May 01

Wow!  Regretfully, it’s been a long while since my last blog post.  I have to say that I have been through many changes in my career these past several months, which have finally placed me in a position with greater influence.  It has become very hard for me to sit back and watch information systems being designed and developed with security as an “obligation” or something that has to be done for certification and accreditation purposes.  When will system owners begin to see the importance of information security and information assurance?  Unfortunately, I do not have the answer.  However, I feel as an information security professional (forgive me for getting on this soapbox) it is not just important but DETRIMENTAL to relay the severity of downplaying security in systems.  SECURITY IS NOT JUST CHECKING OFF A BOX ON A CHECKLIST!

So much has been going on in the technology world as well.  As an Apple product enthusiast, I’d be remiss not to mention the iPad along with the “mystique” associated with the stolen iPhone prototype.  At any rate, I look forward to providing more of my personal commentary on information security, social media, and web 2.0 technologies.  I have definitely returned to my first love! :)

Mar 05

Feeling good in my skin
Knowing something good will begin
As I look real deep within
Myself to Discover…

Seeing life differently
Negative, positive, competently
Addressing all of life’s twists and turns
As I continue to Recover…

I want to shout and yell and scream
Because happiness is bursting out my seams
No matter what I face, it seems
I will be just fine as I Uncover…

I have an excitement in my soul
I feel completely in control
No matter the obstacles that unfold
I am anxiously open to Rediscover.

Copyright 2010.  Jeri L. Brown.

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Mar 04

I struggle from day to day
Hiding behind a mask to convey
That everything will be just fine
But deep inside I slowly decline.

The mask I wear hides all my pain
And keeps me feeling somewhat sane
But underneath my masquerade
I’m swallowed by this sad charade.

I’m tired so tired of this show
I feel there is somewhere else I should go
But I’m comfortable wearing this tattered mask
Because I’m afraid to bask….

In the Sun.

No one said it would be easy
Especially when I’m sick and queasy
Of being in a crazy game
Trying to fit into a frame
Simply trying to hide the shame
I feel in this race to stake my claim.

I want to be free like the wind
No longer feeling like I’m pinned
In a corner trying to escape
But frozen in an insecure state.

I want to truly experience life.
I want to overcome this strife.
I want to really live again.
I want to get out of this pen.

My strength is coming back to me.
I really feel I can be free
Of all this pain and hurtful despair
It can vanish and I can repair….

My soul.

Free like a bird, I can be
Soaring above in pleasant reverie.
I’m strong, determined, “Yes I can!”
And all my struggles quickly disband.

In the Sun my soul’s revealed
Complete, light, and finally healed.

Copyright 2010.  Jeri L. Brown.

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Feb 17

Have you ever been truly bored with what you do?  Uninspired?  You know that you need to head off into a different direction that will renew your passion but you are unable to motivate yourself.  You have become complacent and feel that there is a severe lull occurring within your career but you don’t know where to go next or what you should do.  You’ve reached what you thought was the pinnacle of your career but realize that you have reached the “fork in the road” of your professional life.  Where do you go now?

Drive and Determination

I believe these are fundamental and the basis of gaining direction.  You have to WANT to go somewhere.  You have to WANT to make a choice.  Instead of sitting waiting for things to happen, you have to get up and make them happen.  This reminds me of when I established one of my earlier businesses that was situated around teaching people and small businesses about information security awareness.  I did all of the work needed to make people aware of my seminar and I marketed myself and my business.  In doing so, I actually had people want to talk to me about future security awareness classes for their businesses!  Bottom-line, I was driven and determined to make things happen and to succeed.  This also showed me the many other hidden opportunities that were waiting for me.  Finding your drive and being determined is not mysterious or elusive; it starts from within yourself.  What is your passion? What do you like to do?  “JUST DO IT” as Nike so often reminds us.

Continual Self-Motivation

This builds upon your drive and determination.  You have to remind yourself daily and in every instance what you want to do.  You have to see the end even though you are at the beginning.   Imagine.  Be your own cheerleader.  You can do it!  Daily, make strides to your goal.  No matter how big or small your pace, you are stepping in the direction of achievement.  Always keep that in the forefront of your mind.  Not everyone is going to see what you see.  Steadily maintain your vision and do whatever it takes to stay on course.

Write Your Goals Down

Have you ever gone to the grocery store without a list?  If this has happened to you and you are like me, you end up buying a whole bunch of things that are not on your list and you forgetting things (some important) that you meant to pick up.  The same thing occurs when you do not write your goals down.  You end up doing a bunch of things that are not in line with your ultimate aspirations and you end up forgetting important things that you should have done.  This leads to confusion, cloudiness, lack of inspiration, and never getting to where you need to be.  You will lose focus.  This all can be prevented by writing your goals down.  Write specific actions you need to achieve to get to your greater goal.  Doing this will reinforce your drive and continue to motivate you!   Not to mention, your list will serve as a checklist for you so you can see what you have done and what you need to do to achieve your goal.

