Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Security as a status symbol

This article is about how a lot of security equipment is to advertise "hey I have things that are worth stealing".

This is like Eminem wearing a bullet proof vest to show that he annoys people enough that they would be willing to shoot him. Or how dodgy Russian mafiosas drive hummers around Dublin like they are in a war zone.

It is slightly different from "security theatre" as Schneier calls it as it is not designed to provide the illusion of security just the illusion of a need for security.
There are many similar things to this in computer security,
Symantec have a response unit housed in a nuclear bunker. This is a good way for the DR Strangelove cachet to rub off on people checking for botnets.

No comments: