It was great to talk to Jack Daniel of Security B-Sides about the power of building and harnessing a community. Jack is a legendary figure in the information security (InfoSec) community, having recognized the need for an independent security conference and building it with the help of a great team. It’s not unlike what Stephen Foskett has done with Tech Field Day. Both recognize the needs for objectivity and independence as well as realizing that some of the best stories can’t be told to a room of hundreds.
Jack and I also discussed the biggest challenge in becoming a part of the security community today: agreeing to disagree. One of the negative aspects of social media and hyper connectivity is the new frame of mind that people have a position and will fight and shout for it without compromise. While that does have a time and place it is not contributing to a healthy debate in the security community or other technology communities either.
Finally, Jack and I took a quick look at the upcoming Security Field Day event in December. There are some great presenters as well as great delegates like Wolfgang Goerlich and Zöe Rose.
For more information about the projects that Jack is working on and contributing to, please go to http://SecurityBSides.org or to the Shoulders of InfoSec wiki page. For more information about Security Field Day, please make sure to check out http://TechFieldDay.com/event/xfd1/
