Building Secure and Reliable Systems

Part V. Organization and Culture

While the engineering practices highlighted in this book will help your organization build secure and reliable systems, your efforts will be effective only if your entire organization is invested in a culture of security and reliability. Culture is a powerful and unique defining component of every organization, and you should not underestimate its role in your ability to institute change.

Part V of this book focuses on cultural aspects of implementing the approaches presented thus far. Chrome was one of the first products at Google to have a dedicated security team, actively promoting a security-centric culture. We start with a case study of that team, focusing on its role in Chrome’s popularity and success. In Chapter 20, we posit that everyone in an organization is responsible for security and reliability. The role of security specialists should be to implement security-specific technologies that require specialist knowledge, and to devise best practices, policies, and training. Chapter 21 rounds out the book with a discussion of strategies for fostering a healthy culture of security and reliability.