The Secrets of Cybernetic Regulation and Control

Photo by Max on Unsplash

I’ve suggested there are two essential questions we must answer if we are to address the grand challenge of why traditional cybersecurity is a failure. Those questions are:

1. Why is a mature field like cybersecurity consistently failing;
2. Will computing systems architecture change in the (near) future such that cybersecurity models will fail even more often.

To that end, I said we would find our answers in a different field of study: cybernetics. I went on to outline five principles defining cybernetics, two of which we’ve discussed. For reference, those two were Systems and Feedback Loops.

I want to discuss the third principle of cybernetics and cybersecurity, Regulation and Control now. This principle refers to the self-correcting mechanisms that systems employ to maintain stability and desired operation. By continuously monitoring their internal processes and external interactions, systems can detect deviations from the norm or potential threats. Once detected, through feedback loops, systems can implement corrective actions to restore a desired state. Upstream from the regulation and control apparatus, such systems can protect itself from external threats.

Fundamentally, cybersecurity does not exercise Regulation and Control. Sure, some individual…