolved over the years and now incorporates all aspects of technology and not merely PCs anymore. Like thousands of other attendees I pre-registered online weeks in advance so as not to waste precious time waiting on a long line to pick up my badge at the show. I clicked submit and sat back and waited for my badge to arrive through the mail. "Ahh, the wonders of technology at work," I thought.
But my badge never did arrive. The PC Expo's web site explained that if you registered too late (I did not) your badge could be picked up at a "Pre-Registration" counter at the show. One might think it would make sense to place these counters somewhere near the front entrance, but no such luck. Only the "registration" booths were found there. I didn't even see a sign directing attendees to where the "pre-registration" booths where located. After asking around I discovered the counter I seeked was down one flight of stairs around a corner and down a lobby.
"Excuse me, sir," a woman from the show inquired, "Are you pre-registering?" Although that didn't sound quite grammatically correct I answered affirmatively. "Great, just wait on this line right here." So there I was doing the one thing I pre-registered in advance to avoid, standing on line. After a short wait I made it up to the counter where a curly haired man sat behind a computer. After presenting him with some ID, he tapped some keystrokes and directed me to a gentleman at the corner of the booth who sat behind a badge printer, where a badge with my name was to appear seconds later. "Ahh, the wonders of technology at work," I thought.
