Beautiful Security

Information Security Economics: Supercrunching and the New Rules of the Grid

Curphey turned to his friend Jeff Cave in an investment bank server room in London in the late ’90s and said, “What’s the time?” Cave replied, “Quite simply the measurement of distance in space, dear chap.”

Scene 1: Imagine you are picnicking by a river and you notice someone in distress in the water. You jump in and pull the person out. The mayor is nearby and pins a medal on you. You return to your picnic. A few minutes later, you spy a second person in the water. You perform a second rescue and receive a second medal. A few minutes later, a third person, a third rescue, and a third medal, and so on through the day. By sunset, you are weighed down with medals and honors. You are a local hero! Of course, somewhere in the back of your mind there is a sneaking suspicion that you should have walked upriver to find out why people were falling in all day—but then again, that wouldn’t have earned you as many awards.

Scene 2: Imagine you are a software tester. You find a bug. Your manager is nearby and pins a “bug-finder” award on you. A few minutes later, you find a second bug, and so on. By the end of the day, you are weighed down with “bug-finder” awards and all your colleagues are congratulating you. You are a hero! Of course, the thought enters your mind that maybe you should help prevent those bugs from getting into the system—but you squash it. After all, bug prevention doesn’t win nearly as many awards ...