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“IS THIS NECESSARY?”

Do We Need to Do Everything We Are Currently Doing?

When my sister-in-law moved from Mexico to Massachusetts, it was an unusually warm January day (60 degrees). I took her shopping to buy winter clothes. Her response to being inundated with winter gear was, “Is this necessary?” and the next more seasonable day (mid-30s), she got her answer. I do not think we ask the question, “Is this necessary?” enough. We continue to do something because we have always done it and autopilot takes over.

One way to reduce costs is to reduce the overall amount of work, if that work yields little security value. This is similar to zero-base budgeting. It starts by reviewing all security tasks, controls, solutions, and procedures to ...

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