There are a couple of concepts in the security world that became took some apparent relavence this last few weeks as engineers from all over got together to share their recent discoveries and show their wares. The first is what is known as Schneier’s Law:
Anyone, from the most clueless amateur to the best cryptographer, can create an algorithm that he himself can’t break. It’s not even hard. What is hard is creating an algorithm that no one else can break, even after years of analysis. And the only way to prove that is to subject the algorithm to years of analysis by the best cryptographers around.
Schneier on Security: “Schneier’s Law”
The other principle is discussed on Schneier’s and other security sites and is called Security by Obscurity. In the security world these quickly turn the conversation to the topic of open and closed source software. And this is the subject of the Buzzword Compliance Award for 2013.
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