BELIEVE!

I know all too well that you can believe as much as you want but if you have no actions behind that belief, you will remain stagnant.  Just know that you can achieve whatever goal it is that you are trying to obtain.

One of my favorite quotes is:

“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”–Henry Ford

It all starts with you.  So….what are you going to do about it?

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Feb 05

In spite of the fact that I had a painful stomach virus and have been emotionally processing my concerns for the Haiti catastrophe, I have not been able to write an effective blog post.  Yes, I have many ideas of WHAT I want to write about but I just cannot seem to get my thoughts out of my head onto the proverbial paper.  I decided unequivocally within myself when I started my blog that I would not let it fall to the wayside.  I don’t want to become a blog statistic.    So, as always, I used my trusted friend Google to see what tips I could find from others that have suffered the same diagnosis.   I’ve identified and assembled some of the top tips from other bloggers.

  1. Start with a headline. This is essentially what I have done today.  The easiest blog I can write about is my current problem.   Plus, it allows me to “hone down” into a specific problem area and find solutions for it.
  2. Brainstorm. For someone like me who has so many different thoughts run through her brain and  is quite an over-achiever, it may be good just to get into an empty room with no distractions and just type incessantly.  The brainstorming session can actually create several various topics to write on to which later you can separate (if need be) and clean up for posting.
  3. Lower Your Standards. With many things in life, I think it is natural to want to be the best and be able to offer the best advice.  Remember there are millions of blogs out there.  You are the best at what YOU do and what YOU have experienced.  You don’t have to be a genius—just give advice on what you know and your experience and I guarantee that will help someone out.
  4. Set Goals and Stick to Them. The funny thing is that I started this post a week ago and told myself that I was going to post it on the day I started it.  Much to my dismay, it’s now a week later.   Discipline yourself and once you have established a pattern, it will become a habit that you will easily follow.

Now I’ve only listed four but there are SO many tips from other bloggers out there.  Regardless of what may have you suffering from Blogger Block, find the avenue that works for YOU.  One important fact I want to mention is that whatever you blog about, make sure that it is passion-infused with you and your brand.   You do not want to TRY to become something that you are not as it will show in your writing.

This quote from poet William Stafford sums it up:

“I believe that the so-called ‘writing block’ is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance … one should lower his standards until there is no felt threshold to go over in writing. It’s easy to write. You just shouldn’t have standards that inhibit you from writing … I can imagine a person beginning to feel he’s not able to write up to that standard he imagines the world has set for him. But to me that’s surrealistic. The only standard I can rationally have is the standard I’m meeting right now … You should be more willing to forgive yourself. It doesn’t make any difference if you are good or bad today. The assessment of the product is something that happens after you’ve done it.”

Jan 22

As I watch the televised ‘Hope For Haiti Now’ event this evening, I am uplifted to see so many celebrities respond to this catastrophic event that has rocked the entire world.  However, my heart is filled with such sadness and grief.  Like so many reading this, I have donated what I could to the Red Cross not feeling that my donation was enough.  I so want to do more to help.  I pray that things will get better for Haiti and that you find the love from within to give and do what you can to help.

Anything that you can donate, no matter how small, please do….

Haiti, I will continue to pray for you.  You can and will rise above this!

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Jan 15

I was reading an awesome blog post by entrepreneur Penelope Trunk when it literally slapped me in my consciousness:   Relationships matter!  Now before you even try to say “Duh” and close this post, that statement is undeniably deeper than what it appears.

I saw Avatar in IMAX 3D last weekend.  (If you haven’t seen it, I will try to just pick up on the underlying theme and not the movie plot.  To digress just a little, the movie was AWESOME.  James Cameron did an outstanding job with this movie and I am sure it will be in the hearts and minds of all that have seen it for a long time to come.)  But what simply “grabbed” me and most people who saw the movie was how beautiful, simple, and intriguing life would be to live on the planet of Pandora!   Relationship is one of the basic underlying themes in the movie along with using relationships to belong.  I truly believe this is why people stumble away from the theaters in amazement.  They are baffled by the simplicity and beauty of how the relational aspects encountered in the movie were basic life fundamentals (along with the astounding 3D effects).  These fundamentals are not followed on Earth—in reality—to the extent that they are in Pandora although they could be.  But what a minute—isn’t social media networking modeled to enhance and create relationships?!

