Post Brucon thoughts – guesstimates in an engineering field

So, another epic Brucon has ended, and while everyone is getting their thoughts together again (the amount of super smart people I have had the pleasure to have conversations with is unimaginable), I wanted to post a quick recap.

First things first – numbers. I’ve been working with the FAIR methodology quite a while now, and have actually (with the kind permission of Jack Jones) integrated some of its elements into the Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES). Watching the discussions that started after Jack’s talk at Brucon was heartwarming. Pentesters and security practitioners finally “get it”, was divine. Working in a field of engineering that has the least engineering in the sense of how it’s applied to businesses has been frustrating to say the least. With the ability to effortlessly connect the technical elements of vulnerabilities and exploits to business-speak has been one of my personal challenges (and hopefully strengths), and being able to tilt the industry even a little towards that direction is something that we all needed for a long time.

A quick “teaser” to add on top of it (which has been previewed in my talk) is the ability to also marry in the social media risk into the risk management practice (look out for some more cool research and insights coming from that direction very soon!).

Which leads me to the last point – the ever evolving presentation I use to deliver the message about data exfiltration is provided for your viewing pleasure. Don’t fear the >100 slide count – it’s mostly the “build” effects that I left in for clarity.

Looking forward for some more discussions and developments in the way that we as an industry are justifying what we practice (if it wasn’t obvious by now – go check out what FAIR is, and then start thinking on how to integrate it into what you do…).


Comments

2 responses to “Post Brucon thoughts – guesstimates in an engineering field”

  1. Right on Ian! It’s been a while since I picked up on FAIR and I’ve been trying to draw both technical and management people into checking it out. Having Jack, who is an awesome presenter btw, explain it’s useability both as a quick litmus test on ‘presumed’ risk ratings and in extensive risk management scenario’s opened many eyes. I’d love to see more people put FAIR to the test, contribute to it and make it even better than it already is. In my humble opinion it’s finally something useful to determine risk … looking forward to contribute myself where I can !

  2. […] Pushing in, withdrawal a benefaction and pulling out yet anybody seeing – Ian Amit (t) […]

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