Within industry circles, 2011 has become known as the year of the hack, or the year of the black hat if you prefer.
Game-changing malware has exploded, proving that the critical national infrastructure is under threat and that cyber war and cyber espionage are very daunting realities.
In our latest news feature, Fred Donovan effectively captures the highs and lows of 2011. It appears that an awful lot of money has been made this year – most notably by the cybercriminals.
This year has also been a game-changing year for Infosecurity magazine and our website. The change of ownership in July has opened many new doors for us, and we look forward to sharing the results with you in 2012.
As we move on to pastures new, with almost an entirely new team bringing you your fix of industry news, I’d like to take the time to thank their predecessors. To Helena Stewart, our former marketing manager; Barry Shaw, project and virtual event manager; Lin Lucas, production manager; and Huson Media, sales agency, I’d like to share my gratitude for everything you’ve done to build the Infosecurity brand into what it is today.
We also say goodbye to our technology editor, Steve Gold, who has worked on the magazine for seven years. Steve has been one of our regular online news writers, webinar moderators and feature writers, and I would like to say a special thank-you to Steve for his loyalty and dedication to Infosecurity over the years.
There is a great amount of work that goes into each and every issue, and into our website on a daily basis, and it wouldn’t be possible without a dedicated team.
Which leads perfectly into me introducing our brand new, extremely dedicated Infosecurity staff. Headquartered in Richmond, sitting with the Infosecurity Europe team, we now have our entire staff in-house. Heading up the sales team is Malcolm Wells, with new-starter George Climie joining us as our online sales manager. Anna Greenhill, group marketing manager, is now joined by Rebecca Harper, who is our dedicated magazine and online marketing manager. Ruth Coox has taken the reigns of project manager and supports the editorial, marketing and sales teams. Finally, Claire Sellick, event and group director, oversees the whole operation.
The constants are myself, Drew, our online news writer Fred Donovan, and our editorial strategy. We continue to do our jobs with our readers at the forefront of our minds. So if there’s something we’re not doing that you’d like us to be, or something that you’d like to see more of, please do get in touch.
So here ends another year – a year full of mergers and acquisitions, data breaches shaking even the most trusted names and political cyber warfare attacks. What we must not forget is that for every successful cyber attack, thousands more are scuppered and blocked by dedicated technology and information security professionals.
In an industry where failures are far more visible than successes, it’s important to raise a glass to all of the excellent work being done. So my final word of the year goes to all the good that this industry is doing. Keep it up, and we’ll see you all next year – with a newly branded and designed website and magazine for you to enjoy.
Merry Christmas to you all, and here’s to a safe, secure and happy 2012.