Schneier on Security

Two recently-discovered flaws in Apple iOS and Mac OS X have security experts openly asking whether the software vulnerabilities represent backdoors inserted for purposes of cyber-espionage. There’s no clear answer so far, but it just shows that anxiety about state-sponsored surveillance is running high.

‘One line of code—was it an accident or enemy action? I don’t know, but it’s the kind of bug I’d put in,’ remarked Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer at Co3 Systems, about the flaw in Apple OS X SSL encryption that was revealed last week. Schneier, a cryptography expert, alluded to the …

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Security Myth No. 1: “More Security is Always Better.”

Bruce Schneier, security expert and author of several books, including his most recent, Liars and Outliers, explains why this security concept of “you can’t get enough” that’s often bandied about is off the mark to him. Schneier explains: “More security isn’t necessarily better. First security is always a trade-off, and sometimes additional security costs more than it’s worth. For example, it’s not worth spending $100,000 to protect a donut. Yes, the donut would be more secure, but it would make more sense to simply risk the donut.” He also notes that “additional security is subject to diminishing returns. That is, measures that reduce a particular crime—say, shoplifting—by 25% cost some amount of money; but additional measures to reduce it another 25% cost much more. There will always be a point where more security isn’t worth it. And as a corollary, absolute security is not achievable.” Sometimes security may even become a moral choice and being in compliance might be an immoral decision, as it could pertain to a totalitarian system, for example. “Security enforces compliance, and sometimes complying isn’t the right thing to do.”…

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Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer of BT managed security solutions

With his skill in cryptography and security acumen, Schneier would be welcome on any All-Stars Security team. But it’s his ability to write candidly about social and political forces, as well the psychological aspects of security, that increasingly make him a philosopher in a world of technicians. His next book? He says it’s about “trust” and how a society does or does not foster it.

Bruce Schneier shared his ideas about the psychology of security, and the need for thinking sensibly about security, in his hometown last week when he gave a lecture at the Weisman Art Museum in the US.

Schneier’s lecture was scheduled in conjunction with an exhibition of photographer Paul Shambroom‘s images of power (Shambroom’s photographs capture scenes in industrial, business, community and military environments.) The association of Schneier’s lecture with the photography exhibit says a lot about how the security guru’s focus has evolved over the years from the bits and bytes of cryptography and computer security to include a more broad examination of personal safety, crime, corporate security and national security…

SAN FRANCISCO—One of the security industry’s most outspoken experts, Bruce Schneier, spoke at RSA Conference on the topic of how security decisions and perceptions are often driven by irrational and subconscious motives in human beings.

The CTO at BT Counterpane, who is known for his talent in cryptography as well as his critical observations about technology use, yesterday turned his attention to a different matter: an analysis of human behavior in the face of risk-management decisions.

In Schneier’s view, security managers need to be aware that they themselves, their business managers and their corporate user groups are likely to make critical security decisions based on barely acknowledged impressions of fear and irrational response, rather than a careful study of facts…