Increased Visibility

There is a list of information security professionals who use Twitter at http://www.security-twits.com/.

Twitter?  What’s that you say?  Is that the website they keep showing on CNN?

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 bytes in length.

At the heart of it, in 140 characters or less, you simply state what you are doing or thinking.  These tweets form your twitter stream, which others can opt-in to follow and then actually read if they happen to be paying attention at the time of your post.  Those followers can even choose to reply.  It’s like email, but in a much shorter format and without knowing who may actually be on the receiving end.  I suppose it’s more like walking in to a room with your eyes closed and shouting out a one liner.

So?  What can you possibly talk about in 140 characters in way that is meaningful? You COULD let folks know when you are using the facilities.

Twitter has turned in to an AMAZING networking, personal marketing, news, and interactivity tool. Up until recently it has only been used by geeks, but is gaining popularity and users like Facebook and Myspace did a few years ago.

Now, about those security professionals that use Twitter – we refer to ourselves as the Security Twits.  A little over a year ago, Jennifer Leggio formed the group. It has since transferred ownership to Zach Lanier, and lives at http://www.security-twits.com/

I met Zach last year at Defcon, where he organized dinner one evening for the security twits.  You can follow Zach (@quine) and the group in general (@securitytwits) on Twitter.

Following members of this group has been a major source of information.  It helps keep me on the bleeding edge of what’s going on in the security community.  If you want to network with industry experts, becoming a Security Twit is the quickest and easiest way to do so.  I have been able to take part in some really good conversations with experts in the field through Twitter.  The Security Twits get together at major industry conferences, and have even organized road trips picking people up along the way.

They have a LinkedIn Group.

The group is opt-in, so send @quine a tweet, and get started today!