What do you like best about your job?
Diversity and depth. Within the job responsibilities that cover information security, it's an amazing arena that touches all aspects of the business -- product planning, operations, application development, network design and operations and so on. We explore different approaches to solving important issues, but not in an isolated manner.
Of what are you most proud?
3Delta Systems has had, since its inception in 1998, a central focus on applying our best efforts to incorporating security awareness and delivery into the business. Information security for 3Delta is integral to the firm's operations. Effective security is not an event, not a person, not a specific technology. Our perspective is that it's an awareness and ethic that should exist within an organization and that the most effective security device or countermeasure is an aware brain.
As a result of setting this tone, 3Delta was positioned as an "early adopter" of the card industry information security standards. We worked with our third-party security assessor (Ubizen/Cybertrust) in 2003 and sought to be simultaneously assessed for compliance to the then-independent standards offered by MasterCard and Visa. They have since harmonized, but at the time this was a nice achievement.
What annoys you?
Overselling and underdelivery.
-Aaron Bills is vice president of business and product development for 3Delta Systems.
SKILLS IN DEMAND
Outsourcing security is still too frightening for most companies. But they're being more selective in their information security staffing.
Skills
Between 32 and 40 percent of information security hiring managers in our surveys (1,860 organizations) are looking hard for experience in wireless security, identity and access management, security event or information management, and intrusion prevention systems. Also important are: incident response, forensics, legal compliance/audit/remediation.
Beyond technology
Now, there is more emphasis on communications skills versus technology in hiring decisions.
- Source: David Foote, Foote Partners (HTTP://www.footepartners.com/).
