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#S2Roadshow Recap – Week Nine

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This week on the SecurityStudio Roadshow, we made the trip down to Scottsdale, Arizona to visit the people attending the ISSA Phoenix Q4 2019 Chapter Meeting. Of course, we got our fill of good BBQ too!

SecurityStudio Roadshow Summary

If you’re new, or you’re confused about this #S2Roadshow thing, start here (maybe).

Previous Week’s Recaps:

The purpose of the SecurityStudio Roadshow (#S2Roadhow) is to meet people and make partners. We want to meet people, understand their businesses, and help them grow using simple, fundamental, and compliant solutions (S2Score, S2Org, S2Vendor, and S2Team/S2Me).

Our mission is to fix the broken information security industry. Success requires collaboration, partnership, and transparency.

BBQ Reviews

In the spirit of transparency, we have a secondary mission on the #S2Roadshow. We eat as much BBQ as we can. After stuffing ourselves, I summarize our BBQ reviews at the end of each recap article (see below).

Scottsdale, Arizona

We arrived in Phoenix/Scottsdale on Wednesday (12/4), the day before the ISSA chapter meeting. After getting our sweet rental, a 2019 Dodge Charger Hemi, we drove straight to our first BBQ joint, NakedQ BBQ in Scottsdale.

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When you’re from Minnesota, a December trip to Scottsdale doesn’t suck. The weather was great. After BBQ, we were off to the hotel for some meetings and to catch up with work.

 

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Next was a dinner meeting with a good friend and partner from the area, and afterwards day one was complete. Four or five great meetings, some good work completed, and two BBQ visits. Not bad.

Day two started with, you guessed it, more BBQ, before we headed off to the ISSA chapter meeting. Three BBQ visits in less than 24 hours. Think maybe we’re overdoing this? I think not!

ISSA Phoenix Q4 2019 Chapter Meeting

We’ve been to more than a couple ISSA chapter meetings, and this was one of the best! Lorna Kertész, the chapter President does a great job running things. She was running all over the place making sure things went off without a hitch. Huge shout out to Lorna!

Overall, this was a fantastic meeting! The venue was top notch, the speakers were great, and the happy hour was very well attended. On a scale of 1 – 10 for chapter meetings, this one was a 10!

When John and I arrived, it was cool to know that there were some people who were expecting me. A couple people came up to tell me that they’d read my book, and a few mentioned that they’d attended the FRSecure CISSP Mentor Program. Feels like we’re making a difference.

The first speaker of the day was Rachel Harpley from Recruit Bit Security. She gave a very good talk titled “Yule be Sorry without Security Researchers”. Rachel is cool. She’s got some great things to share and her perspectives about information security are spot on (in my opinion). If you haven’t met her, or attended one of her talks before, you should! It was fun to visit with her for after her talk.

The next speaker was Dr. Paulo Shakarian CEO and co-founder of CYR3CON. This dude is smart! He gave a legit talk titled “Artificial Intelligence Research for Forecasting Exploit Usage”. We caught up after his talk and scheduled a meeting (week after) to discuss how his research can make the SecurityStudio platform better. The prospects of tying legit AI into SecurityStudio’s S2Org technical vulnerability scoring are very exciting!

My talk followed the talks of these two esteemed speakers.

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I gave a similar talk that I’ve given across the country now. Want the deck? Four topics in the agenda, housekeeping, meat, the dream, and call to action. The talk was well received, and the interaction with the attendees was super! Gave away three books, and had some wonderful discussions with people afterwards.Like I said earlier, this meeting was a 10 on a scale of 1 – 10. The only thing that would have made it better is if the guy next to me wouldn’t have gotten up and left his laptop unlocked.

I talked to him about it afterwards. We’re cool.

BBQ Reviews

You know how we roll, right?! BBQ man! As much as we can get, and yes, we (well I am) are gaining a few pounds along the way.

Three BBQ reviews this week; all three in Scottsdale. We expected good BBQ in Kansas City, but Scottsdale, Arizona?! Believe it or not, Scottsdale has some awesome BBQ joints! Here’s our take on the three we visited.

NakedQ BBQ – https://www.thenakedbbq.com/ – Overall: 8.25

  • Atmosphere – 7, the atmosphere for this place was OK. It was another one of those strip mall feeling sort of places.
  • Service – 9, Everyone was very pleasant and went out of their way to make sure you were satisfied. It’s great when people come out from behind the counter to see how you’re doing.
  • Portion/Value – 8, the price was better than I expected and the portions were generous.
  • Taste – 9, the food tasted great and you could tell it was made by people who know what they’re doing. The best brisket we’ve had in a while.

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This was really, really good BBQ. I had a 1/4 pound of brisket, jalapeno sausage, turkey, and pulled pork, and they were all great. It’s a tie between the brisket and sausage for my favorite.

The Thumb – https://www.thethumb.com/ – Overall: 8.5

  • Atmosphere – 10, the atmosphere for this place was one of the best yet. The restaurant is part of a gas station and a gift shop. Totally comfortable and cozy. My kind of BBQ joint to just chill and visit with friends.
  • Service – 10, Seriously, these people know how to serve and make you feel like you’re a king (or queen, as the case may be)! One of the few places where they offer you a sample before you order. Once we ordered, they brought the food out to us, grabbed an assortment of sauces, gave us some free goodies, and constantly made sure we were happy.
  • Portion/Value – 7, the portions were hefty, but the price reflected it. Better than average, I’d say.
  • Taste – Maybe my expectations were set too high after experiencing the super cool atmosphere and getting service reserved for royalty, but the food tasted OK. Not great, but good maybe.

