Pretending that systems are secure

To a large extent, computing systems are useful only to the degree in which they´re embedded in the processes that constitute human society. This embedding makes effective system security extremely important, but achieving it requires a strong look at the human side of the picture - the computers themselves are only part of the system. IEEE Security & Privacy has covered these topics in-the past, but usually from the perspective of computing, not society. Can we make it easier for human users to correctly trust what their computers are telling them? Can we make it easier for human programmers to write code that achieves desired functional and performance goals, but with fewer vulnerabilities? Motivated by a series of events over this past year, we´ll look at the societal aspects in this installment: the formal education process through which we train students, young and old, to be effective cyber-citizens; and the media coverage and editorializing process through which we express (or perhaps imprint) ethical judgment.