

The Declining Half-Life of Secrets - dredmorbius
https://www.justsecurity.org/24823/half-life-secrets

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dredmorbius
What Swire's discussion fails to recognize is that the same dynamics which
refer to _state_ secrets apply equally to _corporate_ and _personal_ secrets.
As I've been noting for some time, electronic data's notable distinguishing
characteristic is its _frictionlessness_. It may or may not stay contained,
_but once it escapes containment its worldwide spread is all but impossible to
avoid_.

The fact that such disclosures can take place without detection or awareness
by the hosting party, who is almost always entirely distinct from the
_subject_ of the information itself, gives rise to an extremely unstable
state:

 _Any electronic information, at any time, may be accessed, by unknown and
often unknowable parties, without notice, and with consequences ranging from
zero to catastrophic._

It's an entirely unprecedented disclosure risk environment.

~~~
nickpsecurity
It's why many of us advocate traditional methods for protecting secrets that
center on paper and people. This leads to higher cost and less convenience. A
necessary tradeoff.

~~~
dredmorbius
Quite.

