Schneier On Security Quotes & Sayings

A colleague once told me that the world was full of bad security systems designed by people who read Applied Cryptography — Bruce Schneier

Security is a process, not a product. — Bruce Schneier

The mantra of any good security engineer is: 'Security is a not a product, but a process.' It's more than designing strong cryptography into a system; it's designing the entire system such that all security measures, including cryptography, work together. — Bruce Schneier

When people are scared, they need something done that will make them feel safe, even if it doesn't truly make them safer. Politicians naturally want to do something in response to crisis, even if that something doesn't make any sense. But unfortunately for politicians, the security measures that work are largely invisible. — Bruce Schneier

Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy. — Bruce Schneier

The more technological a society is, the greater the security gap is. — Bruce Schneier

People often represent the weakest link in the security chain and are chronically responsible for the failure of security systems. — Bruce Schneier

The user's going to pick dancing pigs over security every time. — Bruce Schneier

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

God has delegated himself to a million deputies. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Computer security can simply be protecting your equipment and files from disgruntled employees, spies, and anything that goes bump in the night, but there is much more. Computer security helps ensure that your computers, networks, and peripherals work as expected all the time, and that your data is safe in the event of hard disk crash or a power failure resulting from an electrical storm. Computer security also makes sure no damage is done to your data and that no one is able to read it unless you want them to — Bruce Schneier

Sam is there, Sam has been playing well, he has been doing great in camp. — Latrell Sprewell

And then Ehrlich's climax: "Let there be light. Let there be honesty. Let there be no running from nonexistent destroyers of morals. Let there be honest understanding. In the end the four-letter words will not appear draped in glaring headlights, but will be submerged in the decentralization of small thinking in small minds. — Ronald K.L. Collins

You cannot water your own plant if you are waiting on other people's approval to do so. Stop living your one and only life waiting for validation, start seeking your own inner voice to guide you. — Keysha Jade

If you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security. — Bruce Schneier

Your lack of confidence is the number one reason why you're not experiencing success. — Ehab Atalla

He who lets the world choose his plan of life for him has need of no other faculty than that of ape-like imitation. — John Stuart Mill

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

I'm not a bad golfer, and I'm not the best, either. — Jose Pablo Cantillo

I briefly did therapy, but after a while, I realised it is just like a farmer complaining about the weather. You can't fix the weather - you just have to get on with it. — Douglas Adams

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

History has taught us: never underestimate the amount of money, time, and effort someone will expend to thwart a security system. It's always better to assume the worst. Assume your adversaries are better than they are. Assume science and technology will soon be able to do things they cannot yet. Give yourself a margin for error. Give yourself more security than you need today. When the unexpected happens, you'll be glad you did. — Bruce Schneier

If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you don't understand the problems and you don't understand the technology. — Bruce Schneier

Let none think to fly the danger for soon or late love is his own avenger. — Lord Byron

Given the credible estimate that we've spent $1 trillion on anti-terrorism security — Bruce Schneier

It's certainly easier to implement bad security and make it illegal for anyone to notice than it is to implement good security. — Bruce Schneier

This [Gang of Eight bill (S.744)] is far, far too many low-skilled workers that are going to take jobs and pull down wages of people unemployed and underemployed right now. — Jeff Sessions

What you make happen for others, God will make happen for you. — Mike Murdock

The more we expect technology to protect us from people in the same way it protects us from nature, the more we will sacrifice the very values of our society in futile attempts to achieve this security. — Bruce Schneier

I don't judge my self-worth as a football player. Football is something I love. It's a fun career deal, but it's not what I want to do with my life, because I see football as a game. — Tim Tebow

Jealousy is a useless, time-wasting emotion that's eating me alive. — A. J. Jacobs

If you can't be pretty, you have to learn to make yourself attractive. I found that all the pretty girls I went to high school with came to middle age as frumps, because they just got by with their pretty faces, so they never developed anything. They never learned how to be interesting. But if you are bereft of certain things, you have to make up for them in certain ways. Don't you think? — Iris Apfel

S security expert Bruce Schneier has said, Making bits harder to copy is like making water that's less wet. — Cory Doctorow

Terrorism isn't a crime against people or property. It's a crime against our minds, using the death of innocents and destruction of property to make us fearful. Terrorists use the media to magnify their actions and further spread fear. And when we react out of fear, when we change our policy to make our country less open, the terrorists succeed
even if their attacks fail. But when we refuse to be terrorized, when we're indomitable in the face of terror, the terrorists fail
even if their attacks succeed. — Bruce Schneier

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

Children are not in a position to assess risk and safety; it must be done for them, and it must be done carefully. — Siri Hustvedt