Every second counts when you're trying to stop a break-in. Home owners and burglar-alarm companies know that. That's why they install motion detectors, loud alarms, and trip wires that alert police immediately.
Safe manufacturers know that too.
Each safe is actually rated according to approximately how long it can withstand fire, as well as how hard it would be for a veteran safecracker to break into it. For the past year, that question has tantalized computer-security expert Bruce Schneier, 37. In the early 1990s, Schneier created the Blowfish algorithm, a popular encryption formula that has yet to be cracked. Now he's widening his ambitions, believing that prevention is only part of what a good Web-security system should do. I realized that lots of security products work wonderfully when they're used properly,'' but that haphazard implementation often makes them vulnerable.