Trust and the 3PT Model

I read a lot about the 3PT (people process policy technology) model for establishing trust in a computing environment, and I hear that model touted as the key to establishing trust in cloud computing especially. And for the record, I agree with the 3PT approach.

But an element of 3PT that is often overlooked as it applies to the people goes well beyond training and awareness of good safe computing practice, but in helping them to see the ongoing changes in the environment that provides them with their personal security -- their income and occupation -- as an opportunity for themselves, and not just the company they work for.

If cloud computing, or any significant change in the workplace for that matter, is seen as a threat to job security, the people will become barriers to success, rather than facilitators of success. And when people mentally check out of their job, the element of risk and the opportunity for compromise skyrockets.

For an important illustration of how big a risk one checked-out individual can be to information security, look no further than Bradley Manning.