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It is insufficient to protect ourselves with laws we need to protect ourselves with mathematics.

Bruce Schneier

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Bruce Schneier
Age: 61
Born: 1963
Born: January 15
Computer Scientist
Cryptographer
Mathematician
Physicist
Writer
New York City
New York
Laws
Protect
Law
Need
Needs
Insufficient
Mathematics

More quotes by Bruce Schneier

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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
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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.
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If you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security.
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People often represent the weakest link in the security chain and are chronically responsible for the failure of security systems.
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Terrorism is a crime against the mind. We win by refusing fear.
Bruce Schneier
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Technical problems can be remediated. A dishonest corporate culture is much harder to fix.
Bruce Schneier
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When a big company lays you off, they often give you a year's salary to 'go pursue a dream.' If you're stupid, you panic and get another job. If you're smart, you take the money and use the time to figure out what you want to do next.
Bruce Schneier
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The user's going to pick dancing pigs over security every time.
Bruce Schneier
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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
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The more technological a society is, the greater the security gap is.
Bruce Schneier
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Choosing providers is not a choice between surveillance/not it's just choosing which feudal lord gets to spy on you.
Bruce Schneier
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Metadata equals surveillance it's that simple.
Bruce Schneier
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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
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Anyone, from the most clueless amateur to the best cryptographer, can create an algorithm that he himself can't break.
Bruce Schneier
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Only amateurs attack machines professionals target people.
Bruce Schneier
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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
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Think of your existing power as the exponent in an equation that determines the value of information. The more power you have, the more additional power you derive from the new data.
Bruce Schneier
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Given the credible estimate that we've spent $1 trillion on anti-terrorism security
Bruce Schneier
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Cryptography products may be declared illegal, but the information will never be
Bruce Schneier
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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