Safety vs. Security? (PSAM-0148)
Maria B. Line, Odd Nordland, Lillian Røstad, Inger Anne Tøndel · ASME Press eBooks · 2006
The concepts of safety and security have a lot in common, but nevertheless two faculties have developed with a certain degree of rivalry between them. Security people maintain that the safety people are just a gang of old men who are unwilling to learn something new, the safety people retaliate that the security people are youngsters who haven't realized that they're re-inventing the wheel! Certainly there is a communication problem between the two groups: each has developed its own vocabulary for similar — or even identical — concepts, which at least produces confusion. In this paper, some of the common properties and differences between terms and techniques in the two communities are discussed with the aim of reconciling potential conflicts and exploring potential for cooperation, convergence and mutual benefits. We concentrate on the context of information technology, i.e. safety related software and information security.