As I put the swerve on the storied RSA Security Conference for the first time in 16 years, I am reminded of just how long I have been saying, and hearing, the same lessons around security: “There is no silver bullet,” “You need process, people, -and- technology,” “Vulnerabilities are on the rise,” “Attackers are getting smarter and more sophisticated.” Given my own 20 or 25 year run in this space, I admit that I have a hard time seeing that there will be a fundamental shift in these beloved chestnuts in the next 20 or 25 years either. So, I decided to spin the dial in the opposite direction. Maybe there was someone who had ventured philosophical truths that I could adopt? Maybe –waaaay- back in the past, there were views that could reinvigorate the way that I was thinking about the challenges of protecting our organizations and ourselves.
I figured that there might be something good around the year 0. Why not? I’ve seen Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure; Socrates (pronounced “SO – Crates” for the uninformed) offering philosophical lessons before an audience of rapt acolytes, sharing views on our own evanescence (“… all we are is dust in the wind. Dude … ”). He was still topical and relevant, and could relate to both Ted “Theodore” Logan and Kansas …