THE SOCIAL MEDIA SIDE OF PERSONAL BRANDING (and how it helps your business...)

OK, here’s the thing. Many senior executives I know don’t like social media or don’t understand it. Some are from the corporate species and think that company policies won’t allow them, that the risk would be too high, the cost unjustifiable, that they’ll have to learn too many things and waste rare and precious time for non-existent or unquantifiable returns. Or they may be founders of young organisations that get the tech but just don’t know where to start to derive real benefits quickly.

DOES YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE WORK FOR YOU?...

For those who know me well enough, they will be aware that I mentor people from various walks of life... For the others, this is my small way of giving back to the industries that have served me well throughout my career by sharing tips and techniques I have learned and tried over the years, such as they are... As I can only effectively mentor four people personally at any given time, I thought I’d write this post which I hope some of you might find useful...

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF YOUR DIGITAL LIFE...

We keep hearing about all the issues surrounding privacy, government snooping, ID Theft being on the rise (and even new types of ID Theft creating “Synthetic” identities). It is also generally accepted that the weakest link in the cyber kill chain is Dave.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA SIDE OF INCIDENT RESPONSE... (2014 Edition)

I first wrote on this subject in May 2012 (The social media side of incident response).
Today, it is still my most popular entry on this blog with 5,430 unique views as I write. This means that in any given day since I published it, 6 people somewhere in the world have read that post... I am at once flattered and amazed that some musings derived from the good, bad and ugly of how businesses have tackled crisis communications in the past few years still very much resonate with a lot of you. So here’s the 2014 version...

I AM WHO I AM... OR AM I?

Google
I have spent the last 18 months pondering on the whole sphere of identity and authentication and a number of things have happened:
The analysts continue to tell us that lax password management and policies continue to put individuals and organisations at risk (according to the Trustwave Global Security Report 2013, Welcome1 is the most commonly used password by count - followed closely by STORE123 and Password1 - whereas Password1 is still most widely used when looking at % of unique active directory samples, followed closely by password1 and Welcome1)

GAZING AT 2013: THE RIGHT FOCUS AND THE RIGHT LANGUAGE...

Google
Well, it’s the New Year, and I wish you all the best for a fantastic 2013! I can’t believe my last post was in November! And it’s already the end of January! So I thought I’d get in quickly with my two pennies worth of crystal ball gazing before it becomes unfashionable... What did we learn from 2012? Are there any interesting market trends? How does it affect security? What is the current state of information security and how is it shaping up? Are we getting any better? If any of these questions spark your interest of if you’d just like to see if my Nostradamus impression has something in it, read on...

DON'T ACCEPT SWEETIES FROM STRANGERS...

Google

[Updated 17th March 2013] Hello everyone! It’s been a long time since I wrote on this blog and I have to say, there have been so many interesting things happening that I haven’t really been able to make my mind up on what to talk about... What spurred me into action was a combination of various industry discussions and security conferences, the fact that lots of us are busily preparing for the festive season (or wishing they were!) and that all the children in my life are SO technically savvy...

INFOGRAPHIC: THE SOCIAL MEDIA SIDE OF INCIDENT RESPONSE...

Google

For the corresponding February 2014 post associated with this infographic, see here)
It seems that my previous post on the social media side of incident response attracted some attention and I thank everyone for their feedback. This prompted me to explore the brave new world of infographics... So here we go, my first foray into what is for me unchartered territory. I've used Piktochart and I found it an excellent tool which means that anything you find lacking is of course entirely my fault rather than the tool itself. Your feedback, as ever, will be greatly appreciated!

THE UNBEARABLE RISKINESS OF BEING... SOCIAL

Google

[Updated 4th August 2012]
The inevitability of social media in both our private and professional lives is undeniable. With social networks transforming the rules of business engagement, many businesses think the biggest risk of social media is the brand and reputational damage that could result from negative interactions or the potential disclosure of proprietary or sensitive information...

THE SOCIAL MEDIA SIDE OF INCIDENT RESPONSE...

Google

[For the February 2014 version of this post, see here]
Not impressed with LinkedIn's social media crisis response after more than 6M user passwords got leaked recently or non-plussed with Dropbox's handling of their own crisis? Read on... In one of my February posts, I wrote about incident response and the importance of addressing the media in a timely manner. Whilst the NIST report SP 800-61 gives really good guidelines on the positive aspects of fully and effectively communicating important information to the public, I feel there is some mileage to be had by exploring the use of social media when tackling incident response. After all, we've all seen how quickly news can spread on twitter here or here... So, should you be breached, you would no doubt have a crisis communication process already in place, but does it include social media?...