Story
One day, Mulla Nasruddin was drinking tea at the teahouse. He announced that he was the most hospitable man in town, which amused the crowd.
Mulla invites many people for lunch at his home, and the crowd and Mulla march towards the house.
More people joined, and the crowd gathered outside Mulla’s house quickly.
“Just wait here. I will let my wife know.” Mulla said.
The hopeful crowd waits outside the house.
Mulla’s wife exploded on him when she knew he invited strangers for lunch.
“No way. I am not cooking for them. Tell them to go away.” she shouted.
Mulla apologised and said, “I can’t go outside now. My reputation of being a most hospitable man is at stake.”
“To hell with your reputation, Mulla. You go upstairs. I will let them know you are out.” she blasted.
Mulla’s wife went outside and declared, “Mulla is out. He is not at home.”
One of them from the puzzled crowd said, “How? We saw him get into the house.”
She does not respond.
Another one from the crowd said, “Yes. Nobody has come out from the front door.”
And another one, “How is this possible?”
Mulla was watching from the upstairs window and could not resist. He shouted,
“I could have gone out from the back door, couldn’t I?
Cybersecurity Wisdom
In Mulla’s story, the crowd, his wife or the reader would never think of the back door. Therefore, the punch line works and makes you laugh.
Humour has its place, but if we think carefully, it raises questions when we reverse the perspective.
If Mulla can escape from the backdoor, then why can’t anyone from the crowd can also enter the house from the backdoor?
The prime security focus is often on what’s visible. Deploying a web application firewall (WAF) addresses the OWASP Top 10 Application security attacks. However, it takes a few lines of code for the developer to invite the backdoor attack.
Humans are the weakest link in security. It’s one of the core CISSP concepts.
Invest money in people for education so they also think about the backdoor.
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The Mulla Nasiruddin’s story and art are inspired by the book The Exploits of The Incomparable Mulla Nasruddin.
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Like this? Read all stories of Cybersecurity Wisdom with Mulla Nasiruddin.
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