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Survival Tips For The Security Skills Shortage
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John S.J547
John S.J547,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/18/2015 | 2:09:52 PM
Computer security legal hazards
Within the last well, 10 years there were issues with computer security professionals getting prosecuted for doing their jobs, often due to political conflicts and kinks in the system, such as reporting of problems that made some executives look bad, or that they didn't want fixed. Hazardous-duty pay seemed appropriate.

I've heard much less of this recently. Have the problems been corrected (for example by clear guidelines and standards of professional organizations)? If so, maybe we need more effort to let people know, to avoid deterring future security professionals.

We will need their services for a long time.
Andre Gironda
Andre Gironda,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/14/2015 | 3:50:07 AM
Re: Budget Constraints
Free, open-source software can provide automation just the same as commercial or SaaS offerings can. 

For incident response, try Google Rapid Response. For network and app penetration testing and vulnerability assessment, try sixdub-Minions and Arachni, plus metasploitHelper. DLP, use OpenDLP. Firewall and IPS, try Untangle firewall or Suricata IPS. SIEM, use OSSIM. Log management with file integrity monitoring -- easy peasy with OSSEC. Access controls needed, then U2F is a must-have. smicallef-spiderfoot or the Collective Intelligence Framework for threat intelligence information and Soltra Edge to share it with your industry ISAC.

Yes, you will need people and processes. Tools should support people and proceses. The NIST CSF is a great framework and PASTA is a good process-oriented approach to security risk management. None of these documents are locked up by Gartner paywalls. It's time to say goodbye to the old-school methods and pick up an open-source project or ten to drive results.
HarryS596
HarryS596,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/13/2015 | 12:56:13 PM
Tip #4
While agree with you that there is a shortage, I think that security ops tasks can be beneficial for up and coming professionals. I am not talking about autmoated tasks but lower level analsys that the sec ops person has to perform. It is a good area to get your feet wet.
NimrodR501
NimrodR501,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/12/2015 | 3:00:15 PM
Re: Budget Constraints
HI Ryan,

Thanks for your comment. What I have noticed is that the recent publicized breaches have made budgets to be less of an issue than they used to be. The problem is twofold -  when there are not enough skilled security professionals, more budget does not help as much. Additionaly, executives are used to the idea that every problem can be solved if you just spend enough money on it, and unfortunately that is not the case with security.

 

Best,

Nimmy
RyanSepe
RyanSepe,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/12/2015 | 1:17:31 PM
Budget Constraints
Unfortunately, there are budget constraints with many of the points that are made in the article, especially around automation. I agree with these points whole-heartedly, but I've seen first hand security professionals performing the work that could be automated due to these budgetary constraints. Yes automating the laborious work is ideal but its costly in both dollars and man hours.


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