A few days before Christmas, something strange happened in London. Something quite weird which the local inhabitants, would appear, are not well-equipped to deal with. It snowed.

It wasn’t a little bit of snow. Oh no, a good couple of inches of white blanket covered the streets, cars, rooftops and gardens.

One would think that anywhere in the world where temperatures are low, the local governments to be able to deal with such an occurrence. Maybe clear the roads of snow etc. But not in London, the commuters are left to the elements with streets icy enough to skate on.

Unfortunately, this meant I had to leave my trusty motorbike in the warmth of the garage while I plotted a path into work via the network of underground trains than span the underbelly of London – the tube.

Ask any regular commuter and although it gets a bit busy during rush hour and there are the occasional delays but overall the tube is a great way to travel around London. Unlike Japan where people are pushed onto the trains with huge brooms, Londoners have an air of decency about them. They may not wear bowler hats anymore but they retain much of the same mannerisms. When a train stops, people politely wait on the platform for passengers to leave the train first and then they proceed to board. There’s no aggressive pushing and once a carriage is full, people at the platform wait until the next train arrives.

However, on this day where the roads were covered by a sheet of ice, everyone decided to take the tube, which meant far more people wanted to travel on the tube than there was space.

So what happened? Normally civil people transformed into a pushing, shoving, rude and angry mob. Elbowing old ladies to get on. Being quite abusive to each other, or just pleading that they have a plane to catch, an important meeting to make or that they are pregnant.

Now I’m no psychologist, even though some call me Dr. Cynic, but that’s what tends to happen to people under stressful situations. They deviate from their common behaviour as their survival instinct kicks in. They become isolated and selfish, only thinking about their own needs. Even normally docile people from whom you’d least expect it, change and adapt accordingly.

So what can one do to prevent such incidents developing? You could restrict the number of people getting inside the tube station. Or you could have soldiers to marshal people in and out, quashing any trouble with extreme prejudice.

But what has that to do with information security?

Well, human nature is the same in a work environment. People know they shouldn’t share passwords, download sensitive information only removable media, discuss private information in public places. And most people don’t.

But what happens under situations of extreme stress? The manager demands the report on time. The business is jumping up and down because a crucial service is unavailable and you’re being blamed. People will deviate from their normal practice. Passwords will be yelled across open plan offices. Sensitive documents will be emailed across the internet and all rules will be broken, even by security professionals.

It’s easy to have a moral code or a security policy when the going is good. The only real value in having them though, is to be able to adhere to them under times of stress.