As 2018 comes to a close, I want to thank you for choosing to read this little blog. Now for a small look back at the year.
This year has been another one of ups and downs. I have seen the twitter wars of 2018, people in the industry accused of stuff, and some of the “Rockstars” basically crap on people that have less knowledge than they do. I have seen others try to lift each other up, and promote the sharing that our field desperately needs. So what could we have learned from all of this? Simple, be a bit nicer to each other, listen closely, and if you want more people to understand things, you do no berate them.
We have had more big breaches, tons of smaller breaches, and a lot of facepalming because of the breaches. Some breaches from prior years were revealed to be completely avoidable. Lesson learned, never discount the simple attack, cause the second you overlook it, that is where it will come from.
I have blogged both positive and negative about CarbonBlack Defense. There honestly is a lot wrong with it, mostly from the lack of controls and understanding of how something is alerted on. Even the list the have of priority order on whitelisting doesn’t seem to be actually true. That said, I’ll still be working with it for a while and am going to continue to blog about issues, both good and bad, in the coming year.
I was interviewed on a podcast for the first time this year, which was pretty cool. You can check that out here. It was about CFPs and handling rejection. Yes, I have put in for another CFP for 2019 that I am pretty sure will get rejected, mostly because the conference is red team focused. That being said, the rule here is to not let it get you down, and keep putting in CFPs. I did get one accepted in 2018 for Cyphercon and enjoyed speaking there.
Speaking of conferences, I made it to my first Derbycon this year. I highly recommend going to one, even if you do not have a ticket (I saw tickets being sold at face value the day before and of the con). Just from a networking and knowledge exchange standpoint it is worth it.
Finally, looking toward 2019 I want to say that things will happen. Breaches will occur, people will get butt hurt. Remember that no one is perfect, and those that have to rip on you because you might not have the same level of knowledge, or are trying to look at things from a new perspective, are more than likely doing that because they feel threatened in their own mind. Remember to take time away, and talk to people if you feel mentally drained. Your health, both mental and physical are the most important things you have, for without them you have nothing.
May you all have an awesome 2019.
-Shecky