"People don't want to talk about death, just like they don't want to talk about computer security. Maybe I should have named my workstation Fear. People are so motivated by fear"
About this Quote
Dan Farmer nails a grim marketing truth: the scariest problems are often the ones people most aggressively avoid, right up until they detonate. By pairing death with computer security, he’s not being edgy; he’s exposing a shared psychological maneuver. Both are inevitable, both are complex, and both punish denial. The joke about naming a workstation “Fear” isn’t just nerd humor, it’s an accusation: the industry has learned that rational risk management rarely sells, but dread does.
The subtext is a critique of how security culture gets built. Instead of treating security like maintenance - boring, continuous, budgetable - organizations treat it like mortality: a topic for superstition, euphemism, and last-minute rituals. Farmer’s line lands because it spotlights the mismatch between incentives and outcomes. Users and executives want convenience, speed, plausible deniability; security asks for friction, cost, and admitting vulnerability. Fear becomes the blunt instrument that cuts through those preferences.
Context matters: Farmer is a pivotal figure in early internet security, associated with tools and research that made vulnerabilities visible rather than theoretical. In that world, “talking about security” often meant acknowledging negligence in public and paying for it internally. His quip reads as gallows humor from someone who’s watched prevention lose to procrastination again and again.
The sharpest sting is that fear works - but it’s also corrosive. Sell security as apocalypse and you get compliance theater, not resilience.
The subtext is a critique of how security culture gets built. Instead of treating security like maintenance - boring, continuous, budgetable - organizations treat it like mortality: a topic for superstition, euphemism, and last-minute rituals. Farmer’s line lands because it spotlights the mismatch between incentives and outcomes. Users and executives want convenience, speed, plausible deniability; security asks for friction, cost, and admitting vulnerability. Fear becomes the blunt instrument that cuts through those preferences.
Context matters: Farmer is a pivotal figure in early internet security, associated with tools and research that made vulnerabilities visible rather than theoretical. In that world, “talking about security” often meant acknowledging negligence in public and paying for it internally. His quip reads as gallows humor from someone who’s watched prevention lose to procrastination again and again.
The sharpest sting is that fear works - but it’s also corrosive. Sell security as apocalypse and you get compliance theater, not resilience.
Quote Details
| Topic | Privacy & Cybersecurity |
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