We’ve been getting some questions about the beta test, so I decided to put an FAQ together which we will also post within the system. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask:

General

• What is the Securosis Nexus?

The Securosis Nexus is an online environment to help you get your job done better and faster. It provides pragmatic research on security topics that tells you exactly what you need to know, backed with industry-leading expert advice to answer your questions. The Nexus was designed to be fast and easy to use, and to get you the information you need as quickly as possible.

• Who is it for?

The Nexus is for anyone with security responsibilities at their organization. We know that most of the people who work on security don’t have ‘Security’ in their titles, but need to protect their business every bit as much as the Chief Information Security Officer of a Fortune 500 company. The Nexus provides pragmatic research and advice for everyone, even if security is only one of the many hats you wear.

• What’s “pragmatic research”?

Pragmatic research is information you can use. The Nexus doesn’t waste your time on theory and background information (although it is available for the curious). The content tells you exactly what you need to get your job done, and makes it very easy to find.

• Does that mean it tells me how to configure my products?

No. The Nexus provides everything except product-specific information.

• What’s “expert advice”?

Through our Ask an Analyst feature you can submit questions directly to our analysts, each with decades of security experience. We know sometimes reading research isn’t enough and you need direct advice from an experienced professional to get a clear answer on your specific issue.

• What makes this any different from a wiki, Gartner, or something like LinkedIn?

The research is specific to security, and the Nexus presents data in several different ways, making it as quick and easy to locate information as possible. Unlike a wiki, all the content is written by professional research analysts, edited by folks who know how to write and topics are covered completely – not a hodge-podge of whatever people want to contribute. It’s far more structured and pragmatic than big analyst firms like Gartner. And unlike LinkedIn and social media sites, you are guaranteed answers to your questions.

The Nexus is not just academic reference data – it is written by people who have built and deployed security products for a living.

• What else is included?

Research and specific answers to your questions is core, but the Nexus includes much more. It offers videos, checklists, podcasts, templates, and other tools to help you get your job done. All the research can be rated and commented on, which helps ensure the content is useful and up to date as well as helping us to improve the content over time based on your feedback. The system tracks your history so you never forget what you read, and enables you to build a custom library of your favorite content. Good questions are anonymized and tied back to the content, to help others with the same problems.

And we are just getting going, there will be even more capabilities in the coming months.

• What are the platform requirements?

The Nexus should work with all current browsers, as well as Internet Explorer version 7 and later. Although we don’t have an iOS app yet, we have optimized the site to work well on the iPad.

Beta Testing

• When does the beta start?

If you are reading this, it has started.

• Why can’t I log in yet?

We are running the beta in phases and will be adding people on an ongoing basis. We are very conservative, and really want to ensure the system is ready before we let too many people in. We will email you when your name comes up, and we plan to eventually include everyone who signs up for the beta.

• What can I expect in the beta?

This is a real beta test – while the entire system is functional, there will be some bugs. We have set up forum for feedback and will directly answer system questions (but not research questions) there.

During the beta, we will be adding research on a daily basis. The beta is opening with the first layer of PCI information, but we have a ton more to add before we open the system to the public (and ask people to pay for it). We will post announcements on the portal page as we add material throughout the beta.

Right now, the weakest area is multimedia and tools/templates – such as checklists and PowerPoint samples. We will be adding these along with the rest of the content throughout the beta period.

Ask an Analyst is completely open for business, so please do your best to stump us.

• Is the beta free?

Yes. In exchange for your help testing, we provide access to all the content as we build it, plus the Ask an Analyst tool for questions.

• Will I get a free membership after the beta?

No. The Nexus will be competitively priced (think hundreds, not thousands), but beta testers will need to subscribe after we open it up to the public. But until then you get all the free research and advice you can eat.

• Where should I leave feedback?

Please use the beta forum linked on the portal page. That provides direct access to our developers and doesn’t clutter up the comments or the rest of the live system.

• After the beta, will you delete my account?

No – you won’t have access, but your account will stay there if you want to come back. You should also review our privacy policy.

Privacy Policy

The Securosis Nexus does not sell your information to anyone, ever. We do retain the right to sell or distribute bulk statistics (e.g., what content is most viewed, what topics create the most questions), but we will never provide your personal or identifiable information to anyone.

Due to the very nature of the tool, we track everything you read and all the questions you ask. That’s core to how the system works.

We retain this information even if you unsubscribe because some of it, like comments, becomes part of the content. If you request it when you unsubscribe, we will anonymize your comments by changing your screen name; and delete your history, library, and private questions.

This information will be retained in backups until they are overwritten, which may take months. It will not be available in our live system, and should we need to restore from backup, it will be removed during that process.

Our billing system is not in place during the beta period, but we will update this policy with how we collect and manage your billing information once that is functional.

Your IP address may be collected as part of our security systems, but will never be released.

The only exception to these policies is if we need to comply with a lawful court order. If that occurs, we will make every effort to protect your information and will only release the minimum amount of information legally required.

We will notify you in email if we ever need to change these policies. As mentioned above, we won’t ever sell your information, but we may collect more as we add features and capabilities to the system. We are privacy freaks and put your privacy ahead of our business interests. If by chance the stars align and someone acquires our company, we will notify all customers before transferring assets and provide an opportunity to remove your personal information from the Nexus.

We have far more security than most sites, and strive to continually enhance our security, but no security is perfect and we may someday be breached. If that occurs we will be extremely aggressive in disclosing it as soon as possible.