Money laundering is a similarly difficult problem. Most of the rules are written in a "spirit" manner, instead of a "prescriptive" manner. With AML (anti-money laundering), you often hear the term "red flags". They are signs, but not a source of absolute truth. I could foresee something like AML in the form of corporate computer security coming soon. In the same way that Sarbanes-Oxley forever changed corporate accounting after the Worldcom and Enron accounting scandals of early 2000s (top execs now need to sign-off on yearly account) -- imagine if top execs need to sign-off on corporate computer security. As I see it, CTO-cum-head-of-security will soon be signing yearly audit documents in blood.

And the trick to making AML regulations effective is massive fines -- fines so large that they genuinely affect quarterly earnings and stock prices. The same could be done with corporate computer security regulations.