StillSecure, After All These Years

Thanking the sponsors

As most of you know, this years Security Bloggers Meet up at the RSA conference is going to be a quite a party. In addition to the usual food, drink, podcasting and mingling among the who’s who of security blogging and media, this year we also have the Social Security Awards.  The Social Security Awards are the security blogging awards and we have over 1500 blogs nominated in the 5 categories!  At the end this month the finalists will be given over to our all star panel of judges and the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at the meet up. 

Yours truly is the MC for the awards. I had invited Beyonce to come down and do a musical number with me ala Hugh Jackman at the Oscars, but she was busy and I don’t think will be at the meet up.  But you never know.  If not perhaps Martin McKeay, Rich Mogull and I could do a “if I were a boy” musical number ;-)

Anyway, what I wanted to say before going off on that tangent is that none of this would be possible without the very generous sponsors who have donated money, equipment and services.  In these tough times putting on an event this size is not cheap.  Also though not listed, a special thanks to the RSA conference folks themselves who have given so much to make this event a reality. Thanks to all of them!

Our latest sponsor, Seagate is donating prizes for for the Social Security Award winners and now has given us a NAS as a door prize as well!  How cool!  Now if we could just get a nice package of prizes and gifts for the event organizers!

The Facebook bubble, there must be a security problem here someplace

Image by luc legay via Flickr

I have been a Facebook member for a long time. I used to check in every couple of weeks and see what new apps were available and if I had any messages. Over the last few weeks this has changed dramatically. I am getting messages multiple times a day and new fried requests by the dozen.  I wrote about our experience this past week when my wife met up with a childhood friend of hers. But what really sealed it for me was when I went to pick my sons up from school this afternoon.  One of the Mom's of my sons friend told me she was cruising around Facebook and saw my profile and sent me a friend request. Great!

I always tell people that I knew the dot.com bubble was going to burst when I pulled up for gas and the kid filling the tank was talking to me about how much he made buying and selling Yahoo stock that day.  The same thing for the real estate bubble. When sitting in the airport I hear a couple of the cleaning guys talking about flipping multi-unit residential properties, I knew it was just a matter of time. Well the same thing for Facebook.  We are in a Facebook bubble.  What was reserved for students and techies has gone mainstream. God help us all!

The thing that is scary though is how much people can learn about you from your profile information and what they see on your friends profiles and walls.  Now we are trusting not only Facebook with that data, but our friends too and their friends, and their friends and so on.  This can get scary! Think about it. You Twitter something and it shows up on one of your friends walls and someone else reads it there and where does it stop.  Have we really though through the permutations of all this.  When we do, will it be too late?  I guess we will have to wait and see how it end.

A Facebook success story

Image via Wikipedia

So we all join the take your pick social network (myspace, facebook, linked in). We network up with people we know or meet.  Sometimes we even hook up with people we haven't seen in a while.  Then we start trying to figure out what else we can do on these networks.  What apps are available to get more value. But we sometimes forget that the real value in social networks is in the people.  You don't need the calendar app. You don't need the snowball and have a drink stuff.  It is really about getting together with people.

This weekend we visited a friend of my wife Bonnie's from elementary school.  Bonnie went to school with this woman from kindergarten through 5th grade and had not really seen her since.  So here we were 30+ years later and Bonnie and this woman found each other on Facebook.  She lives in Connecticut , but her and her family have a second home in Ft Lauderdale.  They were down for the long holiday weekend.  Her husband and her have 3 kids around my kids age. 

Bonnie and her friend made plans for us to come over on Sunday.  Bonnie was very excited to see her friend, but didn't really know what to expect.  After threatening our kids with lifelong video game bans if they did not behave, we headed over. When Bonnie saw her friends they were both moved to tears.  After that, they picked up where they left off 30+ years ago.  Our kids had a great time playing Wii with their kids and they had football on the TV, so Bonnie's friends husband and I did the universal male thing, talk football.  We stayed for about 3 or 4 hours and a great time was had by all.

