Securosis

Research

Incite 12/10/2014: Troll off the old block

Every so often the kids do something that makes me smile. Evidently the Boss and I are doing something right and they are learning from our examples. I am constantly amused by the huge personality XX2 has, especially when performing. She’s the drama queen, but in a good way… most of the time. The Boy is all-in on football and pretty much all sports – which of course makes me ecstatic. He is constantly asking me questions about players I’ve never heard of (thanks Madden Mobile!); he even stays up on Thursday, Sunday, and Monday nights listening to the prime-time game using the iPod’s radio in his room. We had no idea until he told me about a play that happened well after he was supposed to be sleeping. But he ‘fessed up and told us what he was doing, and that kind of honesty was great to see. And then there is XX1, who is in raging teenager mode. She knows everything and isn’t interested in learning from the experience of those around her. Very like I was as a teenager. Compared to some of her friends she is a dream – but she’s still a teenager. Aside from her independence kick she has developed a sense of humor that frequently cracks me up. We all like music in the house. And as an old guy I just don’t understand the rubbish the kids listen to nowadays. Twice a year I have to spend a bunch of time buying music for each of them. So I figured we’d try Spotify and see if that would allow all of us to have individual playlists and keep costs at a manageable level. I set up a shared account and we all started setting up our lists. It was working great. Until I was writing earlier this week, jamming to some new Foo Fighters (Sonic Highways FTW), and all of a sudden the playlist switched to something called Dominique by the Singing Nun. Then Spotify goes berserk and cycles through some hardcore rap and dance. I had no idea what was going on. Maybe my phone got possessed or something. Then it clicked – XX1 was returning the favor for all the times I have trolled her over the years. Yup, XX1 hijacked my playlist and was playing things she knew aren’t anywhere near my taste. I sent her a text and she confessed to the prank. Instead of being upset I was very proud. Evidently you can’t live with a prankster and not have some of that rub off. Now I have to start planning my revenge. But for the moment I will just enjoy the fact that my 14-year-old daughter still cares enough to troll me. I know soon enough getting any kind of attention will be a challenge. –Mike Photo credit: “Caution Troll Ahead” originally uploaded by sboneham The fine folks at the RSA Conference posted the talk Jennifer Minella and I did on mindfulness at the conference this year. You can check it out on YouTube. Take an hour and check it out. Your emails, alerts and Twitter timeline will be there when you get back. Securosis Firestarter Have you checked out our video podcast, The Firestarter? Rich, Adrian, and Mike get into a Google Hangout and.. hang out. We talk a bit about security as well. We try to keep these to 15 minutes or less, and usually fail despite Adrian’s best efforts to keep us on track. November 25 – Numbness October 27 – It’s All in the Cloud October 6 – Hulk Bash September 16 – Apple Pay August 18 – You Can’t Handle the Gartner July 22 – Hacker Summer Camp July 14 – China and Career Advancement June 30 – G Who Shall Not Be Named June 17 – Apple and Privacy May 19 – Wanted Posters and SleepyCon May 12 – Another 3 for 5: McAfee/OSVDB, XP Not Dead, CEO head rolling Heavy Research We are back at work on a variety of blog series, so here is a list of the research currently underway. Remember you can get our Heavy Feed via RSS, with our content in all its unabridged glory. And you can get all our research papers too. Network Security Gateway Evolution Introduction Monitoring the Hybrid Cloud: Evolving to the CloudSOC Migration Planning Technical Considerations Solution Architectures Emerging SOC Use Cases Introduction Security and Privacy on the Encrypted Network The Future is Encrypted Newly Published Papers Securing Enterprise Applications Secure Agile Development Trends in Data Centric Security Leveraging Threat Intelligence in Incident Response/Management The Security Pro’s Guide to Cloud File Storage and Collaboration The 2015 Endpoint and Mobile Security Buyer’s Guide Open Source Development and Application Security Analysis Advanced Endpoint and Server Protection The Future of Security Incite 4 U Flowing downhill: Breaches are ugly. Losing credit card numbers, in particular, can be costly. But after the PCI fines, the banks are always lurking in the background. When Target lost 40 million credit cards, and the banks needed to rotate card numbers and reissue, it isn’t like Target paid for that. And the card brands most certainly will never pay for that. No, they sit there, collect PCI fines (despite Target passing their assessment), and keep the cash. The banks were left holding the bag, and they are sure as hell going to try to get their costs covered. A group of banks just got court approval to move forward with a lawsuit to recover their damages from Target. They are seeking class action status. If the old TJX hack is any indication, they will get it and receive some level of compensation. Resolving all the costs of a breach like this plays out over years, and odds are we will no idea of the true costs for at least 5. Cloud security “grows up”? It’s funny when the hype machine wants to push something faster than it is ready to go. Shimmy argued that Cloud security grows up,

Share:
Read Post

Totally Transparent Research is the embodiment of how we work at Securosis. It’s our core operating philosophy, our research policy, and a specific process. We initially developed it to help maintain objectivity while producing licensed research, but its benefits extend to all aspects of our business.

