TSC Trusted Advisors’ Blog

Train Wreck in Progress!

Every once in a while I get to watch something that is just eerily fascinating. This is one of those times. Human nature, the economy, and the legal system have come together to create a perfect environment for the destruction of a company. I was always amazed at companies that shed their sales people when they fall on hard times. I’ve been saying it for years, when it’s money or security that money always wins. I’m seeing it first hand. I’m watching a company that has eliminated all their full-time security employees to save money and they’re going to pay a heavy price. As they were handing their last security person his walking papers, a nasty piece of malware began to circulate on their network. How do I know? The last security person out the door told me. He had been tracking it for a couple of days and was getting ready to take action when he was told he didn’t work there any more.

He wasn’t the only security person out the door either. I know of at least 2 other security professionals that have been let go because their former employer didn’t see the value in keeping them on.

What amazes me is the notion that if there’s no alarms that they don’t need security! A good security program will keep the noise to a minimum while protecting critical information. A CIO shouldn’t have hear about every tiny alarm or alert.

Therein lays the problem: we do a good job while our PR machine rusts! No noise must mean no threats! We need to do a better job of articulating the value of a well run and maintained security program. Unfortunately, I know of one company that is going to learn that lesson the hard way.