OK, so now for some news about me if you haven’t seen it on twitter (You’re a security geek not on twitter?  Check out the Cool Kids Club and get involved).  Earlier this month I changed jobs and am now the Security Evangelist for Akamai–basically telling the story of our security team and the platform and what we do right.  I’m still doing some Federal business but I’ve also picked up responsibility for commercial customers.  And yes, I’ve slowed down on the antics a bit to let the dust settle.

In other news, My Favorite Govie and I are back to teaching our Public Policy and Information Security class for CMU.  Much has changed in the time since we started the class a year and a half ago:

• The 60-Day Review was completed and finally released.  Thanks to Melissa Hathaway for the hours she put into this, now let’s get the calls-to-action done.
• The President actually had a press conference about IT security.  Now how to convert that attitude to something actionable.
• We finally have a Cybersecurity Coordinator.  Go Howard!  I think the biggest thing that he will accomplish is to scope his job and build his authority.
• Verizon released their newer, badder, and stronger Data Breach Investigation Report.  Like it or not, they’re still the only people releasing data.

And then some things have stayed the same:

• We’re still wasting half of the Government’s security spending, we just can’t figure out which half.
• The Government’s InfoSec metrics still suck.
• FISMA hasn’t died.
• SANS still reminds us that FISMA is failing.  =)

• In Which Our Protagonist Discovers We Need More Good Public Policy People Who Understand Security
• In Other News, I’m Saying “Nyet” on S.3474
• Could the Titanic have changed course?
• The Spanish Civil War and the Rise of Cyberwar
• Massively Scaled Security Solutions for Massively Scaled IT