Emergence and seams are targeted - security and trade-offs

Emergence and seams are targeted - security and trade-offs

In a system of multiple components, small interactions can produce unexpected overall behavior. This is called emergence, which not only exhibits interesting behavior, but also exposes new attack surfaces. Even if individual elements appear to be secure, unexpected paths and states emerge through interactions, and attackers exploit them. This point has been made repeatedly in recent security research.

In particular, "seams," or points where different systems or layers come into contact with each other, are vulnerable, such as API integration, inter-service messaging, human-machine operational boundaries, and interfaces that connect the physical and logical worlds. Many of the API vulnerabilities that OWASP has shown occur at these seams as well.

The supply chain is another form of seam. Where third-party libraries, CI/CD pipelines, cloud services, etc. connect, attackers can reverse engineer the trust chain. The European ENISA and national security agencies have also warned of a surge in supply chain attacks. Managing the seams is now a holistic challenge that goes beyond individual organizations.

There are three key points to consider when designing a system. First, identify where the seams are. Second, design for abnormal behavior by specifying the expected behavior and failure mode for each seam. Third, layer protection (authentication, verification, minimum privileges) and detection (detailed logs, anomaly detection) against those seams. These are also consistent with the Cloud Guidelines and Zero Trust design principles.

Emergent and seamless preparedness is not just failure prevention, but the act of understanding the unintended order in complex systems and incorporating reasoned oversight between design and operation. Security is the very thought that keeps the dynamic equilibrium between control and freedom in motion.