Has getting hacked replaced the dog eating your homework?

The dog ate my homework.

I got food poisoning.

My train was late.

The list can go on and on. But there's a new excuse out there and it seems to be getting more and more popular. Have you heard of it?

"I was hacked!"

Now, it's clear to me that this hacking issue is both real and a major problem. But with problems come opportunities. It seems to me that the notion of hacking could be a very convenient excuse too. I'm hearing from friends and colleagues who use this reason with the urgency and concern of a cyber-cryptologist. And yet sometimes, it's used with a casual perspective that reminds me of a dog and that delicious homework.

Something is up here...

Let's face it. Hacking is ubiquitous. From politics to personal email it's a global occurrence that has the potential to touch all of our lives. But it also remains rather abstract with details obscured behind the minds of a few techies who are often cloaked in a similar abstraction.

It just seems so easy.

For the email that didn't arrive at the inappropriate photo that appears on a Facebook stream, it might just be the new techno-lie that can get you off the hook. It's a difficult claim to prove—even with top experts. But remember, those hooks are sharp. And I would bet that today's easy lie will be tomorrow's smoking gun that implies falsehood with the click of a button.

It's interesting that technology might just be the voice of reason, logic and honesty that so many folks have already implicated as corrupting the world. So, do your homework and remember that a cyber-lie might come to bite you (like that hungry dog)! I think you just might be better off by sticking with some clever life hacks and duck tape. 

Have you been hacked? Have you ever used technology or hacking as an excuse? Ping me @JohnNosta. I promise not to tell.