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We met a good friend and business partner for dinner here. Overall, we had a great time and I’d visit this place again. Oh yeah, one more thing. This place was featured by Guy Fieri too. Some people think that’s pretty cool.

Little Miss BBQ – https://www.littlemissbbq.com/ – Overall: 8.75

  • Atmosphere – 9, this was a cool joint. It sort of felt like I was down south in the 70s. This is a order your food, grab your food, and sit sort of BBQ joint.
  • Service – 9, certainly above average. We arrived before the place was open and there was already a line around the corner. While we waited, a waitress walked the line offering samples of their home made sausage. While we ordered, the cook gave us a small cut sample of the pastrami brisket. After we ordered, we were assured that we had everything we needed to be happy.
  • Portion/Value – 8, very reasonable and worth every penny.
  • Taste – 9, We would have said “10”, but we use that number very sparingly. The brisket might have been the best we’ve had so far on the SecurityStudio Roadshow. It might be a toss-up between this place and Pecan Lodge (Dallas, TX in week #3). The taste of the meats here was incredible.

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This was the best BBQ we’ve had for a long time, if ever, on the SecurityStudio Roadshow. If you like BBQ and you are in the Scottsdale area, you have to visit this place. It’s amazing!

BBQ Summary

Three new BBQ joints to add to our list, and this makes 28 we’ve visit so far. This was a VERY good BBQ week for us, with all three BBQ joints easily making the top 10. The winner this week was Little Miss BBQ, but it was close. Pecan Lodge is still on top as the overall #S2Roadshow leader with a score of 9 (but we need to go back an validate this now), and Little Miss joins Bowlegged BBQ in the #2 spot. The current overall standings are listed below.

Overall Standings (at the end of #S2Roadshow Week Eight):

  • Pecan Lodge – 9
  • Little Miss BBQ – 8.75
  • Bowlegged BBQ – 8.75
  • The Thumb – 8.5
  • Divine Swine – 8.5
  • Naked Q BBQ – 8.25
  • Dinosaur BBQ – 8.25
  • Big Ed’s BBQ – 8.25
  • Mission BBQ – 8
  • Slaps BBQ – 8
  • Q39 BBQ – 7.75
  • Cousin’s BBQ – 7.75
  • Blackwood BBQ – 7.5
  • Broad Street BBQ – 7.5
  • Hard Eight – 7.25
  • Spring Creek Barbeque – 7.25
  • Redd’s BBQ – 7.25
  • RIBBRO BBQ – 7.25
  • Iron Horse – 7
  • Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ – 7
  • Texas Bar-B-Q Joint – 7
  • Fire Breather BBQ – 7
  • Smoque – 6.75
  • Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse – 6.75
  • Red Coal BBQ – 6.75
  • Bad to the Bone BBQ – 6.75
  • Unkl Moe’s – 6.5
  • Hambone’s Smokehouse – 6.25
  • Shakedown BBQ – N/A (wasn’t open when it was supposed to be, wasted trip)

Next Week’s #S2Roadshow

A couple of talks this week, one in St. Paul, MN and another visit to Dallas, TX. We’re visiting the Minnesota Government IT Symposium on Wednesday and we’re visiting the Dallas/Fort Worth ISC2 chapter on Friday. Looking forward to meeting a bunch of great people this week, and we’re looking forward to revisiting Pecan Lodge.

Stay tuned for next week’s #S2Roadshow updates. You can follow us on Twitter (@evanfrancen, @HarmonJohn, @StudioSecurity, and the #S2Roadshow hashtag) and on LinkedIn.

See you next week! If you want to collaborate with us, get in touch!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving – #S2Roashow BBQ Top 10

/in /by

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

We have many, many things to be thankful for this year! So far, the SecurityStudio Roadshow (#S2Roadshow) has been a great success. The thing we’re most thankful for are the super cool people we’ve met on the road. Cool people with incredible stories and valuable perspectives.

Another thing we’re thankful for is all the great BBQ we’ve eaten. Who doesn’t like BBQ? Well, I suppose the vegans aren’t too much into it. For all the non-vegans, here’s our top 10 BBQ joints that we’ve visited thus far.

We didn’t travel last week, so this is what you get.

Top 10 BBQ Joints

Through week #8 of the SecurityStudio Roadshow (#S2Roadshow)

A man’s got to eat, and this man’s got to eat BBQ! We eat a lot of BBQ. – Evan

#1 – Pecan Lodge – Dallas, Texas – Week #3

Overall Rating: 9

  • Atmosphere: 9
  • Service: 8
  • Portion/Value: 9
  • Taste: 10

We heard from multiple people that we had to go to Pecan Lodge located in Deep Elum, so we did. Are we ever glad we did! This was the best BBQ we’ve had yet on our three week-old #S2Roadshow, and I even made a friend.

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I had the sliced brisket, pulled pork, and sausage. John had sliced brisket, pulled pork, and ribs. You should have seen the look on John’s face when he tasted the brisket for the first time! The atmosphere was awesome, with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. The service was great. I even got the cook to show me his smokers (see pic). The portions were very generous too, but it was the taste that was amazing! I’ve never had better brisket and I may have never had better pulled pork in my life. I’ve had BBQ at 100+  of the best places all over the country, and I’ve never had brisket with the perfect mix of smoke flavor, fat cap, and rub.

Pecan Lodge is an absolute must visit for any BBQ lover. It’s almost worth a special visit to Dallas just to go to this place. The best I’ve had in a very long time, if ever.

P.S. My new friend’s name is Winston, and he’s from Michigan. He and his son travel the country riding roller coasters and trying new BBQ. BTW, he agreed that Pecan Lodge was awesome.

