information age koans

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I once worked for a company that kept its passwords locked in a safe.
One day, all other copies of the password were lost,
and they needed it, but the safe's key could not be found.

They expensed a sledgehammer and obtained the password
through physical modification of the safe
using a careful application of force.
Some employees complained that meant the safe wasn't... well, safe.

The security team replied "Working as Intended" -
no safe is truly safe, it's just designed
to slow down an attacker.

At that moment, I was enlightened.

- dekhn on hn -

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compiled by peter beard on 2025-10-27, last updated 2025-10-27
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