Do not commit to anyone: It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you. Professional versus personal vignette is the dichotomy I would argue.… Read More
Laws of Power – 24
Play the perfect courtier: The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the most oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no… Read More
Laws of Power – 19
Know who you’re dealing with — do not offend the wrong person: there are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They… Read More
Laws of Power – 18
Do not build fortresses to protect yourself — isolation is dangerous: the world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere — everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from — it cuts you off from the valuable information, it makes you conspicuous… Read More
Laws of Power – 17
Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability: humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off balance, and… Read More
Laws of Power – 16
Use absence to increase respect and honor: Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave.… Read More
Laws of Power – 15
Crush your enemy totally: All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation:… Read More
Laws of Power – 14
Pose as a friend, work as a spy: knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no… Read More
Laws of Power – 13
When asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude: if you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance… Read More
Laws of Power – 12
Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim: one sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a whole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at… Read More
Corporate Records: Voice-mail
As electronic discovery matures to meet the ever-changing technology landscape, it is incumbent upon the information security practitioner, forensic investigator, General Counsel, or others responsible for the discovery, acquisition, processing, preservation, and presentation of electronic records to keep swimming or risk drowning. There should be no illusion that voicemail would be considered an electronic record… Read More
Social Networks and Social Engineering
I’ve commented occasionally about social networking site and appropriate content posted therein. I’ll share an article I read on a favorite news site. It is an amazing abuse of authority in my opinion. It also demonstrates the hazards of what could happen when low-tech mentality bludgeons high-tech. Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/18/american_burg_and_facebook/ US city demands FaceSpaceGooHoo log-ins… Read More
Laws of Power – 11
Learn to keep people dependent on you: to maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people dependent on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without… Read More
Loose Lips, Sink Ships.
A very common mistake made by employers is to allow an employee investigation to become so informal and disorganized that managers and employees learn about the nature of an investigation. The individual(s) who learn of such facts directly or through the rumor mill often relay embellished or false facts about the employee under investigation. With… Read More
Cloud Computing: Part 2
Internet information exchange and commerce has matured to the point that we cannot imagine how we would run our businesses without technology anymore. We have created elaborate systems and constructed solid disaster recovery and business continuity mechanisms to protect our digital assets. Until recently, these Internet facing systems have resided on dedicated computers that we… Read More
Juris Doctor 37 of 215
The network has been fixed, upgrades, migrated, and virtualized. Nothing brings about change better and faster than catastrophe. I have been virtualizing and consolidating my network from thirty servers on five network segments down to five servers on three segments. I pulled four racks out of my data room and now have one. On the… Read More
Juris Doctor 36 of 215
I’m playing catch up from mid-term examinations. To add insult to injury, the network is misbehaving which takes time that I would devote to other things and apply it to quenching my inner geek.
The lines are blurring
The legal profession, in one form or another, as existed for thousands of years. As with any activity, experience and practice helps us become more proficient, more accurate, more profound. Information security and regulatory activities are relative newcomers in the holistic picture. These pursuits also require vigilance and practice. An interesting phenomenon I believe is… Read More
Financial Services Technology – FST US 8 Summit
I’m looking forward to the Financial Services Technology FST US 8 Summit taking place April 15th-17th 2009 at the Lansdowne Resort, West Virginia. I’ll be a participant in their information security identity and access management infrastructure forum as a guest panelist which should be a good experience. More to tell during the week as the… Read More
Cloud Computing, AKA SaaS
Synopsis: The effective weak link of cloud computing: An oversight by a single vendor creates a single point of failure that can have devastating effects on an untold number of its customers. Commentary: Cloud computing is Internet based development and use of computer technology. It is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and… Read More
Policies, standards, and Guidlines, Oh My!
My pet project for the past three years has been the Holistic Operational Readiness Security Evaluation wiki, otherwise known as the HORSE Project. In addition to some great audit guidance, security advice, tools, ect, there is a full compliment of policies to use as boilerplates for any organization. Find it all here: http://lazarusalliance.com/horsewiki/ It… Read More
Laws of Power – 8
Make other people come to you — uses bait if necessary: When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains — then attack. You hold the cards.… Read More
Laws of Power – 7
Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit: use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will… Read More
Laws of Power – 6
Court attention at all cost: Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Standout. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, and more mysterious than the bland and timid… Read More