I’ve expressed my honest amazement at the power of having a community of passionate professionals coming together to support one another. Today there was a thread that just made sense (as it demonstrated the power and value in our efforts)…
The thread actually got started yesterday, and it is titled security is broken?
I contributed to it a bit today with my “reboot the industry” post, but the real value came from the voices engaged in the discussion, as demonstrated by this exerpt:
That being said, we need to continue fighting the good fight. Maybe it’s thankless and maybe it’s futile (though I don’t think so), but I’m not willing to accept defeat. I don’t have that in me.I don’t think there’s a job in IT that isn’t thankless. App developers work their tails off and develop a new application, and no says “thanks, that made my job easier.” Security professionals diligently work to protect corporate assets and consumer identities and no one says “Hey, thanks! No one stole my identity or sensitive data today, good job.” No one thanks the system admins when servers continue to run, and no one stops to pat the application admin on the back for keeping the applications running. No one says anything until there’s a problem, and then it’s all negative.
Churn in a call center is high because people can only take so much negativity before they burn out. That security professionals continue to trudge on, day after day, despite the negativity and pressure should be considered nothing short of amazing.
So thanks to all of you for protecting my identity today, for bringing to light new vulnerabilities so others can plug the holes, for trying to make the Internet a safer place for everyone, for keeping the bad guys from stealing sensitive data, for making sure the server this board is running on didn’t crash, for making sure the network was routing correctly so this post got to the right place, for writing some cool software that lets us all collaborate regardless of our location, and for doing your job the best that you can.
My friends, this is what our coming together is all about. You’re getting a glimpse at the power of our community – and why this is needed. You are invited to join us in these conversations, get energized and make a difference.
Lori writes an insightful blog, btw – which I suspect you would enjoy if you haven’t checked it out yet. Meantime – I want to thank the members (current and future) of the Security Catalyst Community. Each of you is making a difference and you inspire me!
About Michael Santarcangelo
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