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The question to ask when you look at security is not whether this makes us safer, but whether it's worth the trade-off.

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
Asks
Whether
Makes
Look
Safer
Looks
Trade
Worth
Question
Security

More quotes by Bruce Schneier

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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.
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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.
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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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If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you don't understand the problems and you don't understand the technology.
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Buy American Doesn’t Sell Well Anymore Because It Means Give A Copy To The NSA
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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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There are two types of encryption: one that will prevent your sister from reading your diary and one that will prevent your government.
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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.
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Anyone, from the most clueless amateur to the best cryptographer, can create an algorithm that he himself can't break.
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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.
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A colleague once told me that the world was full of bad security systems designed by people who read Applied Cryptography
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It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.
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Technical problems can be remediated. A dishonest corporate culture is much harder to fix.
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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.
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It doesn't matter how good the card is if the issuance process is flawed.
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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.
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It is insufficient to protect ourselves with laws we need to protect ourselves with mathematics.
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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.
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Privacy is a fundamental human need.
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Given the credible estimate that we've spent $1 trillion on anti-terrorism security
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