Many IT Security professionals seem to be against the use of social media sites. Many professionals in all industries see no value in social media sites/tools. I am none of the above. Of course there are risks associated with using or sharing any information publicly, but that is the reason the Internet exists, and that is the reason we are all employed as IT Security professionals. We must use the very tools that create the risks that we seek to mitigate so that we more thoroughly understand the threat, and its a bonus if we can also use these tools to out advantage to overcome the threats which they present. The reality is that social media tools are what you make of them. If you only use social media tools to chat with friends and family, you would likely not be exposed to the potential value sites such as Twitter, TheITauditor.com(shameless plug… I admit), or Linkedin can provide. Practically any web based tool or site that is used to entertain or to pass idle time, can be used to generate business or provide education. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water as they say…I personally use Twitter to get notification of various zero-day threats and near real time IT news. Will this near real time news help with the audit I am currently engaged on???? probably not, but there is always that chance that you could get a vital bit of information that helps you add that much more value to your current client’s project/audit.
I have found (and included below) a few Twitter accounts that are great sources of current IT events, IT Security and IT Audit related information. Of course all sources of information are not created equal, so it is our responsibility as readers to do proper research to verify facts. Beyond that we should all do more to network and share information and ideas to improve our industry.
You can start by following me @IT_Audit_Info
And then you should check out these Twitterers:
@infosecstuff
@isaudit
@ITPRO
@CiscoIT
If you know of any other good Social Media sites, blogs, or Twitter accounts(that are not spammers or advertisers) to follow, please post them in a comment.