#2 – Bowlegged BBQ – San Diego, California – Week #4

Overall: 8.75

  • Atmosphere: 9
  • Service: 9
  • Portion/Value: 9
  • Taste: 8

OK, this was some good BBQ! I feel bad for all the people who live here, but never experienced the joy. The place is family-owned and the atmosphere was perfect for a BBQ joint. A little cluttered, a little dirty, a little nostalgic, and a whole bunch of character. Ordered my meat from Jordan behind the counter, and I told him all I wanted was meat, no sides. Ordered rib tips, ribs, and brisket. The price? 20 bucks.

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10 minutes later, I get this Styrofoam container filled with deliciousness. Like really filled and like really delicious! As you can see in the picture, the meat is drowning in sauce, and that’s generally a big no-no for me. For some reason it worked. The sauce was some sort of rural Georgia-tasting stuff with a hint of cinnamon. Weird, but delicious! I texted John and told him it was like a love fest between my mouth, my brain, and my belly. Definitely recommended!

#3 – Divine Swine BBQ – Manheim, Pennsylvania – Week #1

Overall: 8.5

  • Atmosphere: 7
  • Service: 8
  • Portion/Value: 10
  • Taste: 9

After the Shakedown BBQ disappointment, we swung over to Manheim, where we found Divine Swine. This place takes the crown as the #S2Roadshow Week 1 BBQ Champ. The best tasting BBQ we had on the trip and huge portions. If you’re in the area, you have to visit this place!

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Maybe we’re BBQ snobs, maybe not. One thing is certain, we enjoyed all of the BBQ we ate, and we’re pumped for next week’s adventures.

#4T – Dinosaur BBQ – Rochester, New York – Week #7

Overall: 8.25

  • Atmosphere – 8, it’s a cool place with a great vibe. The lighting is perfect for a BBQ joint, there’s a lot of wood, and the view of the river is super cool.
  • Service – 9, great service all-around. These people make you feel at home.
  • Portion/Value – 7, a little pricey for how much food you get, but what place isn’t?
  • Taste – 9, incredible, especially the ribs and wings.

In full transparency, I’ve eaten at Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester many times. It’s a great BBQ joint and I’ve enjoyed every visit I’ve made. This was Ryan Abraham’s first visit to Rochester, so we made sure to stop in. Actually, we ended up eating here twice during this trip. Poor us!

I’ve visited Rochester more than a dozen times and eaten BBQ at just about every place this city offers. Dinosaur is the best BBQ in Rochester. On this trip, I ate their ribs, brisket, wings, and pulled pork. The brisket and pulled pork were good, but the ribs and wings were friggin’ amazing! The ribs were arguably the best I’ve had on the SecurityStudio Roadshow so far. If you’re in Rochester, and you like BBQ (even if you don’t like BBQ), a visit to Dinosaur is a must!

#4T – Big Ed’s BBQ – Waukegan, Illinois – Week #3

Overall: 8.25

  • Atmosphere – 8
  • Service – 9
  • Portion/Value – 8
  • Taste – 9

We made the drive up to Waukegan to give Big Ed’s BBQ a try, and we’re definitely glad we did! This is a BBQ joint that is run by Ed (a few of his business partners) and his lovely family. You can read about the Big Ed story on their website. The atmosphere is great, with Ed’s son preparing the meat while Ed’s wife rings you up at the register. By the time we got there, they had already sold out of the brisket and burnt ends, so we settled for ribs and rib tips. We thought we were settling, but we were wrong! The ribs and tips were awesome!

The service was top notch, the portions were huge, and the meat was great! You have to visit this place. Highly recommended!

#6T – Mission BBQ – Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – Week #1

Overall: 8

  • Atmosphere – 7
  • Service – 10
  • Portion/Value – 7
  • Taste – 8

We ate at Mission BBQ in Harrisburg in the evening of the first day. I wasn’t that excited for it because I knew it was part of a chain, but it was the closest BBQ joint to where we were staying. The staff was AMAZING. I can’t remember ever getting better service that we did at this place.

The cashier asked us if this was our first time at Mission BBQ. We said it was, then she proceeded to tell us all about the menu and how they make their BBQ.

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Once our order was ready, the lady behind the counter asked us if it was our first time at Mission BBQ. We said it was, then she proceeded to tell us all about the sauces and how to help ourselves.

After we sat down to eat, another lady came by our table three or four times to make sure we had everything we needed. She cleared our table for us too (even though this was a self-service joint).

The service was exceptional, so I rate it a 10. The food was good too, the best being the jalapeno cheddar sausage.

#6T – Slaps BBQ – Kansas City, Missouri – Week #8

Overall: 8

  • Atmosphere – 8, this was a pretty cool place, located in an industrial part of town. The all brick building featured an indoor eating area, plus there were two more eating areas outside. The eating area on top of the building featured a great view of the Kansas City skyline.
  • Service – 9, I love when the BBQ is made to order right in front of you. They cut the meat and dish it out as you order it, right in front of you. The staff was very courteous and very helpful.
  • Portion/Value – 8, definitely above average. We got filled up at a very reasonable price.
  • Taste – 7, the brisket was good and the pulled pork was good. The best part was the jalapeno cheddar sausage. All the BBQ was good, but not amazing.

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We went to Slaps on a recommendation from a close friend. She’s a local and told us this was her favorite BBQ in all of Kansas City. It was good, but I’ve had better in this town.

#8T – Q39 BBQ – Kansas City, Missouri – Week #7

Overall: 7.75

  • Atmosphere – 7, this is a little too upscale feeling for me. A very nice restaurant, but not down-homey enough for my taste.
  • Service – 8, great service. I was in the middle of a conference call at the beginning, so I might have missed something here. Guess, I’ll have to visit again!
  • Portion/Value – 7, a little spendy.
  • Taste – 9, super! The burnt ends and brisket were the bomb!

