Re:SolarWinds hack was 'largest and most sophisticated attac...
by jimbokun on Monday February 15, 2021 @11:14AM
(#26144045)
> But I've seen plenty of companies implementing solid (real) security measures only to see employees looking to bypass them themselves due to the inconvenience they caused, thus leaving doors open for attack.
The New York Times had an article recently discussing how measures to prevent Covid have to take human nature into account in order to be effective. In other words, people only have so much capacity for adhering to strict measures, so it's important to stress the really important factors (avoid prolonged indoor exposure with large groups of people) and to allow for some relatively low risk behaviors (outdoor exercise with appropriate social distancing). Also cited HIV and teen pregnancy as similar public health problems (saying "don't have sex ever" vs "limit sex to these less risky behaviors").
So, coming back to security, I think any effective security policy will have to allow employees to get their work done efficiently without undue strain. Avoid "security theatre" while still mitigating against the most severe threats through training, compartmentalization, etc. Otherwise, you risk people going around the security measures so they can actually get their work done.
The New York Times had an article recently discussing how measures to prevent Covid have to take human nature into account in order to be effective. In other words, people only have so much capacity for adhering to strict measures, so it's important to stress the really important factors (avoid prolonged indoor exposure with large groups of people) and to allow for some relatively low risk behaviors (outdoor exercise with appropriate social distancing). Also cited HIV and teen pregnancy as similar public health problems (saying "don't have sex ever" vs "limit sex to these less risky behaviors").
So, coming back to security, I think any effective security policy will have to allow employees to get their work done efficiently without undue strain. Avoid "security theatre" while still mitigating against the most severe threats through training, compartmentalization, etc. Otherwise, you risk people going around the security measures so they can actually get their work done.