Going beyond Open Source Research, and a far cry from the traditional syndicated research model, we think it’s the best way to produce independent, objective, quality research.

Here’s how it works:

  • Content is developed ‘live’ on the blog. Primary research is generally released in pieces, as a series of posts, so we can digest and integrate feedback, making the end results much stronger than traditional “ivory tower” research.
  • Comments are enabled for posts. All comments are kept except for spam, personal insults of a clearly inflammatory nature, and completely off-topic content that distracts from the discussion. We welcome comments critical of the work, even if somewhat insulting to the authors. Really.
  • Anyone can comment, and no registration is required. Vendors or consultants with a relevant product or offering must properly identify themselves. While their comments won’t be deleted, the writer/moderator will “call out”, identify, and possibly ridicule vendors who fail to do so.
  • Vendors considering licensing the content are welcome to provide feedback, but it must be posted in the comments - just like everyone else. There is no back channel influence on the research findings or posts.
    Analysts must reply to comments and defend the research position, or agree to modify the content.
  • At the end of the post series, the analyst compiles the posts into a paper, presentation, or other delivery vehicle. Public comments/input factors into the research, where appropriate.
  • If the research is distributed as a paper, significant commenters/contributors are acknowledged in the opening of the report. If they did not post their real names, handles used for comments are listed. Commenters do not retain any rights to the report, but their contributions will be recognized.
  • All primary research will be released under a Creative Commons license. The current license is Non-Commercial, Attribution. The analyst, at their discretion, may add a Derivative Works or Share Alike condition.
  • Securosis primary research does not discuss specific vendors or specific products/offerings, unless used to provide context, contrast or to make a point (which is very very rare).
    Although quotes from published primary research (and published primary research only) may be used in press releases, said quotes may never mention a specific vendor, even if the vendor is mentioned in the source report. Securosis must approve any quote to appear in any vendor marketing collateral.
  • Final primary research will be posted on the blog with open comments.
  • Research will be updated periodically to reflect market realities, based on the discretion of the primary analyst. Updated research will be dated and given a version number.
    For research that cannot be developed using this model, such as complex principles or models that are unsuited for a series of blog posts, the content will be chunked up and posted at or before release of the paper to solicit public feedback, and provide an open venue for comments and criticisms.
  • In rare cases Securosis may write papers outside of the primary research agenda, but only if the end result can be non-biased and valuable to the user community to supplement industry-wide efforts or advances. A “Radically Transparent Research” process will be followed in developing these papers, where absolutely all materials are public at all stages of development, including communications (email, call notes).
    Only the free primary research released on our site can be licensed. We will not accept licensing fees on research we charge users to access.
  • All licensed research will be clearly labeled with the licensees. No licensed research will be released without indicating the sources of licensing fees. Again, there will be no back channel influence. We’re open and transparent about our revenue sources.

In essence, we develop all of our research out in the open, and not only seek public comments, but keep those comments indefinitely as a record of the research creation process. If you believe we are biased or not doing our homework, you can call us out on it and it will be there in the record. Our philosophy involves cracking open the research process, and using our readers to eliminate bias and enhance the quality of the work.

On the back end, here’s how we handle this approach with licensees:

  • Licensees may propose paper topics. The topic may be accepted if it is consistent with the Securosis research agenda and goals, but only if it can be covered without bias and will be valuable to the end user community.
  • Analysts produce research according to their own research agendas, and may offer licensing under the same objectivity requirements.
  • The potential licensee will be provided an outline of our research positions and the potential research product so they can determine if it is likely to meet their objectives.
  • Once the licensee agrees, development of the primary research content begins, following the Totally Transparent Research process as outlined above. At this point, there is no money exchanged.
  • Upon completion of the paper, the licensee will receive a release candidate to determine whether the final result still meets their needs.
  • If the content does not meet their needs, the licensee is not required to pay, and the research will be released without licensing or with alternate licensees.
  • Licensees may host and reuse the content for the length of the license (typically one year). This includes placing the content behind a registration process, posting on white paper networks, or translation into other languages. The research will always be hosted at Securosis for free without registration.

Here is the language we currently place in our research project agreements:

Content will be created independently of LICENSEE with no obligations for payment. Once content is complete, LICENSEE will have a 3 day review period to determine if the content meets corporate objectives. If the content is unsuitable, LICENSEE will not be obligated for any payment and Securosis is free to distribute the whitepaper without branding or with alternate licensees, and will not complete any associated webcasts for the declining LICENSEE. Content licensing, webcasts and payment are contingent on the content being acceptable to LICENSEE. This maintains objectivity while limiting the risk to LICENSEE. Securosis maintains all rights to the content and to include Securosis branding in addition to any licensee branding.

Even this process itself is open to criticism. If you have questions or comments, you can email us or comment on the blog.