Heading home Bonnie was so happy that she saw her friend.  It was a very special day for her.  She got home and tried to figure out how to find other friends she had.  And that is the real power and attraction of social networks.

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What are you thankful for? Its probably right in front of you

Image via Wikipedia

OK, let me get sentimental here a bit about tomorrow's Thanksgiving holiday here in the US.  Sitting here at my laptop typing a blog post while I listen to "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Beddingfield, thinking about going to a party tonight, football game tomorrow morning and up to my family for a big holiday dinner tomorrow, we take for granted our lives.  In fact more than take for granted, we actually complain and wonder why we don't have it better.  Even in these tough economic times, for the most part we are spared the real disruptions and tough times that many in this world confront every day and that our grandparents faced in years gone by.

I was reminded of this last night while watching my sons baseball team practice.  I was talking to a mom of another boy on the team.  Having seen this family throughout the baseball season a couple of times a week, I never noticed or thought anything of them other than they were nice people and their son has a great compact swing when hitting.   I mentioned to the Mom that we had gone away this past weekend across the state to Naples and had a great time.  She told me that they have not had any vacation for 2 years.  Her husband lost his job 2 years ago and has not been able to find another one.  She is a licensed nurse and works 50+ hours a week and makes 50k a year.  She supports herself, the two boys and her husband on this.  They are 5 months behind on their mortgage and she is at her wits end. 

Now of course you can say why can't the husband find a job.  I don't know, but that isn't the point.  Think about the pressure her and this family live with everyday and what it must feel like hearing about others going to Disney or other places on vacation here in Florida. Thinking about trying to buy healthy foods that cost more money.  About getting the kids extra help so they do better in school.  For me it made me realize that my problems can be very small indeed compared to others, even right in your community.

So be thankful for what you have. For sure there are others who look at what you have and would be grateful for it.  Look no further than what you have in front of you and realize that no matter what, it could be a lot worse.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

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Came across this press release today

RENOWNED SECURITY BLOGGER MIA SINCE TAKING JOB

The Pragmatic, Inciteful Mike Rothman Has Gone Missing From His Blogging Since Taking a "Real Job"

(Alpharetta, GA. – November 2, 2008) – The mouth of the south, renowned security blogger, Mike Rothman has turned up missing in action shortly after announcing his acceptance of a full time position as a vendor puke with eIQ. Several inquiries have been made, but even “the boss” has been mum on his whereabouts. Several prominent security experts are already suspecting foul play and some even whisper of some sort of left wing conspiracy.

Rothman originally sounded optimistic about continuing his blogging workload and not abandoning his legion of fans in the RSS feed world. However, it appears that a “real job” has proven more than he had bargained for. Could it be, that after for so long making fun of others who blogged in addition to their full time jobs, the task is more daunting than Mike could handle? Could the Security Twits have kidnapped him? Where is Mike Rothman?

Other rumors flying around the blogosphere have reports of Rothman sightings. One report had him canvassing door-to-door on behalf of Ron Paul in Montana. Still others say that Rothman has been in an “undisclosed location” (the same undisclosed location Dick Cheney uses) working on Barak Obama’s cybersecurity plans. Rothman’s name has been floated as a possible Czar in an Obama administration. Some are saying Mike was holding out to be the Sheik of cybersecurity, not the Czar. Others say Mike was far too pragmatic to get mixed up in politics.

Several other well known security bloggers were asked to comment on Rothman’s whereabouts:

Chris Hoff of Rational Survivability said, “I hope and pray for the best for Mike. Unfortunately my suspicion is that he has been virtualized and sucked up into the cloud. We all know how insecure that can be.”

Martin McKeay of Network Security Blog said, “You know Mike always made fun of my privacy views, but for once I wish we had a way to get past privacy laws and find out what really happened to Mike. I may have to don my purple tights and Captain Privacy suit to lead the search for Mike”

Rich Mogull of Securosis had this to say, “Mike did ask me for a hazmat suit that I used for the Democratic convention. I hope something did not go terribly wrong and Mike winds up as a green, muscular super hero”.

