When browsing slashdot, I came across an interesting comment:

Bill Gates from Triumph of the nerds:

Success is a menace — it fools smart people into thinking they can’t lose.

That is absolutely the perfect quote to describe why Microsoft is the unbelivably paranoid company that it is. Bill always thinks Microsoft might lose and does any and everything (legal or not) to make sure that they don’t.

I think this summarizes an interesting viewpoint on paranoia; namely that paranoia in and of itself doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s an extended version of what one might deem a disaster recovery plan, but an ongoing continous plan.

Paranoia as a mindset especially in the InfoSecurity world can be a very good thing, it’s merely a way of looking at the world that continously analyzes it for potential failings, and asks the question - How can I mitigate this risk?