Security Practitioners: Winning Friends And Influencing People

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Presented at House Con 2010 by

As the security practitioner in your organization, do your co-workers scatter like cockroaches to avoid you when walking by? Does selling a new project or policy to management sometimes feel like trying to sell ice to an Eskimo? I, too, was this guy. I was frustrated beyond belief at my inability to get things done. I blamed it on my management. I blamed it on my peers. I blamed it on just about everyone I could except for the one person who truly deserved it...me. Once I finally came to the realization that I was the problem, I began searching for the solution and found it in a book that is over twice as old as I am: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This presentation takes a long, hard look at how security practitioners are viewed by their peers, how they communicate within the organization, and how they sell their ideas to management. We'll use Dale's sage advise and brush it up a little bit to make it applicable for our humble profession and we'll even throw in some real-world case studies along the way. Come with me on this introspective journey to find out how to become the security practitioner that your colleagues respect and your management values.