Security isn’t Exciting!

Consider Enforcement. Now that is exciting. A crime has occurred. There is a victim. And now there is a huge motivation for someone to come in and save the day. Bring criminals to justice. Make the world a safer place. Society is willing to recognize and reward people in enforcement when they achieve some success. The “good guys” are saving us from the “bad guys”. There is a lot of excitement around enforcement. Movies, TV shows, and news stations build upon this theme because it’s exciting. And because of the excitement, there is a huge enticement to be involved in it. Even the movie studios and the MPAA put a lot of resources and attention into enforcement efforts. Catch the bad guys (aka – pirates). Reward the good guys who bring the pirates to justice. People want to celebrate any victory, even if it will have little effect on the overall goal. Enforcement is exciting and does have its place, but to put too much reliance on it when the problem is bigger than it can deal with, creates its own problems. Stopping movie piracy will take more than just enforcement – other processes need to be incorporated.
Consider Politics. It too can be exciting, sometimes. Society needs laws to function. Bring on the politicians. Let’s debate the merits of the issue, write up a proposed act, then debate the proposed act, then vote to enact or reject the proposed act. And then there are just so many other laws to consider – should they be amended or repealed. The political process of dealing with legislation can be long and tedious, and isn’t usually considered exciting. But every now and then something like SOPA & PIPA comes along. That was exciting for a little while. What the MPAA thought would be quickly and quietly enacted, started a peaceful and quiet revolt in which the people rose up and said no. Even though society may acknowledge that piracy is a problem, bringing police state measures and marshal law into a free and democratic society just wasn’t acceptable – no matter how small and subtle they may seem. The MPAA was surprised by the public’s reaction. Really?
Now consider security. Security processes, when implemented correctly, provide phenomenal benefits, both monetarily and in peace of mind. It is far more desirable and cheaper to prevent a crime from happening, than to apprehend a thief and the stolen goods after the crime. Unfortunately, security just isn’t exciting, and the value of it isn’t truly acknowledged until after a major theft has occurred. With movie piracy, the movie studios are victims of the continuing and repetitive theft of their Intellectual Property. The movie studios know that they are losing billions to movie piracy, and yet haven’t come to understand that it is the industry’s security (or lack of) that is the problem.
For security to be effective, its value should be understood, and treated appropriately. To correctly implement security processes, there are two simple concepts that need to be applied at the start. The first is that security starts at the top. The second is that security is not to be discussed with everyone and anyone but on a need to know basis.

Conclusion:

The problem the movie industry has, is that there are too many people who are not at the top, like at the MPAA and Movie Labs, who have been put in control who neither value nor understand security and also don’t need to be involved in the security process. These people seem to believe because they are in control they will decide what the studio CEO’s need to know, instead of allowing the CEO’s to decide what they need to know.

© 2015, Glenn Stencell. All rights reserved. 2015