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How about solar panels at the Piney Point property on Tampa Bay? | Letters
Here’s what readers are saying in Wednesday’s letters to the editor.
 
Aerial photo of the phosphogypsum stacks at the former Piney Point phosphate plant where one stack was in danger of imminent collapse in March and early April.
Aerial photo of the phosphogypsum stacks at the former Piney Point phosphate plant where one stack was in danger of imminent collapse in March and early April. [ TIFFANY TOMPKINS | Bradenton Herald ]
Published Sept. 15, 2021

Solar panels at Piney Point?

Florida says Piney Point will be under new management | Aug. 26

Piney Point was a disaster waiting to happen, and it will be expensive to fix. Apparently the owner is bankrupt so much of the money will have to come from public resources. Even then the remaining ground will be toxic and unsuitable for agriculture or housing. Perhaps the power companies could contribute to the costs in exchange for the land rights. They could then use the ground for a solar panel farm which would benefit them and everyone involved.

Bryan Firth, Clearwater

Tattletale Texas

U.S. Supreme Court votes 5-4 to allow Texas law that bans most abortions | Sept. 2

Paying people to turn in their neighbors for money reminds me of a prank by MAD magazine in the 60′s. The prank purported to pay people for turning in other people who were using drugs. But this is real. What is Texas going to add to the tattletale reward program? Driving infractions? Public consumption of alcohol?

Florida is very likely to make up a similar law to limit or eliminate women’s rights. These are the same people who say that no one should be forced to wear a mask as it is a violation of their rights. It makes my head spin.

Dave Hinz, Clearwater

Wrong COVID path

DeSantis threatens ‘millions’ in fines for cities and counties for vaccine mandates | Sept. 13

Once again our governor seems hellbent on assuring an ongoing public health emergency in Florida. He hides the data and lies during each new surge of cases, then takes credit and victory laps as each wave inevitably wanes. His threats against local governments and school boards for taking common sense public health precautions are dangerous demagoguery aimed at a national radical GOP audience. They are not aimed at helping Floridians achieve actual freedoms — freedom from ongoing precautions and restrictions that each wave of the virus imposes on people of conscience, people with health issues, and our children. I cannot imagine a worse course for our state than the one the governor is following.

Jerry Nepon-Sixt, Tampa

Congrats to DeSantis

DeSantis threatens ‘millions’ in fines for cities and counties for vaccine mandates | Sept. 13

Kudos to Gov. DeSantis for his bold actions to protect employees’ freedoms from mask and vaccine mandates. I humbly suggest that he next tackle those over-controlling signs found in restaurants: “Employees must wash hands after using the toilet.” Using the same logic, it clearly should be an employee’s personal decision whether to prepare food with E. coli-infested fingers. Freedom!

Thomas Brandon, Tampa

Stopping cyber criminals

Man accused of hacking Tampa Bay computer logins | Sept. 14

A Ukrainian man has been expedited to the United States because he used malware to infiltrate thousands of computers where he used software to decrypt users’ passwords. One of the first steps he took was to use social engineering to coerce a system administrator of the targeted e-commerce site to find out the requirements for account login creation and passwords. This underscores the need for all private citizens to move to using two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication not only requires a password, but a secondary form of identification such as a fingerprint (biometric) or a randomized token pin number generator (RSA token).

Companies also need to implement two-factor authentication coupled with implementing a Zero Trust Architecture. ZTA, which was first introduced in early 2010 by John Kindervag, deems all traffic as hostile and requires that all resources be accessed in a secure manner including physical location. Access control is on a need-to-know basis, not based on a person’s role such as a system administrator. Zero Trust Architecture does not trust people without verifying who they are, what they are doing and if they should be allowed to do it. It requires the inspection of all log traffic coming into a network for malicious activity.

Finally, Zero Trust Architecture states that all networks should be designed from the inside out. It takes time but can be implemented in a staged fashion so as not to impact daily business activities.

Had either one of these security practices been in place, the access and damage could’ve been limited and greatly reduced. In the end, there’s no security software, hardware or architecture that will completely stop nefarious individuals both inside and outside the wired world we live in. However, we can and should do as much as possible to make it difficult for them to achieve success.

Mark Khan, Tampa

The writer is a senior information cybersecurity consultant.