Wednesday, June 24, 2009

MUST READ: Best Chapter From “Beautiful Security” Downloadable!

This is pretty much a repost from Mark’s blog, hopefully he doesn’t mind that I am highlighting his awesomeness ;-)

So,  “Tomorrows Security Cogs and Levers” by Mark Curphey, by far the best chapter from “Beautiful Security” book (my book review here), is now downloadable in PDF form.

It is hard to decorate this post with a representative quote, but how about this:

“The security tools and technology available to the masses today can only be described as primitive in comparison to electronic gaming, financial investment, or medical research software. […]  the information security management programs that are supposed to protect trillions of dollars of assets, keep trade secrets safe from corporate espionage, and hide military plans from the mucky paws of global terrorists are often powered by little more than Rube Goldberg machines (Heath Robinson machines if you are British) fabricated from Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, homegrown scripts, Post-It notes, email systems, notes on the backs of Starbucks cups, and hallway conversations. Is it any wonder we continue to see unprecedented security risk management failures and that most security officers feel they are operating in the dark?”

or

“I was once accused of trivializing the importance of security when I put up a slide at a conference with the text “Security is less important than performance, which is less important than functionality,” followed by a slide with the text “Operational security is a business support function; get over your ego and accept it.””

and

“The areas I’ve pulled together in this chapter—from business process management, number crunching and statistical modeling, visualization, and long-tail technology—provide fertile ground for security management systems in the future that archive today’s best efforts in the annals of history.”

If you are not buying the book, please at least read Mark’s chapter. It exudes pure awesomeness.

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Dr Anton Chuvakin