News in the Category "Written Interviews"
Page 10 of 18
Layers of Security
Bruce Schneier, the well-known American cryptographer and security specialist, gives an interview to Radio New Zealand’s Bryan Crump during his visit to the country, discussing real-world security issues and whether anti-terror measures done by the authorities worldwide are as effective as expected.
(Bryan Crump):—Bruce Schneier is a security specialist who seems to be trying to talk himself out of a job. His point is a lot of what we do to protect ourselves against terrorism is pointless. The best weapons against terror are, in his opinion, good intelligence and refusing to be terrorized. Bruce is based in the United States of America, was in New Zealand for a conference on identity and identity theft. Recently I spoke to him while he was here and began by asking what attracted him to this seemingly dry topic of airport X-rays baggage checks and the like…
Stuxnet Cyberattack by US a "Destabilizing and Dangerous" Course of Action, Security Expert Bruce Schneier Says
Revelations by The New York Times that President Barack Obama in his role as commander in chief ordered the Stuxnet cyberattack against Iran’s uranium-enrichment facility two years ago in cahoots with Israel is generating controversy, with Washington in an uproar over national-security leaks. But the important question is whether this covert action of sabotage against Iran, the first known major cyberattack authorized by a U.S. president, is the right course for the country to take. Are secret cyberattacks helping the U.S. solve geopolitical problems or actually making things worse?…
Bruce Schneier on Trust
Modern society depends on trust more than we realise, and the basis for that trust is security. The trick, says the security guru, is preserving the forces that allow us to trust one another, while also knowing who not to trust
You’re best known as a security expert but our theme today is “trust”. How would you describe the connection between the two?
Security exists to facilitate trust. Trust is the goal, and security is how we enable it. Think of it this way: As members of modern society, we need to trust all sorts of people, institutions and systems. We have to trust that they’ll treat us honestly, won’t take advantage of us and so on – in short, that they’ll behave in a trustworthy manner. Security is how we induce trustworthiness, and by extension enable trust…
Liars and Outliers
Liars and Outliers, Bruce Schneier’s most recent security-related text, is an interesting and wide-ranging review of trust in commerce and broader society. And I do mean wide-ranging—he covers everything from the implications of early mankind’s organization into groups of around 150 individuals (the “Dunbar number”) to reputation systems such as eBay and Yelp reviews. Liars and Outliers doesn’t hang together quite as well as his previous books, but it’s still a terrific primer for readers who want more insights into the complex world of security and trust…
Attackers Have Advantage in Cyberspace, Says Cybersecurity Expert
Homeland Security NewsWire: In your opinion, what is the cause behind the recent increase of sophisticated cyber attacks against major corporations and government entities by hacktivist groups like Anonymous, AntiSec, and LulzSec?
Bruce Schneier: I’m not sure there has been any recent increase of sophisticated cyberattacks. There has certainly been a recent increase in the press reporting incidences of sophisticated cyber attacks. I think this is because several groups have attached them to political causes—for example the torture of Bradley Manning by the United States—and because media attention begets more media attention. If there has been any increase in politically motivated hacking, it is because of the press attention being lavished on these sorts of cyberattacks makes them more attractive…
Interview: BT's Bruce Schneier
BT's Bruce Schneier has made a reputation for himself by exploring the unconventional sides of security. Drew Amorosi sat down with this industry luminary to gain a greater understanding of the man and, briefly, dive into the mind and life that is Bruce S
Bruce Schneier is, without question, a superstar of the security industry. Often labeled as a security “expert” or “guru,” there is perhaps nobody in the field that is more often quoted or respected. His name is as synonymous with security as Michael Jordan’s is with basketball, or the Beatles are with rock and roll. But, as he told me when I sat down with him in London this spring, “Bruce Schneier the security celebrity” was spawned from rather accidental beginnings.
“I actually don’t have a good creation myth, which I should—I should have made one up a decade ago, because I’m always asked, where did you get your security interest?” he responds jokingly. “The truth is, I’ve always been interested in security.”…
America's Necessary Response to Moscow's Airport Attack: Nothing
As Russia reels in the aftermath of a brutal terror attack yielding an estimated 35 casualties at Domodedovo Airport—Moscow’s busiest—much of the awe and reaction toward this specific incident is focused on the location: not just an airport, but a restaurant at an airport, outside of the baggage claim, before anyone reaches a security checkpoint. Especially as the terrorists in question are initially being reported as Arab, governments (and specifically: ours) beginning to react on their own turfs outside of Russia is a given. Yet, while responses by Western Governments to terror attacks …
Security and Terrorism Expert Bruce Schneier: TSA Scans "Won't Catch Anybody"
Since 9/11, cryptology expert and security consultant Bruce Schneier has been one of the most pointed critics of the government’s anti-terrorism security programs. In his 2003 book “Beyond Fear,” he coined the phrase “security theater” to refer to measures which are undertaken not because they will be effective at thwarting attacks, but because the agencies carrying them out need to appear to be doing something useful. We spoke to Schneier about the recent controversy involving the Transport Security Agency’s use of invasive scanners and full-body pat-downs…
CSO Compass Award: Bruce Schneier
As an author of books on security, the influential Crypto-Gram newsletter and the blog Schneier on Security (www.schneier.com), as well as a frequent guest on TV and radio, Bruce Schneier has become something of a celebrity in the world of security: He may be the only CSO whose likeness is used to sell T-shirts. Still, the most rewarding aspect of his career, as he conveyed in this interview conducted by e-mail, is that he believes he is having an impact on people’s thinking about security.
CSO: What are three fail-proof principles of security leadership?…
What Faisal Shahzad could learn from "The Wire"
Excerpt
In the wake of Shahzad’s arrest, the dangers of disposable phones are likely to be scrutinized once again—and there are sure to be renewed calls for their closer regulation. We called Bruce Schneier, security technologist, chief security technology officer at British Telecom, and author of “Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World,” to find out how dangerous they really are.
How dangerous are these disposable cellphones from a national security perspective?
I think it’s a trivial danger. There are a lot of people who will say these anonymous cellphones are bad, that we’re all going to die. But stealing a cellphone is easy. It’s easy to get a cellphone in somebody else’s name. Cellphone hijacking is easy. I actually don’t believe that disposable cellphones are a problem—it’s a huge red herring…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.