This was the first stop for me and John after landing in Kansas City. We received a tip to visit this place from our rental car terminal bus driver, and obviously this guy knew what he was talking about! Kansas City is known for their BBQ and we had dozens of places to choose from, but we made a good call here.

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This was a great welcome to Kansas City and we highly recommend visiting Q39!

#8T – Cousin’s BBQ – Dallas, Texas – Week #5

Overall: 7.75

  • Atmosphere – 8
  • Service – 8
  • Portion/Value – 7
  • Taste – 8

I arrived at the DFW airport for the trip home and realized that I’d only done one BBQ joint so far on this trip! I sort of panicked a bit before finding this little gem in the DFW airport. Thank God! A man can’t take a trip with only one portion of BBQ.

My expectations for this place were low to begin with. After all, what kind of BBQ can you expect to get in an airport? Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised! I ordered pulled pork and brisket, with broccoli salad and cole slaw on the side. The meat was surprisingly moist a very flavorful. The smoke ring was good too. In a pinch, this place will definitely do!

#10T – Blackwood BBQ – Chicago, Illinois – Week #3

Overall: 7.75

  • Atmosphere – 7
  • Service – 7
  • Portion/Value – 8
  • Taste – 8

There are five locations for Blackwood BBQ, and we visited the Schaumburg location for lunch. John and I both ordered combos. He got sliced brisket, pulled pork, and burnt ends. I got sliced brisket, burnt ends and ribs. It was a really nice BBQ joint with a rustic, busy, but open atmosphere. The BBQ is self-service, meaning you order at the counter and grab your food when it’s ready. The portions were generous and the taste was pretty darn good. I’d say overall, it was definitely above average is all aspects.

If you’re in the Chicago area, it’s definitely worth the trip.

#10T – Broad Street BBQ – Kingsport, Tennessee – Week #4

Overall: 7.75

  • Atmosphere – 7
  • Service – 9
  • Portion/Value – 8
  • Taste – 6

John’s words, “BBQ Review: Broad Street BBQ, Kingsport, TN. Brisket was decent, the rest was just ok. Will do in a pinch, but probably one and done on this one. Super nice people though!”

That’s what he said.

Rounding out the rest…

Here are the rest of the BBQ joints that we visited along with their overall scores.

  • Hard Eight – 7.25
  • Spring Creek Barbeque – 7.25
  • Redd’s BBQ – 7.25
  • RIBBRO BBQ – 7.25
  • Iron Horse – 7
  • Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ – 7
  • Texas Bar-B-Q Joint – 7
  • Fire Breather BBQ – 7
  • Smoque – 6.75
  • Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse – 6.75
  • Red Coal BBQ – 6.75
  • Bad to the Bone BBQ – 6.75
  • Unkl Moe’s – 6.5
  • Hambone’s Smokehouse – 6.25
  • Shakedown BBQ – N/A (wasn’t open when it was supposed to be, wasted trip)

SecurityStudio Roadshow Summary

If you’re new, or you’re confused about this #S2Roadshow thing, start here (maybe).

Previous Week’s Recaps:

The purpose of the SecurityStudio Roadshow (#S2Roadhow) is to meet people and make partners. We want to meet people, understand their businesses, and help them grow using simple, fundamental, and compliant solutions (S2Score, S2Org, S2Vendor, and S2Team/S2Me).

Our mission is to fix the broken information security industry. Success requires collaboration, partnership, and transparency.

Next Week’s #S2Roadshow

John Harmon and I are off to Scottsdale, Arizona for a great Phoenix ISSA event this week. The weather doesn’t suck in the Phoenix in December!

If you’ve got any BBQ tips for the Phoenix area, let us know.

Stay tuned for next week’s #S2Roadshow updates. You can follow us on Twitter (@evanfrancen, @HarmonJohn, @StudioSecurity, and the #S2Roadshow hashtag) and on LinkedIn.

See you next week!

#S2Roadshow Recap – Week Eight

/in /by

Kansas City (MO) and Irvine (CA)

Monday was spent catching up in the office before heading off to Kansas City early Tuesday morning.

A day in Kansas City and three days in Orange County, California this week. Not bad!

SecurityStudio Roadshow Summary

If you’re new, or you’re confused about this #S2Roadshow thing, start here (maybe).

Previous Week’s Recaps:

The purpose of the SecurityStudio Roadshow (#S2Roadhow) is to meet people and make partners. We want to meet people, understand their businesses, and help them grow using simple, fundamental, and compliant solutions (S2Score, S2Org, S2Vendor, and S2Team/S2Me).

Our mission is to fix the broken information security industry. Success requires collaboration, partnership, and transparency.

BBQ Reviews

In full transparency, we have a secondary mission on the #S2Roadshow. We eat as much BBQ as we can. After stuffing ourselves, I summarize our BBQ reviews at the end of each recap article (see below).

Kansas City, Missouri

The Roadshow officially started on early Tuesday morning with a five something AM flight to Kansas City. The primary purpose for making the trip back to Kansas City was an important meeting with Lockton, our awesome partner. We had four people visiting from our office; myself, John Harmon, Alex Titze, and Chris Dian. I took a earlier flight than the other guys, so my job was to get the car and come back to pick them up.

I was greeted in Kansas City by the happiest and most encouraging rental car bus driver you could imagine. Ross was great!

Got the car, grabbed a coffee (red eye) at Starbuck’s, then came back to the airport to pick up the guys. Love these guys!

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Lockton Meeting

The meeting with Lockton went great! We gave an introductory presentation to personnel in offices throughout the United States and discussed logistics about how we work together. Before heading back to the airport, we had to make a BBQ stop. This time we drove to Slaps BBQ (review below).

