Schneier Questions Existence of Security Industry
Bruce Schneier is an egotistical proto-liberal propeller-head who had to sell his badly leveraged security company Counterpane to British Telecom because no American company wanted to buy it.
Now he stands up at a security conference in London and declares that the very existence of a security industry (like the ones who passed up buying Counterpane) is what enables software makers to ship insecure software.
From Cnet here:
Schneier questions need for security industry
Outspoken author and security guru Bruce Schneier has questioned the very existence of the security industry, suggesting it merely indicates the willingness of other technology companies to ship insecure software and hardware.
Speaking this week at Infosecurity Europe 2007, a leading trade show for the security industry, Schneier said, “the fact this show even exists is a problem. You should not have to come to this show ever.”
“We shouldn’t have to come and find a company to secure our e-mail. E-mail should already be secure. We shouldn’t have to buy from somebody to secure our network or servers. Our networks and servers should already be secure.”
“Security is a small but important piece of the bigger picture,” Schneier said. He added that consumers shouldn’t accept any product that is inherently insecure.
However, Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, suggested Schneier’s dream may be a long way from reality. “Why didn’t everybody think about this sooner?” said Cluley. “It would be great.”
“It would be great if robberies didn’t happen and if road accidents didn’t happen and if I didn’t stub my toe,” he added. “But what you have to realize is that software developers are human and humans make mistakes.
Schneier then wished out loud for a magical unicorn to come on stage and take him away to the land of the horribly balding gnomes, where he is considered a demi-god because his scruffy back hair makes a nice pony tail. When the unicorn didn’t appear, he walked off stage to the sound of crickets.
I would laugh if BT started questioning the need for a CTO.
Such a dolt. Take a look at this article. Here he lashes out at the bad security companies — companies that are more hype than solution. This from counterpane??!? Give me a break. Can’t believe how out of touch he is with reality.
http://tinyurl.com/24aqek
Meanwhile Counterpane was a fraud – and a pathetic security solution. Now he gives a lecture saying the very industry where by he pays his rent is a sham and should go away. He is seriously losing his mind.
Yeah, he was a brilliant businessman too. He had 80 Million in capital invested in his company. When it sold, the company went for 40 million. 50 cents on the dollar. I can imagine those stockholders at that meeting saying “Yeah, whatever, just let us get something back. I shoulda invested in ISS.”
His enormous ego and elitism runs counter to any good business practice. No wonder his security company was floundering- Rather than watching for security violations, his team must have been cursing software vendors for making buggy software instead.