Music Geeks vs. Computer Nerds

As you can see from my lack of posts I’ve been really busy lately. The reason is because I was preparing for, then attending, then recovering from, the RSA Conference in San Francisco. Never heard of it? It’s the world’s largest Security Conference. And by security I mean IT computer security, not this guy. My area of IT security is primarily online banking security – so next time your computer gets hacked or you fall for a phishing attack and lose all your money. I’m actually quite proud of myself that I can easily transform myself from music geek at night to computer nerd during the day. I’m so versatile.

Anyway – now that I’ve made it back to the East Coast and I’m in my normal patterns again I thought it would be a good idea to merge these two worlds and do a series of posts in honor of RSA Conference 2008.

And to kick things off I offer you the unofficial soundtrack from RSA Conference 2008 and the world of online banking security (click on the song titles to listen to the MP3):

1) “Security” by Otis Redding – “I want security, yeah, without it I’m at a great loss, oh now. Security, yeah, and I want it at any cost” If only they “at any cost” part was true my job would be A LOT easier.

2) “Bankrobber” by The Clash - “Daddy was a bankrobber but he never hurt nobody, he just loved to live that way, and he loved to steal your money”

3) “Take The Money and Run” by Steve Miller Band – I’ll admit it, this one should be filed under guilty pleasures. Take that music geeks!

4) “Birds of a Feather” by Phish – obviously ANYTHING by Phish works on this list… but this one is perfect because we had a lunch session called “Birds of a Feather” at the event I ran.

5) “Surrender” by Cheap Trick – for those fraudsters and their cheap scams on innocent people. The song and band name both work.

6) “Trojan Curfew” by Steve Malkmus – I find it ironic that if you go to “dirty” places in real life you can get a … virus. And when you go to “dirty” places online you can actually get one as well. The only difference is that in real lift a Trojan will protect you. Online, it’s the Trojan that you need the protection from. Did I just blow your mind?

7) “Police and Thieves” by Junior Marvin – Unfortunately there are more thieves than police online these days. We’re working on that! This song is probably better known for the fantastic cover by The Clash.

8) “Every Breath You Take / Theme From Peter Gunn (Mr. Ruggerio’s Remix)” by The Police & Henry Mancini – This brilliant mash-up from the Soprano’s represents (again) the thieves (and their Man-in-the-middle attacks) and those trying to stop them.

9) “The Cheapest Key” by Kathleen Edwards – For those in the PKI world. Even if you aren’t you should be listening to more Kathleen Edwards.

10) “Geek USA” by Smashing Pumpkins – aka San Francisco during the RSA Conference.