Build credibility and learn business language | ESM part 3

Avoid confusion and FUD at all cost Credibility is something you’re building from the day one to the last day of your career. Even if you’re great industry expert, you still need to build your internal reputation from the ground up by working nicely with people in your organization. Crucial thing you need to learn … Continue reading Build credibility and learn business language | ESM part 3 →

Educate executives and middle-management first | ESM part 2

Set common goals with management and executives It rarely happens that engineers themselves don’t want to build security into their products for no reason. The problem is that very often in startups and SMBs, middle management isn’t held responsible for product security, and the only thing they’re rewarded for is if the feature-rich product … Continue reading Educate executives and middle-management first | ESM part 2 →

Guide into Effective Security Management

After 10+ years in IT and 5+ in InfoSec I’ve learnt that for security initiatives to be effective, security must one of the core values of corporate culture. Security professionals can’t achieve their greatness if they’re not being actively supported by all stakeholders across the entire organization and if other employees don’t feel ownership for … Continue reading Guide into Effective Security Management →

Start small and early | ESM part 1

Start small Take baby steps to show everyone in your company that security doesn’t need to be tangled and complex. If you show people that it takes 3 clicks to secure their computer more, their mindset will change and they’ll be eager to implement more of such hassle-free solutions. Do the things that have … Continue reading Start small and early | ESM part 1 →

How to maximize ROI of Bug Bounties and penetration tests

I’ve been doing security bug hunting, penetration tests and managing in-house bug bounty programs for various companies, for over half a decade already. During that time I learnt that it doesn’t really happen too often that hiring company knows exactly what to do with security engagements results. I’d like to help and suggest what you … Continue reading How to maximize ROI of Bug Bounties and penetration tests →

Peerlyst ebook: Essentials of Cybersecurity

Essentials of CyberSecurity is a crowdsourced ebook written by @Peerlyst community. I wrote the chapter ‘Building corporate security culture’ with following preface, which should give you a solid context for the message I tried to convey in my article. All those years in InfoSec taught me that for security initiatives to be effective, security must … Continue reading Peerlyst ebook: Essentials of Cybersecurity →

Employment expectations’ mismatch and recruitment pitfalls in InfoSec

This article is considered to be a follow-up to the “Hiring your first security professional”, so if you haven’t yet, I recommend you to read it before you continue with this one. For a last few years there wasn’t a month when I haven’t read about InfoSec professionals shortage, security skills gap and what not. … Continue reading Employment expectations’ mismatch and recruitment pitfalls in InfoSec →

Hiring your first security professional

I really enjoy attending security/business conferences. But it’s not that I’m going there to learn how to do security, because if that would be the case then I’d go for DEFCON or Derbycon and learn from top hackers on the planet. I go to business conferences because I want to listen to the problems others … Continue reading Hiring your first security professional →

BugBounties changed InfoSec world for better

Graphic from tripwire.comJust four years ago, before that Bug Bounty madness started off for real, many companies had pathetic security posture. Okay, let’s be real here, most organizations, because many isn’t emphasizing enough. In just 4 years the raise of security awareness and general improvements of organisations security posture are really prominent. I’ll show you … Continue reading BugBounties changed InfoSec world for better →

Software complexity as an enemy of security

Graphic from pautasso.infoThese days it’s unlikely for a company to not use 3rd party online products. Each day we are heavily relying on messaging apps, online data storage, team collaboration tools like issue tracking systems and many other apps. This is fine, we need all these to boost our productivity, but in my experience it … Continue reading Software complexity as an enemy of security →