I’ve figured it out!  Our need to be engaged with social media technology is a way for us to gain, cultivate, and create RELATIONSHIPS!  It goes so much deeper than finding a job or voicing an opinion or simply just “being”.  We are relational beings and using the many social media options and avenues allow us to “relate” to each other on levels never even obtained before.  The needs to communicate, explore, and expand “our horizons” are satisfied.  And most importantly, we are able to LEARN from each other.

Relationship is defined as “a connection, association, or involvement.”   We all have the need to belong—to be a member or part of something.  We all want to share our beliefs and opinions and feel that we really matter.  It’s not just “who you know” and “what you know” but sharing both of these concepts in a relational way to others.  Networking.  Real networking in its purest form.

It’s so much more than gaining thousands of followers on Twitter, having hundreds of connections on LinkedIn, or hundreds of friends on Facebook just so you can say you have a large following.  It’s about RELATING to those followers, connections, and friends.  If the relational aspect is taken away, what does it matter?

I’m so glad I saw Avatar and if you haven’t seen it yet, make it a point to.  It’s awakened so many things in me especially knowing that each person that I know, have known, or will know relationally matters to me.  I hope after reading this you will share in my passion of truly making all of the relationships you have matter.

Jan 14

As I describe myself in terms of my information security background, I notice that I have been using the terms information security and information assurance interchangeably.  This became even more evident to me this morning as I sat in an information assurance meeting where I again began to see how information assurance truly is a separate entity apart from information security.  (Maybe I should have been aware of this fact but I’m sure there are others out there that have had the “wool pulled over their eyes” for quite some time.  Plus, the differentiation and/or definitions may be determined by the workplace/company culture.)

This is my attempt at uncovering this “mystery”.  Throughout my Google research, I see that there have been plenty of attempts to extrapolate the differences.  I’m not going to write a long detailed dissertation on the subject –I just want to point out the differences and get opinions so that we can all gain awareness and adjust the terminology if necessary!

Wikipedia defines “Information  Security” as:

…protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction.

My definition is that information security is the method of protecting data while ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability are in place. Of course there are administrative and physical methods, but I believe that a larger portion is TECHNICAL.

A great definition that I found of “Information Assurance” is from the IT Unified Compliance Framework (UCF).  Their definition of Information Assurance is the following:

Information assurance is about defining rules for maintaining information privacy, protecting information soundness, and ensuring information accessibility by mandating that someone (or multiple people) are held accountable that organizational policies, standards, and procedures are created to match the mandatory regulatory controls, and are properly paired to the information systems within the organization.

For me, information assurance is ensuring that systems are in compliance to established governing POLICY.  That’s it, plain and simple.

Based on those definitions, it appears that basically it comes down to TECHNICAL SECURITY (information security) versus GOVERNING SECURITY POLICY (information assurance).

What do you think?

Jan 05

It appears as though Apple and Google are competing.  A healthy competition amongst two very creative innovators of “gadgets” and technologies is intriguing to a technology geek as myself (and can be rather costly if I try to follow the current trends).  Nevertheless, today there is a lot of web chatter going on regarding Google’s new Nexus One “Superphone” and Apple’s acquisition of the Quattro Wireless Mobile Ad Platform.

Google is stepping up its presence a few notches by joining in the smart phone phenomenon.  Today was the official announcement of the Google Phone.  Google’s Android software was first offered in 2008 on phones made by Taiwan’s HTC Corp. The new Nexus One Phone may feature more of Google’s own software, acting as the standard for other makers to follow.  Now doesn’t this look a lot like Apple’s iphone?

Today Quattro Wireless announced on its blog Apple’s acquisition of the Quattro Ad network.  The Wall Street Journal-affiliated blog All Things Digital reported late Monday, January 4, 2010 that Apple would pay $275 million for Quattro.   “Surprisingly”, Quattro is a competitor to AdMob.   Google agreed to acquire AdMob in November for $750 million.

2010 is going to be a VERY interesting year!

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Jan 01

Happy New Year, everyone!  It’s the first day of a new year and like most people, I feel inspired and have made a long list of New Year’s resolutions both personal and professional.  One thing that I want to do both personally and professionally is to be positive and inspired.  I want to be rejuvenated and constantly do things that will boost me to higher levels in my professional aspirations.

Last week, I read an article at Smashing Magazine entitled “Design Something Every Day”.  For me, the article was VERY inspirational in terms of providing a way for me to stay motivated from day to day.  With everything, I normally dive right in and I am REALLY trying to dive right into my life now.  I am charged! Amped!  And I figure that in order to achieve a new level of success, I need to stay inspired DAILY and keep my creative juices flowing.

I look forward to sharing my journey with you as I continue to develop and transform.  I’ve developed a separate page on this blog entitled “Daily Design” that will show the creations that I develop.  Feel free to comment and give honest feedback.

Again, Happy New Year, and I hope that you too will be inspired to take the reigns of your destiny through creative rejuvenation!

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