Protecting information

I have dedicated most of my adult life to protecting information. I believe that the exclusivity of information is the bedrock of the Western way of life. Without the ability to protect and profit from ideas, you cannot have individual freedom and entrepreneurship. Without the ability to protect a person's identity and creditworthiness, you cannot have an efficient consumer economy. Many organizations run information security programs that focus on everything except protecting information. Many security teams are so focused on systems, vulnerabilities, and threats that they forget the general premise of what they are trying to accomplish. All the people, processes, and technologies that make up an information security program should be focused on protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.

A core part of building an effective information security program is to value the information you are protecting. There is an expression...