I just got my hands on a new promo item our marketing department came out with, which looks quite interesting:
It's Mikado, an old European stick game. Basically, the idea is to carefully pick up sticks without moving the pile, in order to gain points; player with the most points wins.
OK, so the game is rather cute, but it is supposed to convey a serious message – that IT security can be as simple as this game. Most people have the impression that IT security is complex, highly technical, frighteningly arcane, and difficult to manage.
To be fair, most people have good reason to think so. Even the language is difficult, like the latest from the Pentagon's cyber security people – the Global Information Grid Customizable Operational Picture (GIGCOP), which is just one component of their new security system (The Register article).
And even if all the 'technical' things are under control, sometimes it is possible to slip up on the "easy" stuff, like maintaining proper physical security – as in maybe not letting people use a slipper as a doorstop for a hi-tech server room. Really – that was reported in an article from The Star.
But it doesn't actually have to be that way. We'd like to have our products (and tools and services) be easy to use, and that's what we're increasingly working towards. Which I think is fairly neatly captured by drawing a parallel with Mikado.
