News in the Category "Text"
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Beyond Fear a Security Primer for Troubled Minds
It’s a rare security book that can raise awareness without resorting to sensationalism, but Bruce Schneier’s recent title Beyond Fear is one of them. It covers the theory behind both good and bad security practices, though it’s not a manual. It does not explain how to make whatever you wish to defend more secure, but it will help you to think clearly about how to do that.
The book clearly defines the essential concepts and basic practices behind security in all areas of life. Indeed, computers and networks hardly come up. It’s the universal principles that Schneier is concerned with here, and he illustrates them with numerous everyday examples from the airport to the ATM to the local supermarket…
Beyond Fear into Reason
Bruce Schneier has been one of my heroes for many years, not least because of the clarity of his thought and the crispness of his writing. Readers of this column have seen references in the past to his free monthly Crypto-Gram newsletter, and I hope you have subscribed to that always-worthwhile publication.
In 2000, Schneier published a groundbreaking primer for non-nerds called Secrets & Lies in which he confronted many misunderstandings and outright myths about security in the digital realm. In 2003, he continued his educational efforts with …
Fears—Real and Illusory
In 1996, a man named Willis Robinson reprogrammed a computerized cash register at a Taco Bell in Maryland. The compromised machine would ring a $2.99 item internally as a one-cent sale, even as it showed the proper amount on its screen. Robinson skimmed $3,600 from his employer. He was caught only because he bragged about his exploits.
Bruce Schneier has much to say about technology in his new book Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World (Copernicus Books, $25). The book uses anecdotes and examples to show how security changes. In the Robinson case, technology created a new kind of threat, and that is what technology tends to do. Sure, you could play fast and loose with a store’s account from a manual or electric cash register, but you would have to do it repeatedly, and the theft would be visible. Robinson’s hack allowed him to pocket all the money that any cashier unwittingly rang up day or night…
Review of Beyond Fear
“That’s just it, Peter. We have to appear to know what’s happening, and what it means. Even if we don’t really know very much about either.”
Unnamed police informant to the reviewer. Source report graded B 2 (NATO system).
Bruce Schneier’s eminently well-informed and sensible text should be essential reading for any police official charged with making a “risk assessment,” or in any other way taking part in the risk management industry which as a result of 9/11 is likely to engulf—if you will forgive the pun—us all.
Mr Schneier is a real expert on security systems and their consequences, and therefore does not pretend to know everything. Nor is he prepared to accept responsibility for decisions that others need to make, on the basis of that combination of necessarily incomplete knowledge and arguable value-judgement that any real security decision involves. His book is the best kind of knowledge, for it enables us to decide things for ourselves, more effectively than if we had not read it beforehand. It contains what in one sense we knew, but did not dare say: and there is a wealth of detail to back it up…
How to Avoid Pickpockets, and Other Horror Stories
Excerpt
Think sensibly, and act with confidence
Security expert Bruce Schneier takes a much-ado-about-nothing view of terrorist fears. The odds of such an attack are close to zero, so better to worry about things that have at least some likelihood of occurring, he maintains.
“We as a society always fear the rare and spectacular more than the pedestrian,” says the cyber-security whiz and author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World (Copernicus Books, $25).
Though not geared specifically to travelers, his new book espouses the notion that security measures involve trade-offs—both monetary and personal. The book maps out a five-step plan to help individuals assess whether those trade-offs are worth it. …
Management Week Security Book Review: Book Lowers Fear of Threats
Bruce Schneier’s latest book on data security offers a logical and realistic approach to creating policies and educating staff.
Security guru Bruce Schneier has written several books but is best known for his first: Applied Cryptography. One problem with this earlier work is that it demands a high level of mathematical understanding.
His latest book, Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World, is designed to help ordinary IT staff, business managers and end-users get to grips with current security issues.
The guide could prove useful for IT managers wanting to convey the importance of information security for the wider business, for example when negotiating budgets or attempting to get projects signed off…
The Visionaries: IT Leaders Make Predictions about the Future
Excerpt
Q: Will computers be more or less secure in 2028 than they are today?
A: Computers will be just as insecure, but computing will be more secure. Right now our major problem is that computer security is brittle; when it breaks, it breaks completely. As computing becomes embedded and invisible, it will become more resilient. Different systems will work in tandem, providing defense in depth. Cyberspace is no different than the real world: The individual pieces may be insecure, but the collection of pieces we call society hums along just fine…
"Bankernas kunder utan säkerhet"
Först skrev han “Applied Cryptography” som snabbt blev standardverket om kryptering. Sedan började han tvivla på att kryptering var nyckeln till datasäkerhet.
Datasäkerhet, säger Bruce Schneier, står och faller med mänskligt omdöme. I stället för att jaga efter nya krypteringsmetoder bör vi komma ihåg gamla sanningar som att ingen kedja är starkare än sin svagaste länk. Här svarar Bruce Schneier på Computer Swedens frågor om IT-säkerhet.
Vad brukar företag och myndigheter bortse från när det gäller IT-säkerhet?
– Människorna. De utgår från att säkerhet är ett tekniskt problem och tar till tekniska lösningar. Säkerhet är i själva verket ett socialt problem och det som behövs är sociala lösningar…
The Best: People
Excerpt
Like or loathe him, you’ve got to admit that cryptographer Bruce Schneier knows how to capture media attention. From titillating talks to shamelessly promote his books (including the best-selling Secret & Lies and the recently released Beyond Fear), to outrageous remarks on the speaker circuit, Schneier frequently grabs the spotlight with outspoken opinion and candor.
For example: “Most advisories trade on fear. Most newspaper and magazine articles trade on fear,” Schneier said in a recent Information Security interview. “Too many security companies are crying wolf far too often, and it hurts us all.” Not exactly a measured comment, considering his company, Counterpane Internet Security, is one of those companies vying for attention…
Review: Beyond Fear
Having been a long time reader of the Crypto-Gram column, and well aware of Schneier’s knowledge and expertise in the information security field, it was with some eagerness that I received a copy of his latest book, Beyond Fear. Needless to say, I was not let down by this entertaining and insightful tome.
Schneier provides an interesting view of the notion of security, outlining a simple five-step process that can be applied to deliver effective and sensible security decisions. These steps are addressed in detail throughout the book, and applied to various scenarios to show how simple, yet effective they can be…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.