January 5, 2007 - #1

Welcome, welcome to Fantasy Island.

I am your guide, Mike Rothman, and I'm going to take you on a fantastic journey to the promised land of security. Your users will get it, your senior managers will support it, and best of all you'll even have time to play golf.

Actually, Fantasy Island was one of my favorite shows growing up. I remember staying up late on Saturdays to be taken to this mysterious world where the most miraculous things would happen. The "guests" would learn an important lesson and then the sea plane would take off, forcing me to wait for the next week when a new gaggle of guests would arrive.

So, what does that have to do with the Pragmatic CSO? The big lesson in Fantasy Island was that YOU had the power to fix whatever problems you had. That power was in YOU the entire time. Mr. Roarke just provided a venue so you could discover that power.

Likewise, every CSO has the power to impact great, positive change within their organization. Hopefully you've read the Pragmatic CSO Introduction at this point, so you are familiar with the "reasons to secure." That's why we do what we do. That is the prize. That's what we need to keep focused on, every day.

The power is within YOU. Yes, it's a lot of hard work. Yes, there will be ups and downs. Achievements and setbacks. Hopefully two steps forward, one step back. But you can do it. The Pragmatic CSO can show you how.

In this week's issue:

• This week's P-CSO Tip: Present Thyself [0]
• Pragmatic CSO: The Book [0] (like paper and dead trees and all)
• P-CSO FAQ: Who is Mike, the Pragmatic CSO? [0]
• P-CSO FAQ: Why $97? [0]
• P-CSO in the blogosphere: What they are saying! [0]

here [1].

Mike Murray: "But, having read it, it's far beyond good." Link here [2].

Michael Farnum: "I highly recommend this book to CSOs and security managers of any type." Link here [3].

Andy, ITGuy: "What I have read so far has been entertaining and educational." Link here [4].

• Martin McKeay doesn't like the 12-steps (here [5]). My friend, if I could have gotten it done in 6 steps - I would have. But he does think there is value: "His comments on why we secure the network was worth the time spent reading all by itself, everything else is icing on the cake."

But as with everything, there have been some that have critical comments.

• Arthur at Emergent Chaos thinks the price is "astounding" (here [6]). See my explanation above. He also wondered a bit if he could meet Mike, the Pragmatic CSO at RSA. Maybe I'll get a life size poster of Mike, and then Arthur can have a conversation with him. Of course, Arthur only read the introduction, so he's got about 8% of the story.

Keep the comments coming. Both good and bad.

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