security theater

English

Alternative forms

• security theatre

Etymology

Coined by American computer scientist Bruce Schneier in 2003.

Noun

security theater (uncountable)

1. Security measures which are intended to, or do, provide a feeling or illusion of improved security, while doing little or nothing to actually improve security.

   Coordinate term: hygiene theater

   • 2003 July 28, Bruce Schneier, Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World, Springer, page 38:

     But some countermeasures provide the feeling of security instead of the reality. These are nothing more than security theater.

   • 2013 August 22, Jeff Jarvis, “As a Democrat, I am disgusted with President Obama”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 October 2026:

     I do care about security. I survived the attack on the World Trade Center and I believe 9/11 was allowed to occur through a failure of intelligence. I thank TSA agents for searching me: applause for security theater.

   • 2021 July 12, Sirin Kale, “Hygiene theatre: how excessive cleaning gives us a false sense of security”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 October 2026:

     [Bruce] Schneier agrees that Covid-19 has ushered in an era of hygiene theatre. “Like security theatre,” he says, “hygiene theatre comes from bad risk analysis – really, from ignorance.”

Translations

measures which provide a sense of security without providing security

• Danish: sikkerhedsteater n
• French: comédie sécuritaire f
• German: Sicherheitstheater n