Quote

It's frustrating terrorism is rare and largely ineffectual, yet we regularly magnify the effects of both their successes and failures by terrorizing ourselves.

Bruce Schneier

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Bruce Schneier
Age: 61
Born: 1963
Born: January 15
Computer Scientist
Cryptographer
Mathematician
Physicist
Writer
New York City
New York
Frustrating
Largely
Failures
Rare
Terrorizing
Terrorism
Ineffectual
Effects
Magnify
Regularly
Successes

More quotes by Bruce Schneier

Image
The more technological a society is, the greater the security gap is.
Bruce Schneier
Image
But in this country, while you have to be competent to pull off a terrorist attack, you don't have to be competent to cause terror. All you need to do is start plotting an attack and - regardless of whether or not you have a viable plan, weapons or even the faintest clue - the media will aid you in terrorizing the entire population.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Anyone, from the most clueless amateur to the best cryptographer, can create an algorithm that he himself can't break.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Only amateurs attack machines professionals target people.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Air travel survived decades of terrorism, including attacks which resulted in the deaths of everyone on the plane. It survived 9/11. It'll survive the next successful attack. The only real worry is that we'll scare ourselves into making air travel so onerous that we won't fly anymore.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Why is it that we all - myself included - believe these stories? Why are we so quick to assume that the TSA is a bunch of jack-booted thugs, officious and arbitrary and drunk with power? It's because everything seems so arbitrary, because there's no accountability or transparency in the DHS.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Privacy is a fundamental human need.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Microsoft made a big deal about Windows NT getting a C2 security rating. They were much less forthcoming with the fact that this rating only applied if the computer was not attached to a network and had no network card, and had its floppy drive epoxied shut, and was running on a Compaq 386. Solaris's C2 rating was just as silly.
Bruce Schneier
Image
When my mother gets a prompt 'Do you want to download this?' she's going to say yes. It's disingenuous for Microsoft to give you all of these tools with which to hang yourself, and when you do, then say it's your fault.
Bruce Schneier
Image
This is not the internet the world needs, or the internet its creators envisioned. We need to take it back. And by we, I mean the engineering community.
Bruce Schneier
Image
There are two kinds of cryptography in this world: cryptography that will stop your kid sister from reading your files, and cryptography that will stop major governments from reading your files.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Don't make the mistake of thinking you're Facebook's customer, you're not - you're the product.
Bruce Schneier
Image
It is insufficient to protect ourselves with laws we need to protect ourselves with mathematics.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Given the credible estimate that we've spent $1 trillion on anti-terrorism security
Bruce Schneier
Image
The fundamental driver in computer security, in all of the computer industry, is economics. That requires a lot of re-education for us security geeks.
Bruce Schneier
Image
If you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security.
Bruce Schneier
Image
Secret courts making secret rulings on secret laws, and companies flagrantly lying to consumers about the insecurity of their products and services, undermine the very foundations of our society.
Bruce Schneier
Image
I am regularly asked what the average Internet user can do to ensure his security. My first answer is usually 'Nothing you're screwed'.
Bruce Schneier
Image
The user's going to pick dancing pigs over security every time.
Bruce Schneier
Image
It doesn't matter how good the card is if the issuance process is flawed.
Bruce Schneier