Amrit Williams of Techbuddha had nothing to say at all about Mike. In fact he said he never really liked Mike anyway.

JJ of Security Uncorked said, "I think Mike is just holed up somewhere in the Deep South working on the next set of 802.1x standards. But if I don't start blogging more they may be putting out MIA releases on me next"

Richard Stiennon (sorry Rich, couldn't find your blog URL) said, “Though I am sorry to see Mike’s disappearance, it does leave a real vacuum for blogging security analyst and Stiennon’s first law is “blogging abhors a vacuum”

Alan Shimel  of StillSecure, After all these years, put perhaps the finishing touch on the Rothman situation saying, “You know Mike was a fast-talking NY guy who always spoke his mind. His up front, in your face style might have just rubbed someone the wrong way. He could very well be the security industry’s Jimmy Hoffa. But you know being the huge Giant fan he is, I am sure he would not mind being buried in the end zone of the new Giants Stadium”

In the meantime a Ten ($10.00) Dollar reward has been offered by the Security Bloggers Network for any information leading to the whereabouts of Rothman. Anyone with information regarding this mystery can email podcast@stillsecure.com. All information will be kept confidential, as well as HIPAA and PCI compliant.

**All names and quotes are purely fictitious. Who knows where Rothman really is?**

Only the good die young . . .

From today's Journal News in Westchester, NY:

Robert Hyman, known to most as Bob, a Pleasantville resident for twenty years, passed away on Monday, September 29, 2008. Devoted husband of Carolyn and father of Melanie, David and Sara, Bob was also a wonderful son, brother, friend, coach, attorney and community member. Born on March 18, 1953, Bob grew up in Rockaway, New York, where he developed his love for the beach, and his passion for the Yankees. An avid skier, hiker, and determined tennis enthusiast, Bob loved guiding his own children and influencing other young soccer athletes to love the game. A graduate of SUNY Oneonta, he later attained his law degree from Vermont Law School. Bob was a firm believer in social justice, dedicating his professional life to being an advocate for those in our society who are the most vulnerable, and most recently, victims of nursing home neglect and abuse. He was loved dearly by his family and friends and he inspired everyone he met. A wonderful human being, Bob leaves a legacy of kindness, generosity and a love for life. He is survived by his wife, three children, parents and sister.

Bob and I were business partners together back in the 80's.  We had great times together as we built a law practice, as well as starting our families.  Besides work, we spent a lot of time talking about sports, growing up in Queens, NY and our philosophies on life, politics and religion.  Bob was always there to lend a hand and help out someone who needed help.

As I grow older I realize that loosing people is no longer limited to the "old" and the occasional accident.  Though Bob was a little older than me, I always considered him a peer and friend. He was a quality person who will be missed by everyone who knew him, but most of all by his young children.  Never has it been truer that "only the good die young". 

Were entrepreneurs born yesterday?

 

Image via Wikipedia

It is not often that I disagree with my friend Brad Feld.  It is not because he is on the Board of Directors at StillSecure, but more that Brad and I generally agree on a lot of topics and where we don't, he makes his position reasonable enough that I can appreciate his point of view.  But today I have to disagree with Brad. Brad wrote an article about his annual trip with his family back to the 'hood in the Bronx where his Dad and Uncle grew up in the 40's and 50's.  While on the trip Brad's uncle made the comment "if you aren't growing, your dying".  I actually agree with the statement.  Brad than talks about the world being different today than the world his dad and uncle grew up in. He makes the statement, "Entrepreneurship existed, but it wasn’t the mainstream". Therein lies my problem.

