There’s an old saying that someone once told me that, “You never truly know someone until you’ve either lived with them, travelled with them or conducted business with them.”
With it being three months today with AlienVault I thought it would be a good time to take stock of where I stood.
It’s been an extremely interesting three months so far and I’ve definitely learnt a lot and am continually pushed in new directions.
As the security advocate - my primary roles is to reach out and engage with the community. As part of those efforts, I’ve written blogs, frequent the forums with a mandate to improve, take part in webinars and tweet chats. I’ve also been able to leverage my analyst background to undertake topical research.
But engaging a community is about more than just having a forum, or writing blogs, exchanging witty banter on social media or even giving away prizes. For me, and for AlienVault, real community engagement is about providing the tools to make individuals as successful as possible in their day jobs. Our success lies in the success of others - and that’s a goal the company strives for - be it in the commercial USM product, with its free tools like OSSIM and OTX, or simply through educational resources it provides. That’s not to say we get everything right 100% of the time - as the saying goes, “if you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes."
Perhaps the one thing that has stood out the most for me is the passion and pace at which my colleagues work at. Even as an analyst, getting briefed from vendors every six months, I didn’t quite appreciate all the hard work that goes on in the back end. Developing a product feels a bit like how Sisyphus must have felt - constantly pushing a boulder uphill. But with the right mix of people and the right vision - I’m confident we’ll reach the summit we’re aiming for.
