May | 2013 | Branden R. Williams, Business Security Specialist

Adventures in Rails standard

It has been quite a while since I did any hardcore coding. Since that time, I have dabbled in various web projects, but programmers who don’t practice tend to get stuck in ruts. Most of the time, I would use my skills to solve small problems using methods and technologies I knew worked. If you want examples of that, go check out Brando Labs. Why do I continually pull tools like Perl, PHP, sed, Bash, and Python out to solve problems? Because I know how they work, and the learning curve to get back into the swing of things is relatively shallow. Back in the Stone days, I ended up taking a week long Java class that had me coding ...

In Favor of Scenario Planning standard

Harvard Business Review recently published an article by Angela Wilkinson and Roland Kupers called “Living in the Futures.” In it, Wilkinson and Kupers discuss the function of scenario planning at Shell—a practice that has been going on in earnest since the 1960s at the company. There are a number of great nuggets that we can use here in information security to help us plan for inevitable security events. The main goal of scenario planning at Shell is to open up the minds of managers and executives to the possibilities of events in the future. It’s designed to buck the trend of thinking that the future will be much like the present, such that when things happen they are well poised ...

Garmin’s Missed Opportunity standard

Businesses are moving faster than ever in this digital economy, and entrepreneurs build and showcase new innovative products or business models every day. The term that is thrown around to describe this phenomenon is called ‘disruption’. As an example, the iPod and iTunes Store disrupted the music industry in a way that forced companies to re-invent their businesses. Remember back in the 1990s when you could find an actual record store? Sure, most of us bought CDs, but it was still a store dedicated to the sale of music. I have fond memories of visiting Blockbuster Music and trying out CDs before I bought them. But Apple changed all of that. They disrupted an established market where prices were fairly ...

April 2013 Roundup standard

What was popular in April? April was a rough month for many folks (as it historically has been). We have had crazy weather all over the US, and I was able to experience a few new cities with El Wiforino. Thank goodness for the great food choices in London! I’m so glad that was our last stop. Here are the five most popular posts from the last month: The Only Customer Service Script You Will Ever Need. This is the post that keeps on bringing people back! Maybe spring break travel issues? Check out this diversion from security that will make you think about how you interact with your customers. How Starbucks is Revolutionizing Mobile (Micro) Payments. For the fourth ...

Monthly ArchivesMay 2013