Commentary: The Future of InfoSec News!

[William Knowles <wk () c4i org>]

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Well I had a so-so time in Las Vegas for Blackhat and Defcon, the
conference and convention was wonderful and I *HIGHLY* recommend
attending at least one of Jeff Moss' conferences, make Las Vegas at
least one of them.

I had the so-so time in Las Vegas when there wasn't something going on
and that was on my own time, while all my friend(s) were enjoying
themselves, I was busy doing last minute work on packetstormsecurity
as far as getting the t-shirts in and making sure the media was there
on Saturday to cover it.  This was my first media rollout and I got
the job mainly for my brown belt in the art of media-fu.

More on this later, as I might have an announcement in the future.

So basically having a captive audience at Blackhat, and covering the
event for InfoSec News as a paid hack (journalist) I was able to meet
many ISN subscribers and recruit several more, maybe I might have them
added in time to read this, maybe not.

So I have been told that [ISN] InfoSec News is one of the Top 10
information security lists on the Internet, and close on NIPRNet, and
no comment from SIPRNet. :) I finally met Alfred Huger who I though
was as old as Batman's butler and I *FINALLY* received comments about
how to improve ISN.

In the past I have asked for comments on how I am doing with the list,
no one was unsubscribing, plenty were subscribing, but everyone was so
quiet I could hear the crickets outside and the hard drive spinning on
my old laptop on the inside.

- From a recently retired director of a division of the DoD who will
remain nameless unless s/he wishes to de-cloak on the list wishes
there was more commentary. So guess what? There will be more
commentary on the list as I feel is needed; some days I might be too
tired, other days all the stories might have some commentary.

Some would like some Slashdot code for the website. (More on that in
the next paragraph) The website is going to be www.infosecnews.org and
Yes Virginia, we will have some sort of Slashcode on that site soon.

WHOA! What's this news that ISN/C4I has infosecnews.org and
infosecnews.net?

Well early on when I took over this wonderful list from Brian Martin
and the boys and girls of Attrition.org so they could concentrate on
other projects, I started working away on improving on the quanity &
quality of this list and soon afterwards I received basically an order
from SC/Info Security Magazine to stop using the term InfoSec News
since they own the trademark.

To which I basically replied that until I am served in my underwear at
8:00am by one of their process servers to do so, I will keep using the
name, InfoSec News. I now know its now only a matter of time before I
hear from their publisher & lawyers again that infosecnews.net and
.org should be under their trademark, which I will point out in a 
court of law that Brian Martin had prior use and that their trademark 
should be null and void. I personally don't hope this happen, and that
users/readers can tell the difference from their publication and ours.

If they can't, well they have no business being in this business.

Wait, what is this about you and Packetstormsecurity.org?

I was reeled into being the media liaison for Packetstormsecurity.org
which was announced in Las Vegas at Defcon 9 as going back to its 
roots & into public hands, publishing all information security 
information as it comes available, all open source, all free, 
all the time. With no ads, no spin, no recommendations of friends 
security companies, (Including my own) no recommendations for 
security software, (even if they give packetstormsecurity.org 
$1,000,000 U.S.D. to say really nice things about them) this will 
force security sites like SecurityFocus and iDefense and many 
others to possibly rethink their business models since who on 
a limited infosec budget will want to spend their money for 
something they could get for free. 

(This might get me kicked off of SecurityFocus.
No worries for me on this one...)

News: Well this is information security news mailing list, what
about news?

Like the television show "Emergency" brought plenty of kids my age
wanting to be firemen and paramedics and if you think I am kidding,
ask any thirty-something paramedic what was their influence into
making this their life's work.

The one show I watch, without the Tivo, that I make time to make sure
I watch and I have a damn good reason to miss is "The Beast."

http://abc.go.com/primetime/thebeast/index.html


- From the website...

Jackson Burns is an iconoclastic media mogul who has built a 24-hour
broadcast news organization like no other.

Jackson's (Frank Langella) unique team of reporters not only cover 
the stories but are covered as part of the story. Cameras in the 
halls, in their cars, and behind closed doors document the inner 
workings of World News Service (WNS) - a.k.a. The Beast - and the 
images captured are broadcast live to the world via the Internet.

- From Jackson's perspective, journalists have lost all credibility. 
He believes that he must turn the cameras on his reporters to ensure
their veracity and guarantee that the public gets the whole truth. 
For magazine reporter Alice Allenby (Elizabeth Mitchell), WNS is a
frightening product of technology that crosses the line of 
propriety into voyeurism and sensationalism.

Jackson entices Alice with promises of more freedom, access, and
resources than she could ever dream of. But Alice is torn between 
her desire to report the news and the organization's desire to make 
her a part of it.


Diverse and driven, the WNS staff shares a mutual need - to feed 
The Beast.


This is the one television show that makes my eyes well up in tears 
at the end of the show, one of the reasons is why can't reality 
compete with fiction? There is no reason to watch CNN after the live 
breaking news events after they have put their spin on the story. 
Yes the CIA and all the other fine intelligence agencies have a live 
feed going on all the time because CNN knows it usually before the 
NRO satellites pick it up, the NSA decrypts it, and the U.S. Marines 
are called to in pacify it. :)

I want to be a Jackson Burns wannabe.

So much so its going on my InfoSec News business cards when I print
the next correctly printed batch. If its news in the information
security realm, and we can confirm it as fact, not rumour, not who
just made the hacker sex chart, who has the best firewall so says 
that company's public relations firm, or who in October spit in my 
face on bad information from a third party. (and I witnessed it in 
first person)

Now we will be still republishing whatever the unnamed ISN bawt finds
on the Internet, Copyrights included (Thanks Carole for bringing that
to my attention!) in english, soon in other languages translated into
english, Blackhat and Defcon was the first real attempt to create our
own content and this will become to norm, later there will be video,
and yes it might break live.

Wow, This sounds really great, how are you going to pay for
this? where are you going to get real journalists, hardware and
software, and keep the site alive?

Glad I asked myself that. :)

While I am not like Jackson Burns and have billions from selling a
computer game company full of violent video games, InfoSec News will
receive its funds from C4I.org (Also my hobby site) and from my new
day job, and the umbrella of sites under it. I expect it to lose 
money from day one (Today)

Again I am happy to receive anonymous donations to C4I.org that will
have its own bank account soon, and mark in the memo line: InfoSec
News from private parties, organizations, and yes, public relations
companies that wish in their wet dreams that I will republish their
press release in it entirety and say nice things about it. (maybe I
will, But I am sure I definitely won't)

Mind you soon I will have a new updated C4I/InfoSec News wishlist and
we will be more than happy to try new hardware and software out for a
positive review, or if need be, negative review should it be pure
crap.
 
Give me a week or so for that.

So there you go, questions, comments, complains, death threats, 
My fly is open? You all should know my address by now, reply back, 
media inquiries, you can call me on my private number, death threats, 
I won't say who I call. My fly *IS* open? Why are you looking there?

Cheers!
 
William Knowles
Moderator/Editor/Jackson Burns Wannabe
InfoSec News
wk () c4i org


 
*==============================================================*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;  Intelligence
without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
================================================================
C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org
*==============================================================*

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