The most important impact of technology on communications security is that it draws better and better traffic into vulnerable channels.
Whitfield DiffieRead
It isn't that secrets are never needed in security. It's that they are never desirable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Secrets in security can sometimes be necessary, but they are not preferred as they lead to trust issues.
Whitfield Diffie's quote highlights the tension between the necessity and desirability of secrets in the field of security. While secrets may be crucial for protecting sensitive information, relying on them can undermine trust and transparency in relationships, whether they are personal or institutional. This suggests that open communication and honesty should be prioritized over secrecy whenever possible, despite the potential risks involved.
Themes
SecretsSecurityTrustTransparencyCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a professional setting discussing data privacy policies.
More from Whitfield Diffie
All quotes βIn a sense, communications networks can be defined entirely by who has cryptographic keys, and I think a lot of networks will work that way in the future.
Whitfield DiffieRead
It's simply unrealistic to depend on secrecy for security in computer software. You may be able to keep the exact workings of the program out of general circulation, but can you prevent the code from being reverse-engineered by serious opponents? Probably not. The secret to strong security: less reliance on secrets.
Whitfield DiffieRead
I understood the importance in principle of public key cryptography but it's all moved much faster than I expected. I did not expect it to be a mainstay of advanced communications technology
Whitfield DiffieRead
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