Introduction to the Security Brutalist Blog

The security world has become cluttered with complex strategies and tools that add to the complexity, often making it hard for security professionals, and the tech teams that work alongside them, to see what's truly important. Security Brutalism offers a contrasting philosophy: a return to fundamental security principles, emphasizing strong core controls, transparency, and practical efficiency.

Brutalism, an architectural style, refers in the case of security to adopting a minimalist and straightforward approach to how security should be designed, how programs and strategies should work, and what methods should be used focusing on essential, robust, and highly functional systems rather than overcomplicated or overly polished solutions. This means prioritizing clear and unambiguous defenses. The goal is to create a program and systems that are intentionally simple yet incredibly tough against attacks, avoiding unnecessary complexity that might introduce vulnerabilities.

Security Brutalism focus on raw functionality, minimalism, and durability. These concepts can be applied as follows:

1. Functionality: Security solutions prioritize core, practical features that directly address security needs, without unnecessary embellishments. The focus is on ensuring that every component serves a critical, purposeful role in defending against threats, rather than relying on fancy interfaces or excessive complexity.
2. Minimalism: Security systems are designed to be lean and efficient, using the least amount of resources and complexity necessary to achieve robust protection. This often means stripping away any non-essential features or over-engineered layers, ensuring the system remains easy to maintain and less prone to vulnerabilities created by overly complex configurations.
3. Durability: Security measures are built to last and withstand continuous or evolving threats. By incorporating redundancies, fail-safes, and hardened defenses, systems are designed to endure attacks over time and remain functional, even under high-stress or persistent threats. The emphasis is on long-term resilience rather than short-term convenience or trends.

This approach, much like brutalist architecture, emphasizes sturdy and functional design with little concern for aesthetic trends.

This blog is a companion to the Security Brutalism website, which aims at simplifying security, helping focusing on the basics and help saving money while doing so.