Bruce Schneier explores the concept of a security mindset and how it differs from the natural way of thinking. He argues that security professionals see the world differently and are more skeptical about security vulnerabilities that they observe in the world. Schneier argues that the security mindset is teachable, and Professor Tadayoshi Kohno’s undergraduate computer science course at the University of Washington provides such an example in how the students are taught to question the security of seemingly ordinary objects like smart pill boxes, safe deposit boxes, and traffic lights. Schneier’s conclusion holds that if more individuals had a security mindset, then communities would have more sophisticated consumers, more skeptical citizens, and less gullible people, leading to better technological systems’ security and more private and secure medical records.
