As I didn’t get to attend Blackhat, BsidesLV, Defcon this year, I’ve been reading up on writeups from people that did attend to catch up on all the good knowledge that was shared.
One of the interesting writeups I read was on CSO Online with the intriguing titles, The best and worst of Black Hat 2019.
Overall it’s a fun read, but there was this part in the beginning that got me thinking… maybe even mildly annoyed me on the topic of security experts as rock stars.
This is another example of thinking what we do in security is somehow unique or different, or we are special in any way (positive or negative).
Andrew Barratt shared an example quickly with me on how the term rockstar is in no way exclusive to security. I mean, who would have thought Accounts Payable was such a glam life.
So I ended up doing about 13 minutes of research, and based on that have to respectfully disagree with the author.
Exhibit A: https://youtu.be/_huPTu1vOvo From a dental conference. It’s not a keynote, but you can see much fun being had on stage, a “show” being put on for most.
Exhibit B : https://youtu.be/hKRmwpoEG2Y It’s an accounting conference… looks very similar to many security cons i’ve been to.
Exhibit C: https://youtu.be/pgDTndsVzqY has a whole song and dance routine at Autodesk universityExhibit C: https://youtu.be/pgDTndsVzqY
Exhibit D – https://youtu.be/9gbWdKWKtGE?t=202 my favourite of all is the walk out at about 3:30 at the nurses conference. I have no idea who she is, but that’s rockstar status right there. Complete with music, entourage, and high-fives. I literally cannot stop watching this!!!
I guess what I’m saying is, don’t beat up our industry too much, or feel like security is doing something other industries don’t. It’s kind of the nature of cons. And I’m cool with that. If I attend something in person, I’m happy for it to be an educational experience.
Now go and watch Dino Dai Zovi’s Blackhat keynote which is actually really good and worth listening to.
Javvad Malik 