At the airport, we had great meeting with Chubb, a new potential partner. Chubb is reviewing the entire SecurityStudio platform, and seems most interested in using the S2Team/S2Me for their clients.

After this meeting, I was off to Irvine/Orange County, while the others headed back to Minneapolis.

Irvine, California

California is a beautiful place, that’s for sure! I had meetings with partners and potential partners while I was here, but things were low-key for the most part. Low-key is good when I have many days worth of email to catch-up on. The primary purpose for this visit was to preach at Webster University on Thursday evening.

My rental car was nicer than usual. Enterprise upgraded me (for no cost) to a Mercedes GL 320. If you know me, you know that I’m not a flashy guy who feels the need to drive a flashy car. At home, I drive a base model F250, so this is a change. A friend  told me that it looks like I’m driving a storm trooper helmet. Take a look at the picture below, yes?

John Harmon joined me on Thursday morning. We decided to check under the hood. Looks complicated.

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We had some extra time on Thursday afternoon, so we took in a few sights. Like I said earlier, California is a beautiful place!

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ISSA-OC

My talk is part of the “Cybersecurity Seminar Series”, a joint effort of ISSA of Orange County and Webster University. I wasn’t scheduled to be there until 6:00(ish) PM, so we made a stop at an In-N-Out Burger on the way. On all my travels, this was my first ever experience with an In-N-Out Burger. I can’t believe what I’d been missing!

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We arrived on time (yay us!) and were greeted by the event organizer, Dr. Brian Dozer. Brian is the Director at Webster University and the ISSA Program Director. Super cool and nice guy! The facility was great, the audience was great, and we met some great people here!

Here’s a copy of my slide deck. Use it (or not) in any manner you wish! I added a slide to the usual deck, a simple challenge for audience members to get a free copy of my book. The challenge is to solve a simple monoalphabetic substitution cipher of one of Robby Bragg’s poems. If you don’t know (or remember), Robby was a wonderful person who used to work at FRSecure before he tragically took his own life on May 17th, 2018. I keep Robby’s memory alive on the #S2Roadshow by highlighting the need to address mental health issues head-on. The slides with Robby’s tribute and the challenge are pictured below.

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After giving the talk, it was back to the hotel. More meetings on Friday, then back to Minneapolis Friday afternoon. Another great trip!

BBQ Reviews

You know how we roll, right?! BBQ man! As much as we can get, and yes, we (well I am) are gaining a few pounds along the way.

Four BBQ reviews this week. One in Kansas City (Slaps BBQ) and three in California (Fire Breather BBQ, RIBBRO BBQ, and Bad to the Bone BBQ). Reviews below!

Slaps BBQ – https://slapsbbqkc.com/ – Overall: 8 

  • Atmosphere – 8, this was a pretty cool place, located in an industrial part of town. The all brick building featured an indoor eating area, plus there were two more eating areas outside. The eating area on top of the building featured a great view of the Kansas City skyline.
  • Service – 9, I love when the BBQ is made to order right in front of you. They cut the meat and dish it out as you order it, right in front of you. The staff was very courteous and very helpful.
  • Portion/Value – 8, definitely above average. We got filled up at a very reasonable price.
  • Taste – 7, the brisket was good and the pulled pork was good. The best part was the jalapeno cheddar sausage. All the BBQ was good, but not amazing.

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We went to Slaps on a recommendation from a close friend. She’s a local and told us this was her favorite BBQ in all of Kansas City. It was good, but I’ve had better in this town.

Fire Breather BBQ – http://www.firebreatherbbq.com/ – Overall: 7

  • Atmosphere – 6, there wasn’t anything special about this place. It was located in a strip mall type setting and sort of felt like fast food.
  • Service – 7, average(ish). The staff was courteous and helpful, but nothing special.
  • Portion/Value – 8, definitely above average. Again, I got my fill and I didn’t have to mortgage my house for it.
  • Taste – 7, the brisket had a great fat cap on it, and it was an excellent cut of meat, but there was no smoke ring at all. It was hard to taste the smoke flavor in the other meat too (pulled pork).

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Overall, I could take it or leave it. I’d stop here again if I was driving by, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for this place.

RIBBRO BBQ – https://www.ribbrobbq.com/ – Overall: 7.25

  • Atmosphere – 8, This BBQ joint is also located in a strip mall setting, but they did a great job making it feel homey. Classic country music playing on the sound system seemed to round out a good atmosphere.
  • Service – 6, service was less than great. There were three people working here when we arrived and they were all busy trying to fill a catering order, which made the wait longer than it should have been. They were really nice people though!
  • Portion/Value – 7, the price was OK for what you get.
  • Taste – 8, the taste was definitely above average, but not great. The brisket was nice and moist. The ribs were good, but had some sort of weird spice in the dry rub. I couldn’t put a finger on what the spice was, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.

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John was VERY hungry after he got off the plane from Minneapolis, so we got here right when they opened. The service (which was what scored the lowest) might have been better if we’d gotten there a little later in the day.

Bad to the Bone BBQ – https://www.badtothebone-bbq.com/ – Overall: 6.75

  • Atmosphere – 8, this place felt like a BBQ joint on the one hand and a little like a sports bar on the other. Overall, the atmosphere was very good.
  • Service – 7, nothing special about the service. You order at the counter, grab a number, then wait for someone to bring your food.
  • Portion/Value – 5, the worst part about this place was the price for what you get. Even by California standards, this was too costly.
  • Taste – 7, the taste was good, but they put sauce on my meat. I don’t like sauce on my meat unless I’m the one putting it on.

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I was expecting better, but maybe that’s what I get for having expectations. I probably wouldn’t visit this place again, primarily for the value/price factor.

