Bruce Schneier Post Template

A funny take on the format of some posts from Bruce Schneier

Catchy one-liner ("interesting," with link):

In this part of the blog post, Bruce quotes something from the article he links to in the catchy phrase. It might be the abstract to an academic article, or the key points in a subject he's trying to get across. To get the post looking right, you have to include at least a decent sized paragraph from the quoted source or otherwise it just looks like crap. So I will continue typing another sentence or two, until I have enough text to make this look like a legitimately quoted paragraph. See, now that wasn't so hard after all.

He might offer a short comment about the article here.

Finally, he will let you know that he wrote about the exact same subject link to previous Schneier article on the exact same topic and link to another previous Schneier article on the exact same topic.

I tried it myself about a month ago:

Interesting:

Last week I heard Sun Microsystems Cloud CTO Lew Tucker predict that IT expenses would increasingly track to the cost of electricity. “Lew’s Law” (as described to a room of thought leaders) is a brilliant theorem that weaves a microcosm of IT trends and recent reports into a single and powerful concept.

Lew’s Law is a powerful idea whose time has come, with profound and far reaching impacts, including the automation of the network.

Full story here from Gregory Ness with some additional remarks here.

It was very liberating.

mini-Bruce for $89

You can now order an action figure of Bruce Schneier for $89, already down from $100 earlier in week.

From the supplier

"Get an action figure of Bruce Schneier a.k.a. CryptoMan! Buy Bruce's lifelike head mounted on a 12'' action figure body with pre-fitted clothes.

This package includes Bruce Schneier's custom action figure head mounted on a matching DiD or Dragon action figure body with a choice of 2 different clothing styles. You can also buy Bruce Schneier's head on its own and fit it onto your own figurines."

Bruce's take is here.

Thoughts on the Cult of Schneier

Earlier in the year John Viega wrote a short opinion article called The Cult of Schneier, referring to the near-religious following that Bruce Schneier has acquired over his long and successful career in IT Security, and the biblical authority that the Applied Cryptography book has attained. Viega's main issue with the book as it currently stands is that "It's fine and fun to read it, just don't build from it".

I think that Applied Cryptography was a very well-crafted book. It contains an excellent mix of mathematics, exposition, security intrigue and executable code. However for me, and a few other cryptographers I know, the Handbook of Applied Cryptography is a best source of general cryptography information. The book does not enjoy anywhere near the same general recognition as Applied Cryptography, seemingly because it is viewed as a "math book" - correct, factual, thorough and therefore unappealing to a wide audience, as most technical books are. In short it lacks the narrative woven into Applied Cryptography. On the other hand, no one would really confuse the Handbook with a solution manual for designing and implementing secure systems.

Earlier in the year I made a post on Some Black Swans in IT Security, and I listed Bruce as an unexpected phenomenon in the following way

Bruce Schneier is the best known security authority in the world. His blog has hundreds of thousands of readers, his posts can yield hundreds of comments, and his books are bestsellers. His opinions hold sway over both technical people and executives, as well as all the layers in between. He is the Oprah of security - a public figure and a leading opinion maker. The Black Swan aspect of Mr. Schneier is that he has achieved this status through excellent communication (and yes cunning publicity as well) rather than technical prowess. Of course he has technical prowess but that is rather common in security and cryptography. What is uncommon, or even uncanny, is the ability to explain security in terms that can be understood by non-specialists whether it be programmers, professionals, managers or executives. Bruce has literally written himself into the modern history books of security. He has shown, once again, that communication is king - the security explanation is mightier than the security deed.

I don’t really think that there is a cult in operation over Bruce Schneier, but rather a hero was found when security as an industry needed to believe in heroes.