About Jimmy

James 'Jimmy' Blake is the Chief Security Officer for Mimecast,  a leading cloud services company based in London.  James has overall responsibility for risk management for the organisation's internal IT infrastructure and service delivery platforms spread across four continents.  James also manages the security of platforms deployed within partners such as Cable & Wireless and Iron Mountain.

James is also one of the founders of eyeCompli, a company providing Software-as-a-Service standards-based risk assessment and security program management solutions.

He holds a PhD in Information Security Management and is a Certified Information Security Systems Professional. James has nearly two decades of commercial experience in information security, business continuity and storage.

James has a love of loud Harley Davidson motorcycles, real ale, role playing games and even louder heavy metal.  He lives in rural Kent with his partner, Sonia, and stepson, Rafael.

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Monday
Aug312009

Petition to pardon Turing

DateMonday, August 31, 2009 at 2:55PM
Alan TuringAlan Turing is one of my heroes, a genius and a libertarian.  Turing made two massive contributions that shape the World we live in today.

Firstly, Turing was the principle person involved in cracking the German Enigma (along with several other codes) , allowing the Allies to listen in on German communications and stem the huge losses from U-boats. Turnings contribution saved countless lives and played a much more humane and useful contribution to ending the war than those of Arthur "Bomber" Harris - the butcher of Dresden and Pforzheim (a lovely quote from him "the destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives, the creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale, and the breakdown of morale both at home and at the battle fronts by fear of extended and intensified bombing, are accepted and intended aims of our bombing policy. They are not by-products of attempts to hit factories." - nice man but I won't hijack this post with my support for Harris to be recognised as a War Criminal, he lowered us to the same level as the Nazis).

Secondly, Turning, along with von Neumann, made the largest steps forward in the 20th century in computing - paving the way for the World we live in today.  He worked on the Manchester Mark 1, one of the world's first electronic computers.  Even today the test for artificial intelligence remains the "Turing Test".

In 1954, just under 10 years after his huge contribution to ending the war, Turing was hounded by the authorities for being homosexual and prosecuted.  His sentence resulted in the revocation of his security privileges and  'chemical castration'.  He committed suicide by eating a cyanide laced apple - just like Snow White, his favourite fairy tale.

This weekend sees the 70th aniversary of Turings arrival at Bletchley Park, where he went on the break the enigma codes.   Turing is a national hero and by registering your signature at the Number 10 petition site for an apology for the appalling way he was treated, you can help him be recognised as such.

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AuthorJimmy Blake | CommentPost a Comment |
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