News in the Category "Articles"
Page 17 of 21
Everything about IT Security Will Change
Bruce Schneier, leading cryptologist described as a “security guru” and a “leading counterterrorism contrarian” by the media, shares his thoughts about the future of information security.
“Crime, Crime, Crime!” Bruce Schneier is adamant when asked to talk about the worst security threats. It’s not coming from fanatics, but from people out to steal for money, he insists.
“It doesn’t matter what form it takes,” he says. “It’s wrong that we defend ourselves against the tactics, because then these guys change tactics.”
He describes a worst scenario where “the crime is so bad that people stop doing commerce on the net.” Information security is there to prevent this from happening…
Schneier: Beware Security Products
A leading security expert has warned businesses to beware of buying shoddy security products.
Bruce Schneier, founder and chief technical officer of BT Counterpane, issued the warning at the RSA Conference Europe 2007 in London on Tuesday. He told delegates that they should not necessarily trust security vendors to give a fair representation of the security of those products.
“There might be a political bent to security decisions, or there might be a marketing bent,” said Schneier, citing as an example people selling smart cards who “do a lot to convince us that smart cards are the answer to security problems. For every company that’s secure, there’s at least one ‘me too.’”…
Everything We Know About Security Is Wrong
So says counterterrorism contrarian Bruce Schneier. And the Transportation Security Administration is listening.
In late July, Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley announced a change in his agency’s air travel screening policy: Effective August 4, cigarette lighters would no longer be banned from airplanes.
Explaining the measure in an interview with the New York Times, Hawley acknowledged that confiscating lighters at security checkpoints—the TSA’s policy for the last two years in the wake of a failed shoe-bombing attempt—had been a waste of resources. Terrorists, he noted, might just as well ignite bombs on airplanes using small batteries (or, as he didn’t note, matches)…
Killer Ideas
O’Hare, Chicago, the day before Thanksgiving. The nation’s busiest airport is straining against the nation’s busiest holiday. Among the crowd grumbling through the lengthy security line is a lone traveler with an attaché case. He removes a laptop computer from the case and places it on the tray provided. The tray moves along the conveyor belt. Inside the case’s frame, a small ampul of dimethylmercury cracks and seeps into the X-ray machine. The traveler removes his shoes, passes through the metal detector, retrieves the laptop and the attaché. He’s careful not to let the case touch his clothes. He abandons his stuff in the nearest men’s room and then leaves the airport…
Schneier Questions Need for Security Industry
Outspoken author and security guru Bruce Schneier has questioned the very existence of the security industry, suggesting it merely indicates the willingness of other technology companies to ship insecure software and hardware.
Speaking at Infosecurity Europe 2007, a leading trade show for the security industry, Schneier said, “the fact this show even exists is a problem. You should not have to come to this show ever.”
“We shouldn’t have to come and find a company to secure our e-mail. E-mail should already be secure. We shouldn’t have to buy from somebody to secure our network or servers. Our networks and servers should already be secure.”…
Expert Warns of On-line Identity Theft
Since the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in 2001, Americans have had to endure tighter screening at airports, a color-coded national alert system, irradiated mail, the Patriot Act, and the Department of Homeland Security.
But according to security expert Bruce Schneier, all these measures, meant to protect the population at large, overlook dangers at a more personal, if less lethal, level.
Average people should be less worried about being attacked by terrorists, said Schneier, and more concerned about protecting their identities on-line…
Code Cracker Hot
By now, Bruce Schneier is reconciled to the fact that most people will always be interested in him first and foremost because he’s been mentioned in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Sceptical, aren’t you, about the ‘reconciled’ bit? Schneier’s own achievements are no less striking actually. Or else, why would he be in the best-seller for that matter.
Founder and chief technology officer of BT Counterpane, which was acquired by BT in 2005, Schneier is a security technologist and cryptographer. BT Counterpane provides managed security services to medium and big enterprises. With data security being one of the chief concerns in the world today and some of the biggest crimes shifting gradually from the real to the virtual world, Schneier is in one of the most hot and happening areas of information technology—and he’s considered a security guru…
Global Cyber Cop Hits Town, Says Hacking Is Passe
Bearded, wiry, with his eyes sparkling as he unfurls accurate sound bites, Bruce Schneier hardly looks like the master geek that he is. But his claim to fame is precisely that: Schneier has breathed passion, detail and a touch of evangelism to the business of computer network security, a dull topic even for those who need it badly.
The global cyber cop is the chief technical officer of BT Counterpane, the British telecom company’s subsidiary that adds security layers and network patrolling to its business of building and managing computer networks. Schneier, who landed in Delhi to promote cyber security services targeting IT companies and call centers, believes hacking by cocky young men seeking short-term fame has given way to more methodical and dangerous cyber crime gangs that need checking…
High Five: Meet Bruce Schneier, CTO Of BT Counterpane
Security guru—and part-time restaurant critic—Bruce Schneier is best known as the developer of the Blowfish and Twofish encryption algorithms and author of books that examine security and society. He’s also a renowned speaker, blogger, and columnist.
- TASTE OF SECURITY
Schneier writes restaurant reviews as an escape, but he sees ties to his security work: “Food is more about how a culture uses what it has to make an interesting meal. That’s the same thinking as security. I look at it from a systemic point of view—what is going on here in the bigger picture that creates this traditional dish.”…
RSA '07: Bruce Schneier Casts Light on Psychology of Security
Security decisions often are much less rational than one would prefer, Schneier says
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…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.