Implement Security Brutalist Controls

Ezra W. asked: "How do I implement simple, enforceable controls aligned with Security Brutalist principles?"

To do this focus on clarity, necessity, and uncompromising execution. The goal is to eliminate unnecessary complexity, prioritize what truly matters, and ensure every control is both visible and strictly enforced.

Core Brutalist Implementation Steps

1. Strip Security to Its Essentials

• Identify the absolute minimum set of controls required to defend your environment: strong authentication, least privilege, secure configuration, robust patching, and immutable logging.
• Remove or refuse any control, process, or tool that does not serve a clear, auditable security purpose.

2. Make Controls Explicit and Transparent

• Controls should be clear, direct, and understandable—no hidden logic or ambiguous exceptions.
• Favor open-source, auditable solutions over black-box or proprietary tools.

3. Enforce Controls Rigorously

• Use automation to apply and monitor controls at scale (automated patching, infrastructure as code, continuous vuln. checks).
• Enforce strict policies: no exceptions for password complexity, MFA, or least privilege access.
• Every action (especially in production) must be attributable and logged.

4. Default to Secure

• Systems and controls should default to the most secure state, not the most convenient.
• If a control or system fails, it should fail closed (lock down), not open.

5. Minimize Attack Surface

• Remove unnecessary features, services, and permissions: if it’s not essential, it should be removed.
• Use strict network segmentation and containerization to isolate components and systems.

6. Make Enforcement Visible

• Provide clear audit trails and forensic logging for every critical action.
• Use dashboards or terse, information-dense interfaces to surface control status and alerts—no decorative abstractions.

7. Codify Non-Negotiable Rules

• Establish a concise set of "commandments" or baseline rules ("All secrets must be vaulted," "Production is sacred," "Least privilege by default," "Tag everything, trace everything," "Build to fail secure").
• Post these rules visibly and audit against them regularly.

Guiding Questions

• Is this control essential?
• Is it clear, direct, and easily auditable?
• Is enforcement automated and visible?
• Does it default to the most secure state?
• Would removing this control increase risk in a measurable way?

Example: Security Brutalist Control Checklist

Summary

Focusing on these steps helps shape a security posture that is raw, robust, and highly functional—the hallmarks of Security Brutalism. Overall, security controls—and the security program as a whole—should aim to strengthen resilience and minimize risk. That’s the core objective: to ensure you can stay operational when things go wrong.