News in the Category "Written Interviews"
Page 12 of 18
The Cloud Is Hype, the Conversation the Same, Transparency Is Key
Security guru Bruce Schneier says that whatever cloud computing is, the security issues and conversations around it are nothing new. The key, he says, always comes down to trust and transparency.
Cloud computing is all the buzz. Amidst all the noise, a lot of the discussion has been about what cloud computing actually is. Some say it is anything you consume outside the firewall. Other definitions are that it is an updated version of utility computing: that the cloud is comprised of virtual servers made available over the internet. Sun Microsystems’ Asia Pacific Chief Technologist and Principal Engineer …
"We Focus on Defending Against Tactics Rather than Threat"
Security guru 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 is the chief security technology officer of BT Group and a founder and the chief technical officer of BT Counterpane. Described by The Economist as a “security guru,” Bruce has authored a series of books on security and related technologies. His first bestseller, Applied Cryptography explained how the arcane science of secret codes works, and was described by Wired as “the book the National Security Agency wanted never to be published.” His latest book, Beyond Fear, tackles the problems of security from the small to the large: personal safety, crime, corporate security, national security. Bruce shares his views on security issues and threats right from IT security, internet security to physical security in a free-wheeling conversation with Pragati Verma. Excerpts:…
Q&A With Bruce Schneier
Expert says security benefits must be weighed against tradeoffs
The IAPP is pleased that security guru, chief technologist and author Bruce Schneier will present a keynote address at the Privacy Summit, March 11-13 in Washington, DC. Here’s a preview of what you’ll hear when Schneier takes the stage.
IAPP: You have a cult-like following youon Facebook. One group is called Bruce Schneier for president (31 members); another calls itself Bruce Schneier is my hero (200 members). What is the most heroic thing you’ve ever done?
Schneier: I’ve never considered myself particularly heroic. What I think people are responding to is my ability to think clearly about, and explain, security systems – and to speak the truth as I see it, regardless of who it might piss off. Valuable, yes; but not heroism…
Safe, But Also Sorry
Security expert Bruce Schneier talks about privacy and property in the information state
As Washington, D.C., gears up for the inauguration, there’s one thing that you’re not seeing around town. Shoe-checking stations. While one attempted shoe bombing was enough to make all of us wander unshod through the airports of this great nation for years—there will be security check points all over Capitol Hill—shoe checking will not be part of the action.
Why? It’s not that the chance of a shoe bombing has somehow been definitively eliminated. It’s because the costs (frostbitten toes and long delays) have been weighed against the (low) possible risk of Richard Reid II. We probably should have reached the same conclusion about airports long ago. But this particular brand of cost-benefit analysis often eludes security officials, especially in the public sector…
Security Expert Bruce Schneier: Budget Should be Priority for National CTO
Bruce Schneier, a security commentator and author who The Register calls, “The closest the security industry has to a rock star,” took time to correspond via e-mail with Government Technology about the latest security threats to public-sector IT.
He publishes a popular blog and newsletter on Schneier.com. His most recent book, Schneier on Security, is a collection of previously published essays on security-related topics, such as identification cards, cyber-crime, election security and the psychology of security.
A few CIOs in government are touting “user-generated government”—i.e., mash-up applications and open source built by citizens. Though this appears to be an economical move, do you think turning to everyday citizens like this opens government to security threats?…
Bruce Schneier: More on the Broad View of Security
Bruce Schneier’s evolution of interests is well documented, moving from encryption to broader and broader perspectives on security. (Hence his recent appearance on 60 Minutes, commenting on TSA’s airport screening procedures.) To bring wider perspectives to bear on security issues, Schneier (Chief Security Technology Officer at BT) held in 2008 the first Workshop in Security and Human Behavior, with participants from a broad swath of disciplines including economics, psychology and more. Schneier spoke with CSOonline about his multidisciplinary view of the field and plans for 2009…
Bruce Schneier on IT Insecurity
There are no easy solutions to today's security challenges, and companies often approach them in the wrong way, says Bruce Schneier.
Talking with security expert Bruce Schneier does not always leave a person feeling more secure. That’s because Schneier doesn’t sell easy solutions. Instead, he challenges businesses, governments and individuals to examine their assumptions about risk, to eschew simplistic answers and to accept the fact that no system is—or can be—perfectly secure.
Now the chief security technology officer of BT, Schneier worked at the Department of Defense and Bell Labs before founding Counterpane Internet Security, which was acquired by BT. He has a master’s degree in computer science and a B. A. in physics…
Bruce Schneier: Securing Your PC and Your Privacy
He might be called the international rock star of computer security. Having testified before Congress and given well-regarded speeches the world over, when Bruce Schneier talks about security, experts listen. A prolific author, he has penned articles for publications ranging from Wired to The Guardian to the Sydney Morning Herald. His books include Applied Cryptography, which delves into the science of secret codes, and Beyond Fear, which details how to protect security on the personal and national level.
His recently released book, Schneier on Security…
Interview with Bruce Schneier
An edited version of this interview will appear in CIO Insight.
I asked security guru Bruce Schneier about those troublesome voting machines and the mindset that foists them upon us.
Schneier: The security of voting machines points to two big issues. The first one is that security is actually very hard. People think technology magically makes security worries a thing of the past, but it’s just not true. Security is very hard and very subtle.
These voting machine companies were no better than any other software, or hardware, computer company we’ve seen in the past few years. They did a really lousy job. And because the systems were proprietary, because the companies had a vested interest in keeping the flaws secret, the public didn’t know about them. So we have this problem of insecure voting machines…
Security Is a State of Mind
Checking in with expert Bruce Schneier about the state of security.
DDJ: A decade ago, you said that computer security, with all of its advances, would likely get worse in the future. Is this the way things turned out? If so, why? And what does this tell us about the next 10 years?
BS: It has gotten worse. In all of computer science, security is unique in that it has completely failed almost all the time. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the most important is complexity. Complexity is the worst enemy of security: as systems get more complex, they get less secure. So even though there have been, and continue to be, a constant stream of improvements in security—new ideas, new research, new techniques, new products, and services—things continue to get worse. Systems are getting more complex faster than security is improving, so we lose ground even as we get better…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.