Brad has quite a record of success as both an entrepreneur and as a VC.  But I think Brad is mixing and matching them here.  Yes the VC industry may not have been mainstream in the days of his dad and uncle growing up, but entrepreneurs were very much alive, growing and mainstream at the time. In fact the entrepreneurial tradition is a key part of American tradition. In fact some people think this tradition is our greatest export.  Just because there may not have been a VC around to help the entrepreneur doesn't mean that there were not mainstream successful entrepreneurs.  From Benjamin Franklin himself, who started a bunch of different businesses around his inventions and a successful printing business to Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, the American tradition of innovation has made many a fortune over the course of our history.  From John Rockefeller to JP Morgan, from Andrew Carnegie to Henry Ford, America has a rich tradition of entrepreneurs being successful on Main St, Wall St and every street in between. These men did it the old fashioned way, they boot strapped it!  They didn't have the luxury of finding some VCs to give them capital and put them in the Kiretsu. If they took money, they paid an arm and a leg for it (hey, some things never change).

So Brad lets not imagine that entrepreneurs being mainstream was non-existent before the advent of the VC industry or the technology revolution. It was American entrepreneurship that allowed Brad's dad to join the armed forces, go to medical school and establish and grow a successful medical practice.  Americans like Brad's dad, Stan and his uncle Charlie have been been building businesses like that since the birth of the nation and even before. Without VCs and without computers, these entrepreneurs were indeed growing or they were dying. 

But to be so era-centric as to not acknowledge the long and successful tradition of American entrepreneurship is to ignore the facts and insult the long line of business people who have made this country great!

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Blogging as therapy

As some of you know, my friend Mitchell Ashley and his wife Mary Ellen have been battling against breast cancer for over 3 years now. It has been a roller coaster ride for both of them and I have seen first hand how much courage it has taken for Mitchell to deal with this scourge, let alone the courage that Mary Ellen has in battling this disease. Though Mitchell has never made a secret of it, he has not made it very public either. That has now changed with a new blog that Mitchell started call breastcancerforhusbands.com.

Mitchell wants to share his experience as the "other" spouse in this life and death battle that too many couples face. He is looking to make it a resource for others faced with a similar battle. But there is part of doing this which is therapeutic for Mitchell as well. Talking about what he is feeling and going through helps him deal with the emotions and toll it takes. At the same time he is providing resources to those who may be in need.

I applaud Mitchell for being brave enough to come forward and face these demons publicly. Though we do not work together every day, Mitchell and I still speak almost every day. I know that he and Mary Ellen fight this each and every day and am constantly amazed at their faith in God and courage. If you get a chance, check out the blog and support Mitchell, Mary Ellen and the rest of the people who do battle with this terrible disease every day.

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A new blog on the block

This one is not all security related, but is the ScienceLogic Blog. One of my favorite persons in the IT field Dave Link is the CEO and founder of ScienceLogic. Several other friends from Interliant including Louis Dimiglio (sorry if I messed up the spelling Lou!), Richard Chart and Chris Cordray are also part of the team. They have done a great job of creating a network management product and in a hyper-competitive industry carving out a place for themselves. I am running into them more and more at shows, conferences and in the field. Now they have joined the blogging ranks and it looks like there will be several contributers. They are all smart folks and I am sure will have good things to say, so be sure to check out the blog!

In one article responding to a post I did about where is the interoperational in interop, Dave says that he and the ScienceLogic team had a very different experience at Interop this year. Due to their participation in the InteropNet and ILabs project, ScienceLogic was very involved in making sure the network at Interop was up and running and showing off the many different products and vendors working together. Certainly the work of the many people at Interop Labs and Interop Net show how heterogeneous equipment and technology can work together, but where those labs and network used to be the center of the show, I am not so sure that is the case any more. Many folks walk by the NOC at Interop, peak inside at the folks at the stations, smile and move on. How many actually take the tour compared to how many walk the floor or sit in on presentations. I think in Dave's view it is a case of when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

More importantly though Dave challenges me to answer his questions of what StillSecure has done to promote interoperability with other vendors that we can promote. Great question and it deserves an answer. So at the risk of giving StillSecure a shameless plug, let me give you the three foundations that we have built our products on that allow us to excel at interoperability:

1. Using open standard software and hardware - All StillSecure products run on off the shelf x86 hardware or in VMware virtual machines. Additionally, our products all run on top of the StillSecure OS which is a hardened and stripped version of Linux, but still provides that standard command line programs and interoperability that the Linux OS allows. Additionally, we use standard and open databases such as MySQL and PostgresSQL that are SQL and ODBC compliant. Additionally, we have open data base schema's. Also, we use Java webservers and similar types of open standard software that makes it easier for us to work with other products and for our customers to feel comfortable with what is under the hood.

