Here's my contribution to the current cyber-security FUD thread. I've been mulling this piece over for a while now, and it can certainly apply to a few different companies in this particluar market. Seeing the current debate, I feel justified in posting this essay to NANOG. -rf Security Through Soundbyte: The 'Cybersecurity Intelligence' Game Richard Forno Essay #2002-12 (c) 2002 Richard Forno. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute in entirety with credit to author. Full article with in-line URLS is available at: http://www.infowarrior.org/articles/2002-12.html Some say that cyberspace is the new battlefield, with its own unique rules, challenges, and concerns for those charged with defending it. If one does consider cyberspace a modern battlefield, intelligence must naturally play a key role in developing appropriate, proactive defenses. Regarding battlefield intelligence, military strategist Sun Tzu wrote that "what is called foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits, nor from gods, nor by analog with past events, nor from calculations. It must be obtained from men who know the enemy situation." That's sound advice. During recent months, hardly a week goes by without some reference to some firm's findings or statistics on hackers, crackers, cyberterrorists, and the general state of internet security as they see it. Many times these reports are marketed as cybersecurity "intelligence." As a security professional - and someone 'on the front lines' of the cyberspace battlefield - I'm both curious and dubious about the whole 'cybersecurity intelligence' business concept, and wonder what it takes to both become a 'cybersecurity intelligence' expert and make money at it, too. < - snip - > Full article with in-line URLS is available at: http://www.infowarrior.org/articles/2002-12.html