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Summary: Age is wasted on the… middle aged

Rich October 11, 2013 1 Comment

You may have noticed our posting was down a bit this week. Okay, pretty much non-existent. But take a look at the links in this Summary for what we have been reading and thinking about. This is turning out to be the busiest end-of-year I can remember for us. We always compress some things in Q4 as people use up end-of-year budget, but this year it is really hitting hard… and I am absolutely loving it. I have 3 papers to finish up before the end of the year, all of them on topics I am extremely interested in. Plus travel nearly every week. It will, of course, run me into the ground, but it looks like there will be plenty of time to remind the kids what I look like over the holidays, when I can bribe them. Our one post this week was Mike’s Incite, Youth is Wasted on the Young. While that is true, in my case I think age is wasted on the middle-aged. I didn’t barge out of college with a checklist of life goals quite like Mike. My graduation was more of a whimper. I spent 8 years as an undergrad, starting off in aerospace engineering and Navy ROTC with a clear path to being an astronaut, leaving as an itinerant paramedic and IT pro with a degree in history and an almost-finished second major in molecular biology. I don’t, for an instant, feel that I wasted my youth, missed opportunities, or failed to work to my peak potential. I needed to develop a lot as a person, like everyone, but managed to mostly avoid the deep pains and frustrations that Mike seems to have encountered. This wasn’t some genius superpower, but some incredible acts of fortune that brought amazing friends into my life to help me along. Martial arts also played a major role by developing self-awareness. That said, I did have a couple doozies, especially involving the finer gender, but nothing that didn’t launch me into something even more interesting. Age is wasted on the middle-aged because I have nearly as much enthusiasm, see just as much opportunity, but lack the freedom to pursue it as aggressively. I am not willing to risk my family’s lifestyle and home, and so am forced to proceed at a more methodical pace – which annoys the hell out of my 27-year-old self-image. But I don’t look at this with regret. I took full advantage of the opportunities I had at 27, and while I sometimes itch for more in my 40s, I know exactly what I would have to sacrifice to achieve them quickly, and I prefer this life. Besides, I am still egotistical enough to think I will achieve all my goals in time. And don’t go thinking I’m all zen or anything. Some of this bugs the hell out of me on a daily basis, but not to the point where I freak out over it. I suppose that’s progress… and sleep deprivation. On to the Summary: Webcasts, Podcasts, Outside Writing, and Conferences Adrian’s DR post on Evasion Techniques And Sneaky DBAs. Favorite Securosis Posts Adrian Lane: Youth is wasted on the young. The ‘halfway’ point realization is a sobering thought. No Other Securosis Posts this Week Favorite Outside Posts Adrian Lane: EMV vs the UPT, Can We Fix the #FAIL? Branden Williams points out one of the many reasons Chip and Pin is a long way off in the US. David Mortman: Identity Management and Its Role in Security Strategy of Enterprise Environments. Gal Shpantzer: Is the Affordable Health Care Website Secure? Probably not. James Arlen: SecTor 2013: Are there limits to ethical hacking? Mike Rothman: The Lie in the Network. Thought provoking post by the Rev. Baker about how we can’t count on the network for security and have to look at the issue differently. I will cover this in a longer post next week but it’s worth reading now. And I look forward to the next few posts to check out some of his ideas. Research Reports and Presentations A Practical Example of Software Defined Security. Continuous Security Monitoring. API Gateways: Where Security Enables Innovation. Identity and Access Management for Cloud Services. Dealing with Database Denial of Service. The 2014 Endpoint Security Buyer’s Guide. The CISO’s Guide to Advanced Attackers. Defending Cloud Data with Infrastructure Encryption. Network-based Malware Detection 2.0: Assessing Scale, Accuracy and Deployment. Quick Wins with Website Protection Services. Top News and Posts Forrester Contradicts Verizon Report, Says Insider Threat Leads Data Breaches. Call me skeptical. Alleged ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ Heads to New York in Silk Road Case Nordstrom Finds Cash Register Skimmers Make your own Enigma Replica. Perfect high school project! Microsoft pays out $100,000 bounty for Windows 8.1 bug. Google’s Schmidt: Android more secure than iPhone. Not. Blog Comment of the Week This week’s best comment goes to louis vuitton belts, in response to about a dozen blog posts: You write well This has to be our most persistent and impressed reader ever. It’s really nice he or she feels this way about our work. Please keep the support coming – I’m sure we will approve one of your comments soon. Share:

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