News in the Category "Type"
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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…
Audio: Beyond Fear
Two years after 9/11, are we safer? Security expert Bruce Schneier brings his common sense approach to the idea of national security and explains why arming pilots and issuing national I.D.s only makes us less secure.
Security Executive Stresses Trade-Offs
It’s a gutsy way to start a book on security. In “Beyond Fear,” published this month by Copernicus Books, Bruce Schneier asks us to set aside our revulsion and horror to grasp what the 9-11 terrorists accomplished. What they did, he says, was efficient, audacious, well-planned, simple and, from their view, successful. This understanding is key to moving beyond fear and improving security, says Schneier, who created some well-known encryption algorithms—formulas used to scramble and unscramble computer data. He’s also founder and chief technology officer of Cupertino, Calif.-based computer security monitoring company Counterpane Internet Security Inc. The privately held company has attracted more than $50 million from some big-name venture funds. To improve security, we must demystify it and consider the trade-offs, he says. He hates the idea of national ID cards, opposes use of computerized voting machines and abhors the notion of arming commercial airline pilots. He recently spoke with IBD about security…
Bruce Schneier: The Evolution of a Cryptographer
For a while, it seemed as if Bruce Schneier himself was encrypted. No one could decipher his whereabouts for an interview with CSO. This was unusual because Schneier, founder and CTO of Counterpane Internet Security, is usually aggressively available to the press. Plus, he has a new book to promote—Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World—a decidedly iconoclastic and non-IT view of security. But the book also challenges physical security practitioners to learn a thing or two from the infosecurity ranks: to think in terms of systems…
"We've Made Bad Security Tradeoffs"
Bruce Schneier is a rare creature in the computer-security world. Although he made his name as an alpha geek in cryptography and later, as chief technology officer of Net-security outfit Counterpane, Schneier can also speak to laypeople about the general security matters that increasingly touch all of our lives.
In the post September 11 era, he has emerged as one of the more cogent and quotable thinkers on the topic. In particular, he has asked hard questions about the effectiveness of some of the security measures passed after the terrorists’ massacre. Schneier’s latest book, Beyond Fear (Copernicus Books, 2003), is a highly readable compendium of his thoughts on the various aspects of real-world security. Designed for a general audience, it’s a great introduction to a complicated and confusing topic. I interviewed Schneier via e-mail over the week of Aug. 25. Here are edited excerpts of our exchange:…
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.
Practical Cryptography (Review)
Practical Cryptography. By Niels Ferguson and Bruce Schneier; published by John Wiley and Sons, 877/762-2974 (phone), 800/597-3299 (fax), www.wiley.com (Web); 432 pages; 150.
As Mark Twain acidulously remarked, “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” Bruce Schneier’s Applied Cryptography, published in 1996, is a classic in the canon of computer security works; it’s a seminal, important book for the experts in the field or for those with the technical background, but it is far too complex and mathematical for most readers…
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…
Perspectives from the Field: Bruce Schneier, Encryption Expert
Bruce Schneier contends that the strongest security systems benefit from redundancy and variety. And as the Homeland Security Department consolidates a number of different agencies, Schneier warns that entrusting a centralized authority with securing the nation may make the country less, rather than more, secure.
Few in the field of information technology security have more expertise and industry respect than Schneier. Not only is he the author of “Applied Cryptography,” one of the seminal textbooks on encryption, but his Two fish encryption algorithm was a finalist far the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s new Federal Advanced Encryption Standard. He is also founder and chief technical officer of managed security service provider Counterpane Internet Security Inc., Cupertino, Calif., and publishes his own Crypto-Gram newsletter (http://www.counterpane .com/crypto-gram.html). Schneier Spoke with Staff Writer Joab Jackson to discuss how best to secure the nation’s IT and physical infrastructures…
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…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.