I recently got bitten by the networking virus. By now, the infection is in full swing. I am a member of four real-world associations, including, amongst others, (ISC)² and ISACA. Of course these offer excellent networking opportunities, and so I am regularly invited to networking meetings. As a part of the community, how could I resist? Then, I'm on a couple of more informal networks, like mailing lists and smaller circles of friends and colleagues. I've lost count a bit, because some of them stopped meeting and I was reluctant to formally join others, but I think there must be another four or so of them. That's when it really got me started. I discovered Social Networking. Apparently, creating networking groups is a favourite hobby, and so I am an active member of Xing, with such illustrious discussion groups as "CISSP" (only CISSPs in good standing need apply) and "Physicists in IT Security" (only physicists who at some point made the transition to security need apply). There are a handful of other groups which of course I didn't hesitate a second to join, concerning themselves with the likes of "Business Continuity Forum", "Data protection", "Digital Ids and Identity Management", "IT Security", "Information Security", "Information Security and IT", "Internet and Law", "IT Governance", "IT Security European Jobs and Information", "Privcay, Ethics and Data Governance Careers" (the latter two are not very much used - I guess the real market is going on elsewhere), "Risk Management", and the "Sarbanes Oxley Act". Over at LinkedIn, I got in full swing. Find me at "Business Continuity, Information Security Assurance and Compliance Management", "CISO: Meaningful Metrics", "COBIT 4.1", "CSORoundtable", "CXO (CEO, COO, CKO, CMO, CAO, CVO, CDO, CRO, CLO, CSO & CTO) Community", "Certified Information Systems Auditor", "Certified Information Systems Security Professionals (CISSP)" (and there's "CISSP UK" for those of us fortunate enough to live in Great Britain), "Enterprise Security", "Global Security Professional", "IT Governance", "IT Governance Institute", "IT Professionals Network", "IT SECURITY EXPERT" (all caps, no less), "IT audit", "Information Security Community", "Information Security Expert Center", "Information Security Network", "Linking Security", "Practicing Enterprise Governance, Risk & Compliance Management", "Security Bloggers Network", "SecurityMetrics" and something called "The Academy". Are you a member of Facebook? There are in excess of 500 different groups containing the string "Security". Five hundred. (And I bet they all got the same members.) At least nineteen of those are concerning themselves with the well-being of CISSPs. If you work at a large corporation chances are you are involved in internal networks. (I set one up myself when I was working at one of the largest IT providers worldwide, so I'm probably considered "involved" in this.) Security Bloggers are a close-knit communities who love mutually reading and syndicating their RSS feeds. That's why I did of course not hesitate a second (after having found out how to do it) to join the Security Bloggers' Network. Not content, I built my own list of IT Security blogs (cf. "My "IT-Security" Blogroll" on one of my four blogs). So far, it contains in excess of 100 feeds (no, I'm not reading all of them). Did I forget anything? Myspace, anyone? IT Security photos on Flickr? IT Security Videos on Youtube? (I wish, I was making this up.) I guess at least I'm well informed, but that's usually from subscribing to Google News. ... In order to create some structure I hereby announce the foundation of the Security Networkers International, Formidable Federation (SNIFF). I bet in a month there'll be ten of them.
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