Most of the time I don’t put an awful lot of emphasis on awards and lists. Now don’t get me wrong, I am truly appreciative of all the awards and recognition I’ve received over the years. I even have the words “award winning” plastered at the top of the website. But that’s really a cyber-peacock move.
The way awards or prestigious lists are created are somewhat arbitrary. Just ask Leonardo DiCaprio – he’s an expert on the topic of awards. But maths doesn’t lie! So when Onalytica announced their analytics-based list of the top 100 influencers and brands in Cyber Security and Infosec I was genuinely touched to come in at number 17.
Yes, I know what a lot of you are thinking – it’s exactly what I was thinking. The words of Ricky Bobby
But being 17 out of a 100 puts a lot of pressure on me. I’ve already seen a few more followers and visitors to my blog and I really don’t know how I’ll ever meet expectations.
So, I’ll deflect by saying that you should actually consider, who influences the influencers? I stand on the shoulders of giants, of whom there are too many to name. But people like Stephen Bonner, Steve Lord, Robin Wood, Jitender Arora, Matt Summers, James McQuiggan, Kevin Riggins,Thom Langford, Andy Agnes, Steve Ragan, Brian Honan, George Hulme, Dave Lewis, Cindy Valladares, Rob Graham, Davi Ottenheimer, Troy Hunt, Scot Terben, Suggy Sumner, Jennifer Leggio, Anthony Freed, HD Moore, and of course Wendy Nather amongst others have all been instrumental in influencing me and helping me get to where I am in my career. So if you want to follow anyone – follow these people.
Javvad Malik 