Increase in Salary...or Tweeting Time?

© Twitter.com - Obvious CorpOur generation is used to getting the information we want and getting it fast.  How fast did our generation hear about the earthquake in DC that was felt as far as Cincinnati?  Faster than most of the world thanks to texting, Tweeting, and Facebook (I got a ping as it was happening!).  We get frustrated when our internet search takes longer than three seconds and heaven forbid we ever forget our cellphones at home (how do we know what time it is?).  Our generation works and communicates differently than any before us.  But what’s our greatest downfall?  According to Cisco’s most recent “Cisco Connected World Technology Report,” it’s following IT security protocols.

Cisco’s Connected World Technology Report is a summary of results collected by polling 3,000 young IT professionals and college students from all around the world.  It is used to gauge what the next generation of workers will be looking for and how companies will need to mold the current environment to meet those needs and expectations.  Key areas include mobile technologies, social media, work life freedom, and network accesses.  The most troubling find of this study was that 70% of young professionals worldwide, admitted to knowingly ignoring or circumventing IT security policies and procedures.  The most common reason for doing so: They didn’t believe what they were doing was a real security threat and 61% don’t believe it is their responsibility to protect themselves on devices.  

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Welcome to the Hacker High School – Fairfield, CT, USA

You are sitting in your first period class in High School; the morning bell just rang and the announcements have just begun.  Two strangers are standing at the front of the room.  You don’t know who they are and don’t necessarily care as long as it means no class and no homework…. Your homeroom teacher’s lecture becomes white noise in the background.  You begin to trail off in thought and are soon interrupted:

“…here to discuss Hacking!”

Your ears quickly perk up, no longer distracted, all of your attention directed towards the two individuals who had been strangers just minutes before.

© www.gamepur.comNow that I have entered the “Real World” as a Corporate IMLP at the GE Headquarter in Fairfield, CT, I have seized the opportunity to become more involved with the Community. Specifically, the IMLPs are developing a program known as Hacker High School. Hacker HS allows me the opportunity to speak to an AP computer science class on information security related topics (SQL injection, ethical vs. unethical hacking) for a few hours while giving the students an idea of what we do at GE.

This past week was my first Hacker HS experience so I was a little nervous and unsure of what to expect.  As I walked through the classroom doors with a fellow IMLP and a representative from IT Risk we were greeted with the warmest of welcomes.

We soon kicked the day off with an overview of who GE is and gave a run through of leadership programs available at GE. After that, we went around the class with an ice breaker, quickly learning there were some advanced computer scientists present. We had advanced programmers, individuals hosting their own web servers, future graphic designers, game developers, all falling under the “future leaders of technology umbrella”.

By this point the class was oozing with excitement in anticipation of our security pitch.  As we ran through the hour and a half presentation we touched on information security related news such as Anonymous, HBGary, Sony, and Lulzsec. We then moved onto an intro into SQL, followed by a WebGoat demonstration where we showed simple SQL attacks in action and how to defend against them. The students were very responsive to all of the material we were presenting, which made it much more of a discussion than a lecture. One thing that shocked me was how quickly everyone was able to pick up SQL having had little or no database experience.

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Rotation Spotlight: Matthew Bellezza

Many wonder what it is we IMLP's actually do on program each rotation. And in light of that curiosity, I'd like to share some top secret information regarding what I currently do at NBCU for my first rotation.

Well, its not actually top secret per se, however what I am working on does deal with security, which is a very important part of every business. I'm not actually working on one project either - technically I have four, all of which fall within the Information Security and Governance category.

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