Doing it differently

I have never been one to follow the easy route, the beaten track stretching out before me. Many people like to see how things have been done previously and follow the path of least resistance. That can be an acceptable way to do things and, on occasion, I have done the same. But what happens when that beaten track is not right? What happens if that well-worn path leads everyone who follows it to the same failures?

You should change paths, right?

Yes, you should. You should stop, look at what everybody is doing and consider how you might be able to do things better, or differently. Different can sometimes be sufficient to inspire innovation and foster a new way to look at a problem.

Following that unbeaten track will not always be easy. I know. I have the bumps and bruises of life to prove it. However, by going my own way I have, on occasion, achieved great success.

Look at my writing, for instance. I started my writing journey about six or seven years ago. I had never really written anything previously and no writing experience when I pitched my first article to Charlie-Mae at CSO magazine, who now works for Source2Create, the publisher of this amazing magazine, Women in Security. (The editor of Women in Security, Abigail Swabey, was editor of CSO at the time.). However, I had something I needed to say, a problem that needed to be aired and considered. That decision led me to what I feel is now a reasonably successful writing career.

I have written approximately 200 articles, had three books published, have three more to be released in 2023, and I am working on others for release in 2024. I have not tried to follow anyone else’s style. I do my own thing, but it works. Seriously, the books in my A Hacker I Am awareness series are more like the old www.linkedin.com/in/craig-ford-cybersecurity www.amazon.com/Craig-Ford/e/B07XNMMV8R www.facebook.com/AHackerIam twitter.com/CraigFord_Cyber

‘choose-your-adventure’ books than cybersecurity books, and I love that about them. You can choose the order in which you read them. You bought them, why should you not decide?

I have gotten a little off track here, but my point is that, to achieve the results we need in cybersecurity, we need to innovate and look at the problems we face in a different light. To do that, we need to promote all aspects of diversity: race, gender and background. We need to encourage different ways of looking at things. We need to look and see if we can do things better, or make them simpler to manage. Maybe we need to throw away old ideas and ways of securing our systems and try something completely different.

Just because something has always been done a certain way does not mean that way is right. Think for yourself, and be brave enough to say: “No, that’s not how it should be done.” If we can do that, I think we just might have a chance of taking back control of our systems, of getting to a level of security that will allow us not only to endure an attack. We may even be able to make attacks irrelevant or inconsequential, because we have found ways to protect our systems, or reduce the impacts of attacks. Maybe then the onslaught of breaches and data pillage will end.

It is a dream, and a tough one for us to achieve. But nothing worthwhile is ever easily achieved. So, let’s stop talking, let’s start doing something about it. Diversify, innovate and succeed.