Week 12 Post: Reflections

Reflecting on the blogs I’ve written over the last 11 weeks, it is apparent that the blogs I have posted have been largely focused on the hacking community.  My primary source of information was Cnet.com and thehackernews.com.  I primarily used them as my launch points for blogging as they have long been my source for IT Security related news, as they can always be trusted to have the lastest in IT security related stories.

I focused on hacking stories because in the world of IT security, hackers are the #1 threat, and because I find the topic both interesting and relevant to the goals of not only our blogging assignment, but towards the entire degree path. 

In my searching for stimulating and pertinent material each week, I would spend a considerable amount of time researching various sites to get multiple viewpoints of any given topic, and would often find myself researching topics more than I normally would just to learn about what was going on in any given event.  This research I performed each week has broadened not only my view of the hacking community but the climate of the world as well.

We are living in interesting times, with groups/movements such as WikiLeaks, Anonymous, the 99% Movement, and the Occupy Movement, etc.  It’s quite interesting to see the lines between the real and digital world blurring.  How digital attacks and events are complimenting protests and actions performed in the real world. 

I believe blogs such as these could aid IT Security professionals and future IT Security students in understanding the current climate and the threats that exist in the cyber world.  Understanding the pathology of cybercrime and keeping abreast of security threats, both past and present may aid in the proactive development of countermeasures for future threats.