Ep24: Can Cybersecurity Experts Safely Use TikTok?

Speaker: 00:00:00

As a security engineer.

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I'm curious about your

thoughts on the intersection.

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Of, professional cybersecurity roles.

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And personal social media use.

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And specifically.

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Using platforms like Tik

TOK, does that compromise?

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The trustworthiness of

security professionals.

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I did a LinkedIn poll on this

and it was rather interesting.

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Because.

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It was more of a mixed bag,

but it really came back as.

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At least in the United

States, the answer was no.

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That they wouldn't trust

a security professional.

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That uses a platform like Tik TOK.

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Now they don't really give

any information as to why.

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That was just a short poll

and that was the vote.

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Personally, I find it a

rather simplistic view.

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And I'm going to go over a few of

the reasons why I feel that way.

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And you can totally disagree

with me on this one.

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And if you do disagree,

look in the show notes.

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There's a contact area.

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Please contact me.

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I'd love to know what some

opposing viewpoints are on this.

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So the first thing is

professional versus personal use.

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And I think a security insured can

be proficient in their job while

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using social media platforms.

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For personal entertainment or networking.

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And furthermore.

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I think from what I have seen.

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That if you take a piece of

information that you want to

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give out, You're going to reach a

completely different audience there.

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That may be very receptive to your

message and might need to hear it.

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But it's not getting an education

and not getting any understanding

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of that need because there's an

entire generation of people that

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have decided it's not trustworthy

and they're not going to go there.

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But they don't understand,

or maybe they don't care.

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That the platforms they're

used to promoting on are

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not used in other countries.

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Or it's only in English and

they're not using subtitles.

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Or you're not reaching a generation of

people who are younger, who just are

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not going to be on LinkedIn, looking

at your stuff, or maybe that maybe that

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platform is blocked in that country.

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YouTube doesn't seem to get

the respect that it wants.

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Did I use it?

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And I still like YouTube myself.

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But it's very different.

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Now you're getting a lot of

different people that are not

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going to find your message on.

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A long video, right.

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If I do a.

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If I do a long video on multi-factor

authentication on YouTube.

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I gotta be honest with you, unless you're

a power player for your small creator.

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That's not going to go anywhere.

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And if you do a short, I hope you

have, you know, a very entertaining

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way to do that because that's also

really not going to go anywhere.

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It's just not how that platform promotes,

but maybe you'll have different luck.

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But if you were to do the same

video and you were to do that on

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Tik TOK, You had hit an entirely.

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Different audience.

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Of younger people that have different

opinions or maybe actually find that

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information valuable, especially when

they're looking for cybersecurity

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information or career advice.

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Which is going to be a completely

different audience and you're

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going to find on LinkedIn.

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Which would again be a completely

different audience than anybody

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listening to this podcast.

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And this is a completely different

audience from newsletters.

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So it's rather interesting.

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To simply dismiss something and that's

professional versus personal use.

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Number two could be awareness

and risk management.

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So, you know, security professionals

are typically well informed about the

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risks associated with social media.

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And then more likely to take

precautions to mitigate these risks

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such as strong, unique passwords.

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Enabling two factor authentication.

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What you can do on these platforms.

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And being cautious about the

personal information they share.

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So if you have a security

engineer that has a channel.

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On YouTube and a channel on tech talk.

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And they're just sharing information

about cyber security and how to secure

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yourself and be better in the digital

world and, you know, take care of your

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own personal information as well as, you

know, people, family, friends loved ones.

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How is that a bad message to spread?

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To the world.

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I don't think it is.

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I think it's our obligation.

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To take the knowledge and the

understanding that we have

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as technology professionals,

people that do understand this.

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And spread that information and to,

to a different audience, a different

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generation that needs to hear it,

that wants to hear it, but needs

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to not hear in technical terms.

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So for example, If I was going to

explain cyber security to my mom.

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I would tell her about, you know,

securing your information and bad

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guys are out there to get it and they

want to steal it and they want to.

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You know, social engineer or,

you know, user information to get

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loans or, or medicine, whatever,

or make fake IDs who knows.

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But I'm not going to be able

to describe that to her.

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Talking about E.

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S encryption and all these other kind

of terms, it's going to go over her

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head and she's going to tune me out.

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So it's a message that needs to

be put out to different audiences.

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And I think that that message can be

spread on a multitude of platforms with

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not compromising your own information.

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Number three would be

understanding of platform security.

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So just being familiar with

the wide range of platforms.

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Uh, including Tik TOK can give skirt

security professionals a broader

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understanding of different security

models, potential vulnerabilities, and

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the way in which user data is handled.

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So understanding those different

platforms, if you're going to be an

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expert on something, usually you need

to use it yourself and understand

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it and understand the audience.

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In order to disseminate that information.

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For example, my podcast now

is at least six minutes.

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Some people will listen to that.

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I do not think this would be a very

successful podcast on YouTube or.

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Most of the platforms

people have tuned out.

