HITB Throwback Thursday: Schneier On Society, Security, and More

By: Weixien Toh

If you could ask a cyber security guru ANY question, what would your question be? Would you ask how the concepts of privacy and personal data have evolved over the years or how to address the issue of data security and public safety that are increasingly interwoven? Maybe you’ll simply want to ask how to assuage everyone’s biggest fear - who’s collecting, storing, and sharing our personal data? 

There’s no better person to answer these questions and more than Bruce Schneier. For decades, Bruce has been a strong advocate on the importance of individual privacy in the digital world. Even before it was fashionable, he was a vocal proponent for how digital security is a matter of public safety. 

Most well known as the creator of two symmetric key-block ciphers - Blowfish and Twofish, he is also the author of Secrets and Lies - Digital Security in a Networked World, a book which provided a practical, straightforward guide to network security, and also authored Data and Goliath : The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World, Click Here to Kill Everybody : Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World. Perhaps most famously, Applied Cryptography - the “must have bible” of cryptologists and code breakers around the world. 

Having previously testified before Congress, Bruce is widely credited with coining the term “security theatre” and “movie-plot threat”, and has warned about misplaced trust in blockchain. For a long time, he has also been using “digital feudalism”  - a metaphor to describe how large companies have our data and in return we receive “protection”.

His thought-provoking blog, Schneier on Security, continues to make cyber security relevant to the general public, and routinely raises awareness about security and privacy in our daily lives - issues  that should give us all cause to pause and ponder.  

Often thought-provoking and always entertaining, Bruce has delivered three keynotes at various Hack In The Box Security conferences. Dubai in 2008, Amsterdam in 2012, and again in Kuala Lumpur in 2016 via live stream. In all these various appearances, he has constantly addressed the most pressing issues of the time -  security, trust, economy, and society; weighing in on the convenience and accessibility offered to us, and the ‘price of privacy’ we pay in exchange. 

At next month’s HITB CyberWeek Virtual Edition, you’ll get a chance to Ask Bruce Anything! Set to deliver one of his atypical keynote addresses, he’ll pick out what he feels are the ten most interesting user submitted questions to answer on the future of our ‘new cyber security normal’. 

Ask him a question and you’ll also stand a chance to win an exclusive limited edition not-for-sale t-shirt! Questions submissions are due by the 1st of November. Don’t forget to tune in to Bruce’s keynote live on the 18th of November at 0900 GMT +4 to see if your question was answered!