Is Complexity the Enemy of Security?
Since the last post about leverage points in managing complex systems I thought it would be good to revisit and update a post from a few...
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- Sep 9
- 14 min
Leverage Points - A Cybersecurity Perspective
Security is an emergent property of the complex systems we inhabit. In other words, security isn’t a thing that you do, rather it's a...
2,073 views
- Jul 15
- 13 min
Resilience Engineering - Step by Step
Resilience Engineering: Concepts and Precepts is an excellent collection of standalone essays, woven into a consistent whole on the...
2,184 views
- Jul 1
- 3 min
AI Consequence and Intent - Second Order Risks
There is a lot of good discussion and emerging methods to manage the risks of AI in various forms from training data protection, model...
951 views
- May 20
- 10 min
You Only Get 3 Metrics - Which Ones Would You Pick?
Just over a year ago I put out this blog post on the 10 fundamental (but really hard) security metrics. Since then I’ve discussed this...
7,124 views
- May 7
- 13 min
The Illusion of Choice : A Review
In the last post we talked about the challenges and opportunities of using individual and organizational incentives to ensure effective...
3,178 views
- Apr 22
- 8 min
People and Security Incentives
Force 6 : People, organizations and AI respond to incentives and inherent biases but not always the ones we think are rational. //...
1,469 views
- Apr 7
- 8 min
Handling Complexity
Force 5 : Complex Systems break in Unpredictable Ways // Central Idea: While component level simplicity is vital, seeking to eliminate...
2,338 views
- Mar 25
- 7 min
Fighting Security Entropy
Force 4 : Entropy is King // Central Idea: Adopting a control reliability engineering mindset by continuous control monitoring is...
2,083 views
- Mar 12
- 9 min
Attack Surface Management
Force 3 : Services want to be on // Central Idea: Take architectural steps to inherently reduce your attack surface - don’t just rely...
3,011 views
- Feb 25
- 8 min
Software Security is More than Vulnerabilities
Force 2 : Code wants to be wrong // Central Idea: Shift from a pure focus on only reducing security vulnerabilities towards increasing...
1,900 views
- Feb 11
- 8 min
Data Security and Data Governance
Force 1: Information wants to be free // Central Idea: Shift from perimeter based surveillance and tactical blocking to data governance...
1,732 views
- Jan 28
- 2 min
The 6 Fundamental Forces of Information Security Risk
I first posted this as a Twitter thread in 2019. These forces still seem very much current - perhaps even more so. It is interesting to...
3,992 views
- Jan 14
- 12 min
Ceremonial Security and Cargo Cults
There is a lot of conventional security that is based on established ceremonies and an unquestioning faith that if we keep doing these...
17,150 views
- Dec 31, 2022
- 7 min
Simple Ways to Communicate Successes
It’s that time of year when you’ve inevitably written notes to your organization and leadership about all your team’s achievements over...
4,948 views
- Dec 3, 2022
- 8 min
The Uncanny Valley of Security - Updated
Since I first wrote this post 2 years ago I keep seeing it reinforced. The basic premise is that, sometimes, advanced levels of security...
4,608 views
- Nov 19, 2022
- 13 min
A New Way to Think : Review
I typically don’t do book reviews, but this book was impressive and it resonated with many information security and risk management...
2,547 views
- Oct 22, 2022
- 10 min
Grand Challenges or Grind Challenges
How much of your work that you would like to describe as a “grand” challenge is really more of a “grind”? As an industry we like to talk...
1,823 views
- Sep 10, 2022
- 13 min
Crucial Questions from Governments and Regulators
In this, fourth and final post in the series of Crucial Questions I’m going to focus on those from governments and regulators. This...
1,775 views
- Aug 27, 2022
- 23 min
Crucial Questions from CISOs and Security Teams
In this, third in a series of Crucial Questions posts I’m going to focus on the questions from CISOs and security teams. This builds on...
6,114 views
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