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They're not going to listen.

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So it's a different audience, the

audience that I'm potentially reaching.

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Now it's interested in listening to

something for more than 30 seconds or.

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A couple of minutes.

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And that's not normal for these

other platforms, but the information.

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Can still be pertinent.

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So I think as a professional,

just negating and ignoring

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things that are out there matter.

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There's a whole general, if you ignore

that, there's an entire generation of

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people that are learning from people

who are much younger, who do not have

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the industry experience and they might

be learning a lot of the wrong stuff.

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But they're not going to know it because

the generation that's supposed to be

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teaching them has decided that not they're

not going to participate in that at all.

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And so you have younger people

teaching younger people.

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And who knows.

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And a lot of it's marketing.

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I've seen some rather interesting

things on the platform where you

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have very prolific influencers with.

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You know, 20 plus 40, 60,000

followers, which is quite huge.

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And they've only been in

cybersecurity for a year.

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I mean.

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Okay.

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It seems like this interest.

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I mean, I've only been

in it for five years.

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And had it as a.

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Uh, personal hobby,

something that I've done for.

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Quite some time, including an it career.

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And I'm still learning a lot

and understanding this thing.

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So I don't understand.

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Anybody, anybody who has

one year under their belt?

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Is suddenly an expert about the field.

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So.

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There should be more people in that space.

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Educating and giving different

opinions on that rather than just

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a certain, you know, generation.

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Giving that, uh, that information.

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Which leads me to number four, which

is educational and outreach purposes.

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I mean, Some security professionals

use platforms like Tik TOK

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to educate the public about

cybersecurity, digital hygiene and

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the importance of data privacy.

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Absolutely.

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It's a platform that's going

to hit a different audience.

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You should take advantage of that.

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And I, I think that is huge.

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You have an educational and outreach

opportunity that you normally

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wouldn't have with other platforms.

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So there is something to be said for that.

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Five is keeping up with trends.

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So social media platforms are

often the front lines of new

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types of security threats.

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So being familiar with these platforms

can help professionals understand emerging

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threats and evolving digital landscape.

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A lot of the things.

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Breaking news or breaking

threats are going to happen.

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In the social media space long

before they ever hit the news.

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And so if you want to keep up with those

trends in order to educate and understand.

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Then you're going to need to

be on the forefront of that.

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And that's usually in very

popular worldwide platforms.

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Six would be personal choice and privacy.

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So using a social media

platform does not automatically

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apply irresponsible behavior.

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I mean privacy settings and usage

patterns vary, greatly amending it.

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Individuals.

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So how you're using it.

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In a professional capacity does

not make you less trustworthy.

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You could reverse the script.

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If you were in a different country,

you could say I don't trust a security

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professional that would use YouTube.

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It's the same thing to me.

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You're negating a platform based upon.

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How, you know, something that you're

thinking about or how you're using it.

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And I think the important part to

think about is how are you using it?

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Are you being secure?

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Are you being safe or using it

as a platform to educate people?

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Okay.

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Then that message should be

spread in a very, you know, a

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variety of different things.

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What I say in this podcast,

Could be really toned down to be

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something that could be on YouTube.

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It could be something that

could be in Tech-Talk.

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It could be something that's on.

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Uh, newsletter.

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There's a lot of different ways

to take this information and

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change it so that I can get this.

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Message out to the right people.

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You also have a number seven, we

demonstration of security principles.

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So.

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You know, a security engineer might

use social media to demonstrate good

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security practices like avoiding

oversharing, personal information,

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or recognizing phishing attempts

or identifying misinformation.

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As they're all good uses of

that platform to help educate.

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And number eight, a diverse exposure.

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So exposure to variety of

technologies, including social media.

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Can enhance your ability to

adapt to new security challenges.

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So.

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I don't think that the use of a

social media platform like Tik TOK

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automatically negates a security engineer

skills or commitment to cybersecurity.

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I think it's more important to

evaluate their professional expertise.

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The understanding of security risks and

how they manage their digital footprint.

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That to me, Make some more

of a trustworthy individual.

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Than simply using or not using a platform.

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In my capacity.

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I want to teach and talk about cyber

security, just like I did with fitness

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that I've, I've done for years.

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And how I reach that audience.

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Then I just have to change and adapt.

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If I decide.

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That all I'm going to do is

do a newsletter and a blog.

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Okay, that's fine.

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And that could work really well.

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But I could do a lot better if I

engage my audience in the way that

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they want to consume information.

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So for example,

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I think reading is important.

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I know how to read.

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But I don't sit down

and read a lot of books.

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But I do listen to a lot of podcasts

and I do listen to a lot of audio

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books that I get through the library.

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So if you've got a really, really

good book, I should, I should read.

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You're not going to catch me necessarily.

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Cause that, that isn't

how I consume information.

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But if you have that book in an

audible format, I will listen to it.

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So you can take the same

information in different formats.

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And reach a much large, larger audience.

