dissecre

Dissecre is a term used in theoretical discussions of information governance and security architectures to describe a framework for managing sensitive information by distributing control over secrets across multiple actors to reduce the risk of single-point disclosure. The term combines ideas of dispersal and secrecy and is used to explore how organizations balance transparency with protection of sensitive data.

Dissecre is generally viewed as a design principle rather than a single technology. It is often associated with cryptographic and collaborative techniques such as secret sharing schemes, threshold cryptography, and secure multiparty computation, which allow a secret to be reconstructed only when a sufficient subset of custodians cooperates. The concept emphasizes distributed stewardship, controlled disclosure, and auditable processes.

Supporters argue that dissecre enhances accountability, resilience, and privacy by preventing unauthorized access while enabling legitimate disclosure when required. It is seen as a way to reduce risk from insider threats, external breaches, and policy noncompliance, while maintaining the ability to respond to legitimate needs for access and transparency in a governed manner.

Applications of dissecre include corporate data governance, protection of critical infrastructure, government classification and declassification policies, whistleblower protection, and privacy-preserving data sharing. In practice, implementing dissecre requires careful consideration of governance structures, technical interoperability, and clear consent frameworks to avoid introducing coordination bottlenecks or new trust dependencies.

Critics warn that dissecre can introduce complexity, latency, and coordination overhead, and may create new avenues for attack if custodians collude or if governance rules are poorly designed. As a concept, it remains a topic of ongoing discussion in security, privacy, and information governance communities.