BBQ Summary

Four new BBQ joints to add to our list. This was an OK BBQ week. The winner this week was Slaps BBQ (Kansas City). Pecan Lodge is still on top as the overall #S2Roadshow leader with a score of 9, and Bowlegged BBQ is still in the #2 spot. The current overall standings are listed below.

NOTE: I’ll organize this list with links to the reviews next week.

Overall Standings (at the end of #S2Roadshow Week Eight):

  • Pecan Lodge – 9
  • Bowlegged BBQ – 8.75
  • Divine Swine – 8.5
  • Dinosaur BBQ – 8.25
  • Big Ed’s BBQ – 8.25
  • Mission BBQ – 8
  • Slaps BBQ – 8
  • Q39 BBQ – 7.75
  • Cousin’s BBQ – 7.75
  • Blackwood BBQ – 7.5
  • Broad Street BBQ – 7.5
  • Hard Eight – 7.25
  • Spring Creek Barbeque – 7.25
  • Redd’s BBQ – 7.25
  • RIBBRO BBQ – 7.25
  • Iron Horse – 7
  • Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ – 7
  • Texas Bar-B-Q Joint – 7
  • Fire Breather BBQ – 7
  • Smoque – 6.75
  • Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse – 6.75
  • Red Coal BBQ – 6.75
  • Bad to the Bone BBQ – 6.75
  • Unkl Moe’s – 6.5
  • Hambone’s Smokehouse – 6.25
  • Shakedown BBQ – N/A (wasn’t open when it was supposed to be, wasted trip)

Next Week’s #S2Roadshow

No trip planned this week. We’re taking the week off for Thanksgiving. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Stay tuned for next week’s #S2Roadshow updates. You can follow us on Twitter (@evanfrancen, @HarmonJohn, @StudioSecurity, and the #S2Roadshow hashtag) and on LinkedIn.

See you next week! If you want to collaborate with us, get in touch!

#S2Roadshow Recap – Week Seven

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Rochester (NY), Kansas City (MO), and Sacramento (CA)

A good week that started with serving a great FRSecure customer in Rochester before heading off to preach in Kansas City and Sacramento. This was the first week that we ran into a person (or group of people) who epitomized something that’s wrong with our industry. Read on.

SecurityStudio Roadshow Summary

If you’re new, or you’re confused about this #S2Roadshow thing, start here (maybe). It’s hard to believe that each week gets better, but it’s true, it does! Week #6 (this one) was the best yet.

Previous Week’s Recaps:

The purpose of the SecurityStudio Roadshow (#S2Roadhow) is to meet people and make partners. We want to meet people, understand their businesses, and help them grow using simple, fundamental, and compliant solutions (S2Score, S2Org, S2Vendor, and S2Team/S2Me).

Our mission is to fix the broken information security industry. Success requires collaboration, partnership, and transparency.

This is the first time we’ve done three cities in one week! It was tough, but very rewarding. The week started of in Rochester to work with a long-time FRSecure customer, then west to Kansas City (Greater Kansas City ISACA Chapter), then further west to Sacramento (Sacramento Valley ISSA Chapter).

Ryan Abraham from FRSecure joined me in Rochester. John Harmon was with me in Kansas City and Sacramento.

BBQ Reviews

In full transparency, we have a secondary mission on the #S2Roadshow. We eat as much BBQ as we can. After stuffing ourselves, I summarize our BBQ reviews at the end of each recap article (see below).

Rochester, New York

Flew to Rochester on Sunday evening. The week started off with some customer project work. I don’t get to work on many customer projects anymore, and I miss it sometimes. This project is a big one, and it requires the development of a new methodology (or two). Sort of cool. Here’s what I can tell you…

  • There are numerous projects.
  • Two of the projects include SecurityStudio products; S2Org and S2Team.
  • We’re putting together a board presentation for S2Org and their S2Score.
  • The customer wants to take the S2Org, S2Score, S2Team, and one of the new methodologies we developed to their group of other like companies. This could become a really big deal!

Honestly, these are some of my favorite people in the security business! We got a ton of work done and collaborated on some very cool things.

Ryan Abraham has worked at FRSecure for a couple of years now, and this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to work on anything together. It was awesome! Ryan’s an incredible asset to FRSecure, our customers, and this industry. Had a great time getting a bunch of work done and preaching the good (security) news.

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We nabbed some good BBQ at Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester (twice, review below).

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It snowed 8(ish) inches while we were in Rochester. First snow storm of the year for me.

Got back to the Twin Cities late on Tuesday night. On to Kansas City Wednesday.

Kansas City, Missouri

The purpose of the trip to Kansas City is to meet with the local ISACA chapter and spread some love. Met John Harmon at the airport and we were off to Kansas City. On the way, we decided that we both needed a new pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones. Impulse buy, but these things are awesome!

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John and I landed in Kansas City, grabbed our rental car, then got down to business. By business, I mean find BBQ. The rental car bus driver told us we had to try Q39, so that’s what we did (review below). After BBQ, I texted my Mexican son (long story that I’ll share in person if you find me), Officer Salinas of the Lenexa Police Department. We found him on patrol and hung out with him until he got a call he had to get to. I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of this guy! He’s amazing.

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Finished the day in Kansas City with some frozen yogurt (froyo) before checking in at the hotel and getting work done. You know, the real work.

Greater Kansas City ISACA Chapter

We met up with the great people who represent the Greater Kansas City ISACA Chapter on Thursday at the University of Kansas Edwards Campus. The venue was beautiful, and the people were even better. Preached the normal(ish) sermon about fixing our broken information security language problem, and encouraged everyone to get their free SecurityStudio account and complete their free  S2Org and S2Me assessments. Yes, they’re completely free!

