Hacking the business climate for network security

Computer security is at a crossroads. It's failing regularly and with increasingly serious results. CEOs are starting to notice. When they finally get fed up, they'll demand improvements-either that or they'll abandon the Internet, which seems unlikely. Computer security is not a problem that technology can solve. Security solutions have a technological component, but security is fundamentally a business problem. Companies approach security as they do any other business uncertainty-in terms of risk management. Organizations optimize their activities as a cost-risk ratio. Understanding these motivations is key to understanding the state of computer security today. We need to change the economics of security, giving the businesses in the best position to fix the problem the motivation to do so.