I must admit, even though I'm a software engineer myself, I've often found cybersecurity boring. I became an engineer because I love creating things that other people find useful. Cybersecurity has sometimes felt like I'm investing extra time and effort to protect against remote possibilities.

But Russia's war in Ukraine is forcing me to recognize that these issues can no longer be dismissed as remote. I probably should have learned this lesson when e-mails were hacked and social media sites were manipulated by various individuals and groups to influence a U.S. presidential election.

In addition to the military violence that Russian forces are inflicting on Ukraine, I'm now reading from various sources about a cyberattack campaign on public and private Ukrainian sites. We are not prepared for this.

As part of my work, I often wonder what efforts our national and state governments are making to be informed and proactive about technological improvements to systems and institutions, and how we maintain commitments to our values as technologies force social change. I would like to see public appointments of committees, task forces, research groups and experts to investigate these issues — at the very least. And those bodies would then need to promote transparent, efficient and robust social policies while educating and engaging the public. I don't see any such efforts being made. I pray something constructive is happening behind the scenes. I've been brainstorming on ways to start initiatives like that myself.

I hope everyone who reads about cyberattacks in Ukraine will keep this letter in mind. The clock is ticking on when Minnesota's public and private institutions will receive another attack. Who will be affected? How much will our lives be degraded? No one can tell. Government officials need to lead the charge in protecting our state and proactively creating a better one. In this rapidly innovating world, being technologically savvy is increasingly essential.

Eddie Glenn, Minneapolis

•••

A Feb. 25 letter writer stated that he regretted voting for Joe Biden in 2020 and that Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't dare to invade Ukraine when Donald Trump was president.

I have two questions:

Trump's reaction since the invasion was that Putin's move into Ukraine was "genius." And that he picked up Ukraine for "$2 in sanctions." So I am not sure how one could infer that Trump would have stood up to Putin's assault.
Short of putting U.S. troops in Ukraine, what options does Biden have? Biden is not a dictator. Putin is a two-bit dictator. He only understands force. Biden recognizes we are in for the long haul. Absorbing Ukraine is extremely costly. Tough sanctions will bankrupt Russia. But it will take time.

As with Afghanistan, Biden has been given a bad hand. Neither George Bush or Barack Obama had a coherent Russian policy. And Trump withheld armaments to Ukraine unless they gave dirt on Joe Biden during the 2020 election.

And Trump's most fervent supporters seem to be rooting for Putin — Putin, the man who does not allow free expression. I don't see Russian truckers protesting Putin's draconian COVID vaccine policy.

The Ukrainians should be commended for their bravery in the face of this brutality. Tough sanctions are the best option to bleed Putin over the next several months. If you aren't tough, he will not stop.

Jim Piga, Mendota Heights

•••

From Ivan the Terrible to Nicholas II, the history of the czars is dismal. Then after a couple of hopeful revolutions, the Russians got Josef Stalin, and after he shuffled off his mortal coil, there was some hope, only to be dampened by Leonid Brezhnev and his colorless oppressors. As a history professor, I had to teach this dreary stuff. There was never a case of "government for the people, and by the people." But wait! There was the inspirational Mikhail Gorbachev and the brave but chronically tipsy Boris Yeltsin. Could the Marxist ideas that they had been spouting for decades actually come to mean anything? Alas, the ideals of equitable distribution of wealth and power fell into the hands of the largest criminal syndicate in the world, where Russia now has the least equitable distribution of wealth in major countries in the world and Putin, the "Godfather," is sometimes considered to be the wealthiest person on earth.

Now, these oligarchs we read about are supposedly severely suffering from the sanctions imposed on them by the U.S. and Western Europe. It is possible to picture a scene in which these oligarchs confront Putin to depose him of power with the explanation, "It's not personal, Vlad. It's business."

"The Godfather IV," perhaps?

Gerald Anderson, Plymouth

•••

As I watch interviews, reports and pleas from Ukrainian officials and citizens on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, PBS and the networks, I have come to believe that the Ukrainians as a population are possibly the smartest, most articulate, emotionally sound and courageous in this world. I've never seen anything like it, but I imagine that the Founding Fathers and Mothers of the U.S. might have compared.

Not only has the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation become the proxy war between good and evil worldwide, it is elevating the consciousness of what it means to be an inhabitant of Planet Earth in the modern age.

Meg Luhrs, St. Croix Falls, Wis.

BOATING SAFETY

Enjoying outdoors safely is key

It is laudable to encourage young people to engage in outdoor recreation ("Grants connecting kids to outdoors," March 4). It is terrific to help build a focus on the joys of enjoying the outdoors — there are so many benefits for all, especially during a pandemic time when many other forms of recreation, especially indoors, have been unsafe.

However, teaching outdoor recreation skills and joys comes with the responsibility of teaching safety in the outdoors. The organizers of the pictured fishing event, and more importantly, the participants, seem oblivious to those important rules. As a scuba diver, I have recovered bodies of too many young drowning victims who went out for fun without proper safety precautions. When I looked at the photo with this article, I felt like I was doing a "count the safety mistakes" exercise. How many do you count? The boats are severely overloaded, there is not one life jacket being worn, and the participants are standing, crowded together with fishing gear. The event took place during spring of 2021, and despite the crowded conditions on these boats, I see only one participant (partially) wearing a mask.

Across our beautiful state, we are all anxious for spring to arrive, ice to go out, and the water recreation season to begin again. As we enjoy the outdoors and teach our young people to enjoy it, too, let's also teach and model boating safety. This way, they can enjoy long lives of fun on our lakes and rivers.

John A. Downing, Duluth

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