24 to the Fore: Security Content and Events That Caught My Attention in 2024

1. Best Podcast/Podcaster: Too many good ones to choose from. I’m taking refuge in this.

2. Best Book Series: Squired by Dan Swanson, the CRC Press Security, Audit & Leadership Book Initiative has published dozens of titles, including the newly minted The Security Leader’s Communication Playbook and The CISO Playbook.

3. Best Keynote: It’s a tie, between former Secret Service agent Mindy Pretzman describing her security journey at SEAS Production’s Women in Security conference in July and Security 500 Keynoter Linda Reid, Vice President of Security Operations at The Walt Disney World Resort.

4. Most Innovative Event: The Play Secure Conference series, hosted by Phelim Rowe, uses different themes to gamify security to advance learning and development. This year’s theme was using a Christmas Pudding security analogy, featuring such sessions as Security Leader as Cook? Protecting the Sixpence, or a Path to Discover the Sixpence? Does a Successful Security Strategy Have to Be Flaming? The Proof of the Work is in the Pudding! Yes, you read those correctly.

5. Best Trainer: If you’re looking for OSINT training-all the tricks of the trade and more—look no further than Sandra Stibbards.

6. Most Prolific Content Creator (Veterans Edition): Cybersecurity guru Bruce Schneier blew away the competition with an almost uninterrupted stream of writings and presentations, ranging from zero-day vulnerabilities to quantum computing.

7. Most Prolific Content Creator (Newbies Division): After many content-quiet years as a security professional with the Department of State, Christopher Stitt went private and unleashed a torrent of articles, presentations, speaking engagements, trainings/courses, etc. The man is on a tear.

8. Best New Award Scheme: Lots of competition here, perhaps surprisingly. Honorable mentions go to the Security Hall of Fame in the OSPAs—which recognizes a lifetime of excellence—and the ISJ Leaders in Security Awards—which recognize such accomplishments as solution innovation, operational excellence, mentorship, and crisis management. But the top honor—and I’m admittedly biased here, being the President of the Life Safety Alliance—is LSA’s Top 40 Thought Leaders in Security and Life Safety. That honor is bestowed via scoring of such objective criteria as leadership positions held, courses taught, articles published, and presentations given.

9. Best New Conference: It’s in its second year, but the Security LeadHER conference, which features and celebrates women in security, is a successful joint effort between ASIS and SIA.

10. Best New Report: Much ink has been spilled on security convergence, but SIA’s treatment, Security Convergence 2024, is a true capstone.

11. Most Authentic LinkedIn Voice: Clayton Evoy, who has candidly chronicled his journey as a neurodiverse professional in the security industry. After recently pulling back from the platform, Clayton may be reengaging on LinkedIn via popular demand.

12. Best Onsite Podcast and Video Services: If I want a bespoke podcast, video clip, radio segment, etc., I’m going with the Pride of Apache Junction himself, Mr. SecurityGuyRadio/TV, etc. Chuck Harold.

13. Best Blog Series: Most security providers’ blog posts are stealth advertisements for their own products—and who can blame them—but some provide particularly useful information for even noncustomers. Genetec’s blog is a fine example, covering topics such as the impact of IIoT devices on corporate security, tips for choosing a video management system, and cloud vs. hybrid cloud for physical security.

14. Best Online Feature: What else but “Security and Music,” hosted by James Willison and yours truly, which explores the nexus between these two powerful forces. It’s covered early rock, jazz and blues, country western, duos, Antipodean rhythms, and more.

15. Best Networking Event: It’s the whole week in mid-November that includes OSAC, the Security 500, ISMA events, and more in Washington; RIMS ERM in Boston; ISC East in New York; and this year, ASIS LatAm in Costa Rica. If you aren’t attending one or more, you are missing a huge opportunity.

16. Best Lounge for Networking: Does anyone do it better than ISC West with its Executive Club? You can find industry leaders there at all hours.

17. Best Articles by Publication:

a. Campus Safety: April’s “Clery Act Compliance: Why Fines Are Getting So Big and How Colleges Can Avoid Them” covers the fallout of the record-breaking $14 million fine imposed on Liberty University. Cheating a bit, because it’s a transcript of Amy Rock’s podcast.

b. International Security Journal: In “Crime, AI, and the Future of Fraud,” Alex Wood, a self-described “reformed ‘hyper-prolific’ fraudster with dozens of convictions for dishonesty offences,” discusses voice cloning, call spoofing, AI-enabled scams, and other rising threats.

c. Security: “The 2024 Security Benchmark Report” covers the roles, responsibilities and function of corporate security programs; the type and cost of security training initiatives implemented last year; increases and decreases in security budgets; and metrics that security executives and their leadership find most valuable.

d. Security Journal Americas: “Listening to Women in Security” explores how to increase and enhance diversity in security.

e. Security Management: In “Understanding the EU AI Act: A Security Perspective,” Megan Gates digs into legislative and regulatory changes that affect the security industry, collecting input from industry leading companies and organizations about how the EU AI Act could impact them in the near-term and as they develop new products and initiatives.

f. Security Technology Executive/securityinfowatch: Frank Pisciotta’s “Challenges in Starting up a Physical Security Program for a Multi-National Corporation” is both expansive and pointed.

18. Best Article Series: The Greenery in CPTED series by Sara Mosqueda of Security Management outlines how landscaping can complement CPTED principles, adding security without sacrificing workplace culture and comfort. She includes a helpful list of hostile vegetation to subtly discourage intruders from getting close to windows, hiding in shrubs, or conducting other nefarious activities.

19. Best Tribute Article: Steve Lasky’s encomium to industry legend Jim Henry is informative and moving.

20. Best Leadership Article: In “Adjust Your Expectations: Tough Truths About Cross-Sector Career Transitions,” SM’s Claire Meyer addresses the culture shock felt by soldiers who transition into private security. This article digs into the challenges, adjustments, and opportunities that former military and law enforcement personnel will contend with when they join the security profession.

21. Most Significant New Regulation: In 2024, the European Cyber Resilience Act went into effect, mandating enhanced cyber protections for such products as smart watches and baby monitors.

22. Most Significant New U.S. State Legislation: As of July 1, nearly all California employers were required to adopt and implement a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, conduct employee training and maintain incident logs.

23. Most Significant Legal Settlement: The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) agreed to pay $13 million for neglecting to warn patients and staff at a state-run pediatric psychiatric hospital about an active shooter drill, traumatizing occupants.

24. Most Anticipated New Documentary: I’m far from impartial because I’m an advisor, but get excited for The WOMEN IN SECURITY documentary, produced by Richard Ticho and directed by Yvette Freeman, coming early next year.