Economics, Psychology, and Sociology of Security

Security is not an isolated good, but just one component of a complicated economy. That imposes limitations on how effective it can be. The interactions of human society and human nature suggest that security will continue being applied as an afterthought. We will have to put up with the equivalent of bailing wire and chewing gum, and to live on the edge of intolerable frustration. However, that is not likely to to be a fatal impediment to the development and deployment of information technology. It will be most productive to think of security not as a way to provide ironclad protection, but the equivalent of speed bumps, decreasing the velocity and impact of electronic attacks to a level where other protection mechanisms can operate.