Comment by Marha01
8 hours ago
> If you hand me two sheets of paper, one of them containing instructions and another containing data, I'll have a pretty easy time keeping them separate
You think. But there are ways around that. How about a credible extortion message targeting specifically you, that is embedded somewhere on the data sheet? Suddenly, the data has become the instructions...
Exactly.
But that's still security-obsessed mindset, and I think this is a problem in itself, because it biases people to see this fundamental aspect of general systems as a problem.
So imagine that, instead of a credible extortion message, you find there credible call for help. Like a post-it, clearly written in a hurry, saying "${employee} is trying to hurt me, call 911".
It would give a pause to any sane person, and perhaps prompt them to consider calling 911 or at least investigating where that message came from. And you definitely wouldn't want a person who routinely ignores such things because "this sheet is labeled <data> therefore I cannot allow it to influence my actions".