I'm Cool Like That...

So, it seems that I am following the trend with Blogging which is somewhere I am not proud to be but it is interesting just how closely I have followed this trend.

Statistics (when they are not manipulated) are ugly things. Sometimes they tell the truth like a little kid with no idea of how to be "nice". So here goes - my statistics of Blogs published on my site:

2007 - 78

2008 - 32

2009 - 34

2010 - er... 3

I had a lot to say in 2007 and a lot of time to say it. I accept that. 32 posts a year is not great, but it is not bad... 3 is pathetic. 

Its not that I have been busy.. I have been busy but not way way way more busy than in 2008/2009. I haven't moved my online conversations onto Twitter either. Twitter has impacted on my time a bit... but not that much that 1 blog post a week would break me. 

I just haven't blogged. And other people have stopped too. Rich of Securosis seems to think that Twitter is the reason but I think it is more about two other things - 

1. I belive Information Security Bloggers (maybe other blogs too) have just emerged from the Trough of Disillusionment (go, go Gartner, go).
2. Blogs tend to be mostly a one-way conversation but really are about gathering the ideas of what is floating about in the world and forming an opinion about it then writing about it. So technically its like a general conversation and if everyone has left the conversation then there really is not very much to discuss.

But we are coming back and most of us (me included) are just really blogging about how we have stopped blogging and are now back. But we'll get there... it has been a bit of an awkward silence but its ended. 

I am a hacker - whether I like it or not

[... and not the bad cyber criminal type.]

For the latest ITWeb Security Summit (which was amazing) I was chosen as a speaker.

I had the following challenge -

• talk about the different InfoSec Standards available
• do it at 3:40pm 
• do it straight after the tea break
• make sure that the attendees don't fall asleep

Needless to say - it took a lot of thought but I eventually managed to keep them interested according to some positive reports I got after the talk.

I'm not going to go into the details of the talk here but after quite a bit of re-assessment I realised that I had basically "hacked" the standards. Hacked - in the good sense. There was no "piracy" involved (me maytee) and everything was above board. (and above plank.) 

But to keep the attendees interested in the talk I basically took the standards and applied them in ways they were just not designed to be used. And that is the true definition of hacking. 

In the past 4-ish years or so I have tried to model myself as a serious Information Security Professional. I have tried to put away the "hacking" part of me and concentrate on "working for the Man" but it seems that, without me trying, that part of my brain will find a way out. 

So, I will set my aim for the next year to nurture the "hacking" side of my brain and mold it into something I can use as an Information Security Professional. 

Back.

Someone (who shall remain anonymous) took me to task about not blogging. Which is fair enough since I haven't done a blog post since the end of last year - nearly 6 months ago. And it was my aim for the last few years to be the most prolific Information Security Blogger in South Africa (which really means writing more posts than that particular person). And I have been losing the race quite badly recently.

On the other hand that person fell asleep while chatting with me. Which is actually more a comment on how much sleep he had had the night before rather than how exciting the conversation was. I hope.

But.... that someone had an interesting point which I think is quite right - my excuse that I have nothing to blog about is wrong - I should blog and things to write about will come to me. Thats sounds very Zen. Or Xen.

So, I am starting up the blogging again and I hope that all my faithful readers will forgive the lack of posts and come back to be challenged again. (I'm watching you - both of you!)

So, see you soon.