First Post

So, this is the first post in my blog. I feel it is only appropriate for me to talk about why I am doing this, what my intentions are, and my opinion on blogs in general.

I must be totally honest and confess to have never actually explicitly or intentionally viewed any persons blog. I may have landed on a few here and there searching for particular things on the internet, but I would have to say I would never regularly visit a blog to better inform myself about current events, security, or anything else I have an interest in. I guess I just don't trust them. All of this talk about the "blogosphere" (Am I the only one that thinks that is the silliest media-contrived slang term ever created?) replacing traditional media, I just don't buy into bloggers having the same journalistic integrity as, say, a journalist from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, or even SecurityFocus. I don't think they ever will either, but I could see some exceptional bloggers being hired by a traditional media outlet. So, why am I doing this?

Well, two reasons, the first is that I am lucky enough to be relatively plugged-in to the information security/ethical hacking industry. I am also lucky in that I get to regularly teach hacking classes for InfoSec Institute, and students are always asking me for additional resources after the class. So this blog will serve as a place to find these resources if you are a previous student, or are simply looking for some interesting security information on the web.

The second reason is much more self-interested (selfish?). The marketing manager here at InfoSec has asked me to do this, as our website was hit by a recent google update (called Allegra, read more here if you care). It is high time we started adding original content to our web presence, so this is a good opportunity. I have also written two books, and consider myself to have average to above-average writing skills. I would like to improve my writing skills, and a blog looks like a good place to practice without having nasty editors hanging over my head. So here it is. Please leave comments, and if you like what you see, please link to this website.

~Jack