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.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of being prepared for potential threats to security by assuming the worst and planning accordingly.
Bruce Schneier's quote highlights the necessity of vigilance in security, urging individuals and organizations not to underestimate the lengths to which adversaries will go to compromise a system. By advocating for a mindset that anticipates advanced threats and preparing for them with additional measures, he reinforces the idea that proactive security strategies are essential in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
In practice
In a cybersecurity seminar, this quote can illustrate the need for strong defense mechanisms.
The whole notion of passwords is based on an oxymoron. The idea is to have a random string that is easy to remember. Unfortunately, if it's easy to remember, it's something nonrandom like 'Susan.' And if it's random, like 'r7U2*Qnp,' then it's not easy to remember.
This is not the internet the world needs, or the internet its creators envisioned. We need to take it back. And by we, I mean the engineering community.
It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.
You can't defend. You can't prevent. The only thing you can do is detect and respond.
Digital files cannot be made uncopyable, any more than water can be made not wet.
I am regularly asked what the average Internet user can do to ensure his security. My first answer is usually 'Nothing; you're screwed'.
There are lots of Linux users who don't care how the kernel works, but only want to use it. That is a tribute to how good Linux is.
I never thought, in my lifetime, that you'd be able to watch movies, read books and listen to music from a phone, but I guess the technology of tomorrow is here today.
It's wonderful to move forward technologically, but we cannot forget that we are human beings who thrive on relationships, who thrive on interconnectivity, who thrive on sharing your feelings and emotions.
Ultimately, users visit your website for its content. Everything else is just the backdrop.
Run for your lives-the computers are invading. Awesomely powerful computers tackling ever more important tasks with awkward, old-fashioned interfaces. As these machines leak into every corner of our lives, they will annoy us, infuriate us, and even kill a few of us. In turn, we will be tempted to kill our computers, but we won't dare because we are already utterly, irreversibly dependent on these hopeful monsters that make modern life possible.
New technologies, however remarkable they might seem, are fundamentally just tools made by people for people.
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