Schneier on Security

Bruce Schneier announced in a brief blog post, “I’m leaving IBM.” His three-year stint with what he calls “the nicely ambiguous title of ‘Special Advisor’” ended at the end of June 2019. He gives no specific future plans beyond saying that he will continue to write, speak, teach and occasionally consult.

Schneier has been a cybersecurity luminary since his book Applied Cryptography was published in 1994. Since then he has developed several ciphers, including Blowfish, Twofish, Threefish, and MacGuffin. Twofish was one of the five finalists in the NSA encryption contest that ultimately led to the selection of Rijndael as the Advanced Encryption Standard…

Data is a natural consequence of computing, and as search tools get better, it shifts the balance of power towards mass collection and surveillance, renowned security expert Bruce Schneier said at the SOURCE Boston conference on Wednesday.

“Surveillance is the business model of the Internet,” Schneier told attendees. “We build systems that spy on people in exchange for services. Corporations call it marketing.”

The data economy—the growth of mass data collection and tracking—is changing how power is perceived, Schneier said in his keynote speech. The Internet and technology has changed the impact a group can have on others, where dissidents can use the Internet to amplify their voices and extend their reach. Governments already have a lot of power to begin with, so when they take advantage of technology, their power is magnified, he said…