Failing badly

Failing badly and failing well are concepts in systems security and network security describing how a system reacts to failure. The terms have been popularized by Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer and security consultant.[1]

A system that fails badly is one that fails catastrophically once failure occurs. A single point of failure can thus bring down the whole system. Examples include:

A system that fails well is one that compartmentalizes or contains failure. Examples include:

Designing a system to 'fail well' has also been alleged to be a better use of limited security funds than the typical quest to eliminate all potential sources of errors and failure.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Homeland Insecurity, Atlantic Monthly, September 2002
  2. ^ Failing Well with Information Security - Young, William; Apogee Ltd Consulting, 2003