In today’s world, the insecurity around information is an obsession and not very different from the need to secure our lives and personal possessions. It is a complex issue: mundane at one end as in terms of physical checks, and rather sophisticated at the other as it deals with fundamental issues of liberty and privacy.

How far are we prepared to go in securing our information power? To answer this question I explored whether there was any similarity between the strategies and methods of guarding information and going to war.

First, there is a role for a battle of wits. How do you outsmart the enemy? In terms of the way they think and do. Matters get complicated because in the information security arena as well as in war it is not always easy to either identify or defne the enemy. The enemy is often unknown and amorphous.  

Secondly, in both cases, how well you can determine your risks is a differentiator. How well you protect yourself from those risks determines who wins and who loses.

Tactics and heavy shelling per se cannot ensure that you win a war. Similarly, for infosec – the right technology or the right strategy is unlikely to deliver the desired outcome. It needs much more.

It is worth quoting Bruce Schneier here who says, “Security is a state of mind.” Information security is not about tick-marking boxes on a checklist. You may tick all the right boxes and deploy the best defence and still fail.

We have put together this Security Special for you. It has entailed two months of rigorous planning and coordination and we hope you see value in the effort. We have invited the most contemporary opinions, conducted interviews and compiled features by senior security practitioners in India and overseas.

The outcome is a comprehensive and insightful collection of compelling security issues, challenges and solutions. While there are many people I should thank for making this possible, I would like to single out Anthony M. Freed, Managing Editor, Infosec Island Network, US who was integral to this issue of CTOF.  

Our efforts are only as good as you believe them to be. So please write to us and tell us if you enjoyed reading this Special as much as we did conceptualising and writing it. Till we meet again, stay safe and stay secure...

rahul.mani@9dot9.in