- Identify the Assets you want to protect (be they tangible, intangible or otherwise).

- Estimate the value to you of each of these assets.

- Estimate the consequences should one or more of these assets be compromised and what remedies you might have should that happen.

- What events or conditions could cause the loss of these assets? What path leads from the current situation to the failure state.

- At what point can you influence the flow of events if they are following a failure path and how much effort/cost would be required in each case?

- Act according to your assessment.

That’s what I tend to try and do anyway. One thing to watch out though, when thinking that way, is that it is a very defensive approach to things. If you are too focused on protecting what you have then you might overlook opportunities to experience new things, make new friends and generally find more things in life that you value and enjoy.

I would also like to commend the author for the manner in which their views were conveyed. I personally do not follow the Christian views but definitely take to heart many of the lessons that this faith teaches, such as friendship, kindness, and forgiveness.

Finally, I would like to add my own view on the matter of the heart. I feel that a critical component to individual well-being is the attainment of balance. For example, I agree that the sole pursuit of financial security is indeed “misplaced hope”, but it is an unfortunate fact of life that we have physical requirements for survival. Following this example, I would advise understanding the importance of financial security while at the same time realizing that it alone cannot guarantee happiness. Other areas require balance as well, such as retaining the motivation for self-improvement while not condemning oneself for not “being good enough”.

A vastly complex yet critically important idea has been touched upon here; one that I think security folks should think about more often since we have the tendency to get wrapped up in the technical and technological details of our work.

Misplaced hope is indeed at the root of many evils of modernity: starting with blind belief in progress, consumerism, to the security issues of this course - social engineering, man in the middle, etc. Now, just to play the devil’s advocate (oops), placing all hope in one entity is just as risky as any of the others - see Sartre. It makes just as little sense for the soul as it does for the machine. You cannot just rely on the one BIG firewall to guard your computer, as the evil’s ways are intricate. Also, to save my soul from eternal burning, a firewall, no matter how big, won’t be enough.