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So you take that blog.

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You take that newsletter.

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And you read it.

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Right.

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Let's say you just read it, whatever.

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Now it's a podcast and you've just

reached an entirely different audience.

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It's not, it's just an email

more email and they're not

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really going to read your blog.

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They don't have time for that, but they

are going to listen to what you're saying.

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On a commute or in the car, just like

you might be listening to this podcast.

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Then you take that information and

you decide I'm going to take what I'm

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saying and try to make it under three

minutes because people who are in hurry.

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It's better practice, public speaking.

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It's better practice for now rambling.

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It helps you communicate your message.

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Clearly concisely quickly.

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So.

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Using different platforms

for me has been very.

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It's been very helpful.

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Let me put it that way.

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The information that

I'm able to disseminate.

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If I take two things of, of equal value.

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I won't be able to disseminate

that information on YouTube.

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That I can.

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On Tik TOK, I could have the exact

same message and the exact same video.

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Of me doing that.

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And.

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It's not going to be a short shown

on YouTube for whatever reason

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their algorithm or who knows.

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But I can reach out to

people who are curious.

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Ask questions.

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We'll share that.

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And I can educate people

on a different platform.

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So if I have a message and I

think it's important, let's

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take two factor authentication.

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I think that's really important

to enable on every account

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that you can enable it and on.

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Sure.

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It's a little bit.

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Challenging to get a code,

but it's actually not that

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hard once you get used to it.

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It's like a no-brainer, but it

is really important to do it.

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So I can write that in a blog.

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I can write that in the newsletter.

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I could do it in the podcast.

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I can do it on YouTube.

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I can do it on Tik TOK.

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I am going to get that message out

that is very important to do this.

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On a multitude of platforms.

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So people are consuming that,

that message in a variety of ways.

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And if I could just help one person.

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I put two a Fe on an account

that matters to them.

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Whereas they don't.

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Get compromised or the

identity doesn't get stolen.

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They don't lose their email account

or they don't lose one of the social

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media accounts or they're on Tik TOK.

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And they go, I, oh, I didn't

realize it had to affect, I

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guess I should turn that on.

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I'm all for that because

the message I'm putting out.

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Is important.

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And I'm more interested in how the

message gets out and is received than

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am in the platform that I'm doing it on.

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So, however, Whoever and however

they need to consume that information

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is how I'm going to do it.

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And I think there's a

benefit to me too, because.

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It helps me.

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Get better at things I'm not good at,

which is getting to the point quickly.

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Right.

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A podcast for me is okay.

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Cause it's 20 minutes or

15 minutes or whatever.

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And I don't mind listening

to something longer cause I'm

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usually doing something longer.

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But when I'm watching a short video,

I'm looking for a tidbit of information,

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a piece of information, and I kind

of want to consume it quickly.

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And I really don't have time

for one minute of your antics

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or whatever it is you're doing.

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And for me as a producer of

that content, it's difficult.

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I getting to the hook quickly and

capturing people within three seconds.

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That's just new to me

and that's not my forte.

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I'm used to this kind of a medium

where people are listening and I'm

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not having to rush explanations.

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So I'm pretty excited about the

different platforms that are out

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there and how to communicate.

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A single message and then disseminate it.

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In a variety of ways.

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And I'll go back to that, you

know, that just that book.

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Example that I gave you might have

a great book, but I don't really put

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aside the time necessarily to read it.

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Like some people really do put a time,

put aside time to read something.

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I prefer to listen to it.

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So you're going to reach a

much larger audience by having

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your book in an audible format.

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Now you've got the people that read and

the people that listen, and I kind of feel

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the same way with social media platforms.

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Sure.

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I can do a blog post.

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: 00:15:23

I can stick to this podcast

where I feel comfortable, but

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: 00:15:26

if I put myself out there.

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: 00:15:28

In a, kind of a public facing

area where I'm talking on video,

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: 00:15:31

which is new to me and looking

at a camera, which is new to me.

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: 00:15:34

It puts me in a different,

I guess, exposure area.

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: 00:15:38

And I can reach an entirely different

audience with the same message that I

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: 00:15:42

think is important to get out there.

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: 00:15:44

So back to the original question.

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: 00:15:46

Would you trust a security engineer?

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: 00:15:48

That's on Tik TOK.

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: 00:15:49

Or do you agree that it doesn't

really negate their skill or

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: 00:15:55

commitment to cybersecurity?

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: 00:15:56

It's more important.

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: 00:15:57

You know, to evaluate the professional

expertise, the understanding

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: 00:16:01

of security risks and how they

manage their digital footprint

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and how they use those platforms.

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: 00:16:06

I would actually love to hear from

somebody on this and you can find my

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: 00:16:09

contact information in the show notes.

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: 00:16:11

Otherwise, please.

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: 00:16:13

Do like, and share this podcast.

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: 00:16:15

It will help get the word out.

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: 00:16:17

And I appreciate everybody listening.