2. Support of industry frameworks and standards - Whether it be TCG/TNC or NAP in the NAC world or CVE and FDCC in vulnerability management, we support industry wide standards and frameworks which allow products to work with each other. SNMP traps, SMTP email alerts are all standard in StillSecure products.

3. Enterprise Integration Frameworks- StillSecure products all ship with our enterprise integration frameworks. These are a complete set of fully documented and functional APIs in XML and Java that allow for the bi-directional exchange of data with many 3rd party products. This is perhaps our greatest means of interoperabitility and integration.

Dave, I hope that answered the question for you. Now that we know about the blog, we will be reading. Good Luck!

You never know whose tomorrow it will be

Beware -Another non-security story. Last week I wrote a story about my son Landon and how proud I was about his experience in baseball.  I used a Yiddish word that I learned from my Grandmother - naches.  As I have gotten older I have developed a deeper admiration and respect for the inherent wisdom that my Grandmother brought to life and the many things I learned from her.  I remember being younger and thinking she was a little bit meshuguna as she would say. But as I now realize she was crazy as a fox and I hope I can be only half as intuitively smart as she was.  She had an intuitive grasp of people and life that cannot be learned in books.  People who think I am outgoing and loud would think me quiet and shy in comparison to her. But enough about my grandma, let me get on with the story. 

One of the phrases she used to use that I would laugh at was, "my grandson, you never know whose tomorrow it will be".  I was never quite sure what that meant, but had enough of the general gist that I didn't question her.  Today again I heard my Grandmother talking to me and saying that very phrase.  I had contacted an old business partner of mine who I had not spoken to in 3 or 4 years. I knew he had season tickets to the Yankees and wanted to buy a couple of tickets to take my sons to the Stadium in this its last year.  My old partner "Bob" called me back this morning, very early not realizing I was out in California.  Of course I asked how he was and he replied that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a while ago. He has undergone surgery and is receiving chemo at Sloan-Kettering Memorial, but the prognosis is not good.  Bob is just a few years older than me and his youngest child is just 10 years old.  I have known Bob for 20 years.  He was always the kind of guy who did the right thing.  A good family guy, he grew up like I did on the Long Island-Queens border in NY from working class parents. He worked hard and bought a house in Westchester County for  his wife, children and he.  He lived the American dream, working hard and passing on to his children the best of what he knew. What are you supposed to say to someone who tells you this?  Are there any words that provide comfort?  Is going to a frigging Yankee game relevant here?  Of course you try to be brave for their sake.  You say things like "they are doing so much with that disease now.  Keep your head up, attitude is important."  Maybe most of all, I will pray for you. How cruel is fate that this good, decent human being has been chosen to suffer from this death sentence of a disease at such a young age?  Of course Bob is not alone. Unfortunately I know too many good people who have been stricken with terminal illnesses well before their time here should be done.

I was speaking to a friend/family member the other day about the breakup of his marriage and I told him life is rarely what we think it is going to be.  Making lemonade out of lemons seems to be the ultimate and eternal human condition. It also drives home my grandmother's inherent intelligence.  You never know whose tomorrow it will be.  I get it now, you never know for whom the bell tolls.  All we can do is enjoy the good moments that God, fate or whatever grants us, because in an instant that can all be taken away and our lives changed forever.  Bob is in my prayers and I hope for a miracle for him and others who have to face similar challenges. Lesson to you all enjoy the moment, cause you never do know whose tomorrow it will be.