News in the Category "Beyond Fear"
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Security through Simplicity
Bruce Schneier is one of the world’s best known and most pragmatic security experts. He is also a man of considerable breadth of knowledge, if one were to judge from his latest book, Beyond Fear.
What Schneier could have chosen to do in this book—or for that matter any book he writes—was to create a treatise for experts. He has the expertise to do it, is eminently qualified to do so and would be taken seriously if he did. Instead, he has chosen to cater to the masses and written what is, in my opinion, the best primer on security, one that can be understood by the man in the street…
Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World (Review)
Does arming pilots make flying safer? Computer security guru Schneier applies his analytical skills to real-world threats like terrorists, hijackers, and counterfeiters. Beyond Fear may come across as the dry, meticulous prose of a scientist, but that’s actually Schneier’s strength. Are you at risk or just afraid? Only by cutting away emotional issues to examine the facts, he says, will we reduce our risks enough to stop being scared.
Book Review: Beyond Fear
The most appealing part of Bruce Schneier’s thorough, well-reasoned approach to security strategies—personal, corporate and computer—is what he does not do. He does not propose concrete solutions (“We need more police. We need national ID cards. You need to build better firewalls.”) Instead, he lays out the issues, debates the pros and cons, and leaves it to the reader to pick a solution.
What makes the discussion worthwhile is that Schneier, founder of consulting firm Counterpane Internet Security Inc. and publisher of the security newsletter Crypto-Gram, takes great pains to identify the key issues and examine some proposed solutions, pointing out the costs involved and the likelihood of success. For example, he believes that the idea of using biometric scanners—programmed to search out known criminals and terrorists based on their physical characteristics—probably won’t work because false positives will overwhelm the system…
Book Review: Beyond Fear
The Bottom Line
This is an excellent addition to what seems to be an emerging genre of books—those about national security or the lack thereof. Bruce Schneier gives a plain-English and well thought out overview of the security measures that have been implemented since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He points out that security and liberty are not mutually exclusive. I recommend this book for anyone. It is important that we, as citizens, understand these issues so we can make informed decisions.
Pros
- Excellent and timely information
- Non-techies and techies alike can understand this book…
Review of Beyond Fear
Security is a complex business. If you’re looking at the security of a computer network, for example, you can’t just look at the physical characteristics of the system. Humans help protect the system, and humans attack it. Yes, most humans aren’t clever enough to create their own attacks, but they can master the rudimentary skills required to go after the system using automated tools the innovators create.
But how do you evaluate a security system, whether it’s meant to protect a computer, an airport, or an individual? In Beyond Fear, security expert and founder of Counterpane Internet Security, Bruce Schneier advocates a five-part analytical framework:…
ITsec PEP Review of: Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World
I am going to keep this review short. Schneier’s first book I read, Applied Cryptography (2nd edition), left me fascinated by the art and science of cryptography. Another Schneier book, Secrets & Lies, told things many were not inclined to share. Practical Cryptography (co-authored with Niels Ferguson) presented such a clear, practical, and down-to-earth view of cryptography that I thought anyone who is lucky enough to read the book and follow the advice is going to really understand cryptography in context. Now, Beyond Fear. If it can be said that Practical Cryptography followed Applied Cryptography, then Beyond Fear follows Secrets & Lies. Once again, Schneier manages to describe complex security concepts and interdependencies without a word of technical jargon, so loved by many pseudo-experts trying to disguise their lack of clear understanding. Once again Schneier advocates “understand before you act”, which seems not to match some governments’ approach to security – security in a wider sense. Once again Schneier proves he is the one of few people who indeed understand security, and what is more important and more difficult, that he can explain complex security concepts to people not specializing in security. Whatever your trade and whatever your background, go ahead and read it because security affects your life…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.