Top 25 Most Influential People in the Security Industry
Excerpt
#19: Bruce Schneier, Influential Security Technologist
Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, referred to by The Economist as a “security guru.” He is the author of eight books – including the best sellers Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World; Secrets and Lies; and Applied Cryptography – as well as hundreds of articles and essays in national and international publications, and many more academic papers. His influential newsletter Crypto-Gram, and his blog Schneier on Security, are read by over 250,000 people. “I consider myself a synthesist and a communicator. My biggest accomplishments involve understanding complex ideas and explaining them simply, as well as finding connections and patterns and commonalities among diverse ideas. I write, I speak, I write more. The single thing that fans say to me that makes me the most proud of my work is: ‘You’ve changed the way I think.’ That’s what I want to do: change the way people think about security.
“Throughout this all, I have attempted to explain security simply, through words and metaphors and concepts. James Madison once famously said: ‘If men were angels, no government would be necessary.’ Similarly, if all men were honest, no security would be necessary. Most people are honest – otherwise society would collapse – but there will always be dishonest minority. Security is a tax on the honest majority, and I feel my job is to explain how that tax works, and how effective different ways to spend it are.”
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