Happy Blame Someone Else Day

Today is an unusual day, for sure. It’s most likely a holiday most of us have missed. Even though it takes place on Friday the 13th, it’s not about being superstitious. It’s actually about blaming someone else.

So, here’s to you—Happy Blame Somebody Else Day!

What is this holiday, you ask? National Blame Someone Else Day is an “unofficial” national holiday always celebrated on the first Friday the 13th of the year. It was invented due to an alarm clock failing to go off, hence creating a domino effect of bad luck events throughout the day.

According to the National Day Calendar, the way to celebrate is self-explanatory in the name, and not much more needs to be said. If you don’t want to blame someone, you can choose to place the blame on something.

Speaking of blame, “accountability in security” is an ongoing issue. It seems that internal teams at organizations are always trying to point the finger elsewhere if something bad occurs—especially if the organization is a victim of an attack. This brings to mind the old adage “When You Point a Finger at Someone, There Are Three More Pointing Back at You” —Unknown.

The actual visual would be a room full of people pointing at each other, no one accepting responsibility.

In cybersecurity, the day a company experiences a data breach appears to be their very own #BlameSomeoneElseDay:

The team at imsmartin would like to thank the experts from the following companies that helped to make this “lucky 13” slideshow possible: Armor, Citrix, Palo Alto Networks, Rook Security, and WhiteHat Security.

Each expert shared their thoughts on where blame occurs and why blaming someone or something else is a bad idea …. even if it happens to be on Blame Someone Else Day.

In case you were wondering, the official hashtag for this holiday is #BlameSomeoneElseDay.