Understanding goals

"The most important piece of architecture is to understand the why: why it is that you are doing what it is that you are doing. Understanding the why leads you to the how. Understand it in the context of the broader business and organization goals context and let that be the guide to when and how you implement security."

– Ted Ipsen, president and COO of Positroniq, LLC

It is a truism that the work of the architect must start and end with enabling the organization to accomplish its goals. Security is not an end in and of itself – it doesn't operate in a vacuum. This means it is only useful in the furtherance of some other goal that an organization or individual has.

You can prove this is the case by considering what security controls you'd use if there no threats to defend against. For example, would you use antivirus software if malware didn't exist? Would you hire armed guards to protect an empty room? Of course...