My sermon has evolved a bit. The (newish) agenda goes from housekeeping (introduction) to the meat (our language, simplification, and fundamentals problem) to the dream (securing America) to the call to action (get our assessments, give us feedback by being part of our community, and preach). If you haven’t heard it yet, come get me. I’ll preach to you too!

I made some new friends including (but not limited to) J.J., Jennifer, Brian, Joan, and Beth. Seriously awesome people! They all stand out, and J.J. Widener is a champ. His support for what we’re doing is super helpful and appreciated! This guy gets it.

Here’s some pictures that John took at the event.

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After the ISACA talk, we headed out for more BBQ and the airport. Last stop before heading home this week was Sacramento. The weather there doesn’t suck.

Sacramento, California

This turned out to be a quick stop for us. We arrived at 1am (local time) Friday, got some rest at the hotel, gave our talk at the Sacramento Valley ISSA chapter meeting, and got back on a plane for a long flight back to the Twin Cities. No BBQ, which was sort of sad, but I don’t know what kind of BBQ they have in Sacramento anyway.

Sacramento Valley ISSA

This was a relatively small gathering, and one where we hit our first snag on the SecurityStudio Roadshow. Seven weeks in, and our first snag, not bad! Here’s the deal.

We make numerous points in our Roadshow presentation, and two key points are #1, we need to simplify information security for “normal” people and #2, we need to get much better on agreeing what the hell it is we do as a profession. We learned the first point based on what “normal” people have told us after asking ~1,000 of them in a survey and through experience. Yes, we asked people what they think instead of telling them what they think. Big difference!

We learned the second point through basic logic.

The snag came not because the points are invalid, but because we had someone in the audience who liked to think that he was the smartest person in the room.

On point #1. We asked almost 1,000 “normal” people (business people and people who don’t do information security for a living) what we (information security people) can do to make information security more useful, and what we can do to serve them better. Once we received their answers, we made a word map of the raw data (see pic below). The most common word in their answers was “simple”. We need to make information security more simple. This is a good thing because complexity is the enemy of information security (thank you Bruce Schneier).

On this point, most people in this audience agreed (based upon their head nodding and facial expressions); however, I could already sense trouble brewing from the person I alluded to above.

My talk then goes on to tackle an issue that simplification requires a common agreement among security professionals. We will never effectively translate our language to “normal” people’s language until we agree on our language first. Logical, right? Let’s start with the most basic issue at hand, what is “information security”? We should all be able to agree on this fundamental definition. Things started to get sideways here.

Information Security is… (the question posed to the audience). Most audiences give some definitions, then I offer mine. Not that mine is the end all, be all.

I go on. Information Security is managing risk. On this point, I haven’t received disagreement from anyone before, but our guy starts starts chiming in. He doesn’t chime in from an angle of disagreement, but more to add his two cents.

Next. Information Security is NOT eliminating risk, despite what some people think. General agreement on this point too, but our guy still has to add his two cents.

Next. Information Security is NOT compliance, despite the fact that most information security dollars are spent from this motivator. Now our guy feels the need to completely sidetrack the conversation and before we know it, we’re deep in a rabbit hole.

It took almost full hour to get to what I was hoping would be our common definition of information security as “managing risk to unauthorized disclosure, alteration, and/or destruction of information using administrative, physical, and technical controls“. It’s not so much that our guy disagreed with the definition or (God-forbid) gave us an alternative definition as much as his deep desire to be the smartest guy in the room. I called him out for this during the presentation (whether I should have or not is debatable) and it got tense, but whatever. You call it like you see it.

Eventually, we got through the presentation. Due to the monopolization of time, we didn’t have any left for visiting afterwards. We had to run immediately after the talk to catch our flight back to the Twin Cities.

Here’s what I learned from this talk:

  • Everyone is entitled to their opinions.
  • There is a time and a place for opinions and wasting everyone’s time is not the place for your opinions.
  • I could have done a much better job of controlling the dialog during my talk.
  • As long as we’re all fighting to be the smartest guy in the room, we’ll never solve our industry’s problems.
  • Once you choose your hill to die on, you will probably die on that hill.

Made it back safe and sound in Minneapolis. Overall, it was an incredible week!

BBQ Reviews

Three BBQ reviews this week. Three is better than two, which is all we got in the previous few weeks. Our BBQ visits this week included Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester, Q39 in Overland Park, and Iron Horse BBQ in Platte City.

Dinosaur BBQ – https://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/rochester/ – Overall: 8.25

  • Atmosphere – 8, it’s a cool place with a great vibe. The lighting is perfect for a BBQ joint, there’s a lot of wood, and the view of the river is super cool.
  • Service – 9, great service all-around. These people make you feel at home.
  • Portion/Value – 7, a little pricey for how much food you get, but what place isn’t?
  • Taste – 9, incredible, especially the ribs and wings.

In full transparency, I’ve eaten at Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester many times. It’s a great BBQ joint and I’ve enjoyed every visit I’ve made. This was Ryan Abraham’s first visit to Rochester, so we made sure to stop in. Actually, we ended up eating here twice during this trip. Poor us!

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I’ve visited Rochester more than a dozen times and eaten BBQ at just about every place this city offers. Dinosaur is the best BBQ in Rochester. On this trip, I ate their ribs, brisket, wings, and pulled pork. The brisket and pulled pork were good, but the ribs and wings were friggin’ amazing! The ribs were arguably the best I’ve had on the SecurityStudio Roadshow so far. If you’re in Rochester, and you like BBQ (even if you don’t like BBQ), a visit to Dinosaur is a must!

