What is Security Brutalism - Updated

Security Brutalism: A movement for honest, functional, and enduring security design.

Security Brutalism is a reaction against the bloated, cover-your-behind checkbox lists, and overly abstract state of modern security practices. It’s a call to return to the fundamentals: clear controls, transparent designs, fast decision-making, and accountability over aesthetics and fluff.

Inspired by the Brutalist Architecture movement, Security Brutalism values raw security, stripped of buzzwords, theatrics, and unnecessary complexity.

In a world obsessed with security theater and flashy dashboards, Security Brutalism says: "Show me the control. Not the slide deck."

Why Security Brutalism?

Most security programs today are built like corporate skyscrapers with glass façades—polished on the outside, hollow and fragile on the inside.

Security Brutalism rejects that. It favors:

• Truth over appearance.
• Clarity over ceremony.
• Toughness over elegance.

This is not a romantic movement. It is practical. It thrives in the real world, not in policy binders or maturity models. Security Brutalism is for builders, breakers, and defenders who care more about what works than what sells.

Principles For Building Security Brutalism

1. Security is a Material, Not a Mood

Security is not a vibe or a branding strategy. It's a set of verifiable actions and controls. If it can’t be deployed, tested, and broken, it doesn’t count.

2. Function Over Form

Security controls should be obvious, useful, and unapologetically direct. Anything added for the sake of optics or posture is suspect.

3. Visible Friction is Better than Hidden Risk

In a Brutalist system, you feel the edges. That’s the point. Hidden complexity is the enemy. Exposed logic is a feature.

4. Control is the Interface

Dashboards, policies, workflows—all secondary. The primary interface is the control surface itself: what people touch, what it stops, what it allows.

5. Everything is a Threat Model

Security Brutalists see everything through the lens of adversarial thinking. This includes vendors, frameworks, and internal politics.

6. Documentation is a Weapon

Plain-language design docs, threat models, and diagrams are used like rebar in concrete. They hold the structure together and make intent undeniable.

7. You Can Build Fast and Safe

Security doesn’t have to be slow. Brutalist programs ship controls that work now, even if rough, then refine. Perfect is the enemy of deployed.

What It Looks Like in Practice

Examples of what Security Brutlalism is:

• A plain Markdown document describing how a control works.
• A Slack-integrated risk intake that gets triaged in 10 minutes.
• A Terraform plan with security defaults hardcoded.
• A red-team report that reads like war poetry.
• An engineer shipping a patch with a single-line fix—and a threat model in the PR.

Examples of what Security Brutlalism is not:

• A 40-slide risk presentation with no owner or follow-up.
• A SOAR playbook that takes 10 minutes just to load.
• A vendor risk process that still needs spreadsheets.
• A security policy that reads like a parody of itself.
• A tool no one uses but looks great in audits.

Is This for Everyone?

No. Security Brutalism is not universally appealing. Like the buildings it’s named after, it’s rough, imposing, and unforgiving.

But it endures.

If your environment demands resilience over elegance, truth over theatrics, and controls that earn their keep—then Security Brutalism might be for you.

Start Brutalist. Stay Brutalist.

Begin with the core. Strip everything unnecessary. Then build back what earns its place.

If it doesn’t protect something, delete it.
If it doesn’t need words, draw it.
If it doesn’t work, rip it out.

"There is a simplicity that lies on the other side of complexity. That’s where we live."