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October 26, 2007, 04:09 PM ET
Security Expert Says Networks Are Harder Than Ever to Defend
Seattle — Communication technologies generally improve over time. Computers are faster and hold more data than ever before, cellphones that were once the size of bricks are now razor-thin, and new software features emerge seemingly every day. But computer security continues to get worse — meaning there are more serious hacker attacks than ever — argued Bruce Schneier, a computer-security expert and author of the popular blog Schneier on Security, at the closing keynote speech of the Educause 2007 conference on higher-education technology.
The problem is complexity. All those new features are the indirect cause of security bugs. “As systems get more complex, they get less secure,” Mr. Schneier said. “The Internet is the most complex machine mankind has ever built.”
“Things are getting worse not better,” he argued. “ Things are getting more complicated.”
Nontechnical issues are becoming more important than technical ones when it comes to security, he said. That means more regulation might be necessary to improve security in ways that no software patch can.
It was a rather bleak parting message, though perhaps Mr. Schneier wrapped up on a more positive note — like many attendees, this reporter had to leave early to catch a plane. —Jeffrey R. Young
Categories: Educause-2007, Security
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