The tradeoff between utility and security is an axiom as old as time. As a rule, the more capable a system, the more practically vulnerable that system becomes. The broad field including information technology, computers, telecommunications, smart phones, networks, cyber-security, information security, and data breaches is the current battleground where this dilemma is most accute. Never before can your company's laptop be compromised while in flight over the atlantic by a Russian guy on a beach on the Black Sea while his girlfriend shops at your company's website from her phone as she lounges next to him. We are connected, and this trend is only accelerating.
Early on, intelligence agencies realised problems with ubiquitious communication and intelligent systems. They adopted an 'offline only' strategy for computers handling sensitive information. This persists today, and the most sensitive information is kept totally unconnected to live systems unless being actively used. The tradeoff to usablity is enormous, but an accepted cost. Presently many needs demand a rollback to communciation security and information assurance techniques in use long before the digital age.
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