Happy 13th Birthday TaoSecurity Blog

Today, 8 January 2016, is the 13th birthday of TaoSecurity Blog! This is also my 3,000th blog post.

I wrote my first post on 8 January 2003 while working as an incident response consultant for Foundstone. Kevin Mandia was my boss. Today I am starting my third year as Chief Security Strategist at FireEye, still working for Kevin Mandia. (It's a small world. In April I will hit my five year anniversary with the Mandiant part of FireEye.)

In 2015 my blogging frequency increased dramatically, with 55 posts, more than double my 2014 total of 23 and triple my 2013 output of 18. In 2012 I posted 60 stories, so I was close to that level in 2015. It's still nothing like my writing from 2003-2011 however!

Why the drop over the years? I "blame" my @taosecurity Twitter account. With almost 36,000 followers, easy posting from mobile devices, and greater interactivity, Twitter is an addictive platform. I have authored roughly 16,000 Tweets since first posting in July 2009.

Second, blogging used to be the primary way I could share my ideas with the community. These days, speaking and writing are a big part of my professional duties. I try to track media reports here and I archive my non-blog writing at my Academia.edu account.

Third, time is precious, and blogging often takes a back seat. I'd rather spend time with my family, write and research my PhD, collaborate with think tanks, and so on.

I still plan to keep blogging in 2016. Twitter's only a 140 character platform, and some days I have the time and inclination to share a few thoughts beyond what I've said or written for work. I have to decide if I want to write about strategy here, or move to another location.

Thanks you to Google for providing me this free platform for the past 13 years, and to you for reading what I post. I'm one of the few original "security bloggers" still active, though not writing in the same way as I did in 2003.

I realize my transition from technical details to strategic considerations has alienated some readers, but I am comfortable with my interests and I believe the greater security community needs to hear from people who think outside the tools and tactics box. This is especially true when the majority of the security community isn't aware they are inside such a box, or that there is another set of ideas and people available to contribute to the world's digital safety and security.

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