Q39 – https://q39kc.com/ – Overall: 7.75

  • Atmosphere – 7, this is a little too upscale feeling for me. A very nice restaurant, but not down-homey enough for my taste.
  • Service – 8, great service. I was in the middle of a conference call at the beginning, so I might have missed something here. Guess, I’ll have to visit again!
  • Portion/Value – 7, a little spendy.
  • Taste – 9, super! The burnt ends and brisket were the bomb!

This was the first stop for me and John after landing in Kansas City. We received a tip to visit this place from our rental car terminal bus driver, and obviously this guy knew what he was talking about! Kansas City is known for their BBQ and we had dozens of places to choose from, but we made a good call here.

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This was a great welcome to Kansas City and we highly recommend visiting Q39!

Iron Horse BBQ – no website – Overall: 7.0

  • Atmosphere – 5, I’m not a big fan of the strip mall BBQ joint vibe, so this was a downer.
  • Service – 9, great service! These guys gave us some free burnt ends and came out from behind the counter to visit with us. Really cool people here!
  • Portion/Value – 8, very reasonably priced for large portions of food.
  • Taste – 6, the taste was too bland and overall disappointing.

We were in a bit of a rush after the ISACA talk, but we had to fit in one more BBQ visit before we left. It’s Kansas City for crying out loud!

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We’ll give these guys the benefit of the doubt. I think they recently moved into this new location, and I don’t think they’ve gotten completely settled yet. It’s worth trying again some time in the future, but it might be hard to get back here given all the awesome BBQ joints in Kansas City.

No promises.

BBQ Summary

Three new BBQ joints to add to our list. This was a good BBQ week. The winner this week was Dinosaur BBQ (Rochester). Pecan Lodge is still on top as the overall #S2Roadshow leader with a score of 9, and Bowlegged BBQ is still in the #2 spot. The current overall standings are listed below.

Overall Standings (at the end of #S2Roadshow Week Seven):

  • Pecan Lodge – 9
  • Bowlegged BBQ – 8.75
  • Divine Swine – 8.5
  • Dinosaur BBQ – 8.25
  • Big Ed’s BBQ – 8.25
  • Mission BBQ – 8
  • Q39 BBQ – 7.75
  • Cousin’s BBQ – 7.75
  • Blackwood BBQ – 7.5
  • Broad Street BBQ – 7.5
  • Hard Eight – 7.25
  • Spring Creek Barbeque – 7.25
  • Redd’s BBQ – 7.25
  • Iron Horse – 7
  • Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ – 7
  • Texas Bar-B-Q Joint – 7
  • Smoque – 6.75
  • Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse – 6.75
  • Red Coal BBQ – 6.75
  • Unkl Moe’s – 6.5
  • Hambone’s Smokehouse – 6.25
  • Shakedown BBQ – N/A (wasn’t open when it was supposed to be, wasted trip)

Next Week’s #S2Roadshow

A less busy week, but still a great one planned. The Roadshow starts on Tuesday with another visit to Kansas City, then it’s on to Webster University in Irvine, California. We’re giving the standard sermon at a joint seminar between Webster University, ISSA, ISACA, and OWASP. Pretty pumped!

Looking forward to another great week!

Stay tuned for next week’s #S2Roadshow updates. You can follow us on Twitter (@evanfrancen, @HarmonJohn, @StudioSecurity, and the #S2Roadshow hashtag) and on LinkedIn.

See you next week! If you want to collaborate with us, get in touch!

The UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 51 Show Notes

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Things have gotten wild at work lately. The #S2Roadshow is in full swing, Brad’s been VERY busy, and business is good. John Harmon and I are four weeks into the SecurityStudio Roadshow (#S2Roadshow). Last week he was at BSides in Virginia and I was at the San Diego ISSA chapter. I’ll write the week four recap on my blog (here) soon.

Brad’s on the East coast this weekend and won’t make it back until Tuesday morning.

All of this means that we’re going to be a day late recording this episode of the UNSECURITY Podcast. We’ve got a great show planned though! Special guest, Eric Hanson (FRSecure’s Penetration Testing Lead) will join us from Reno, NV.

Brad’s show this week, and these are his notes.

SHOW NOTES – Episode 51

Date: Tuesday, October 29th, 2019

Show Topics:

Our topics this week:

  • Quick Catch-up/Roadshow Week #4
  • Penetration Testing Discussion
    • Introduction to Pentesting
    • Common Questions
    • FRSecure’s Penetration Testing Team
    • Other Stuff
  • Industry News
Opening

[Brad] – Hi everybody, and welcome to another episode of the UNSECURITY Podcast! This is episode 51, and I’m  Brad Nigh, your host.  Joining me today is my good friend, Evan Francen. Good Morning Evan.

[Evan] Evan has been traveling a lot, I’m hoping he’s functional.

[Brad] Joining us as a special guest this week is FRSecure’s Lead Pentester, Eric Hanson. Welcome Eric!

[Eric] Says “hi”. Eric is one of the nicest guys you’ll meet.

[Brad] We’re very excited to talk to Eric, but before we dive head first into pentesting stuff, let’s catch up real quick. We’ve all been very busy. Evan, you just wrapped up week four of the SecurityStudio Roadshow, how’d it go?

[Evan] Some things. Evan’s been meeting some awesome people all over the country. Let’s get some #truth.

[Brad] Good stuff. We’ve been doing a lot of preaching lately! I just got back from speaking myself… (tell about it). OK, back to Eric now. Eric, do you do any speaking?

[Eric] Tells it like it is.

[Brad] One member of your team, “Ben” has been doing some awesome research and will be speaking again soon. I think he’s speaking at a big ISACA conference in Chicago. Let’s talk about that and let’s talk about this whole pentesting “thing”.

I’d like to spend most of the show talking about this.

Penetration Testing Discussion
  • Introduction to Pentesting
  • Common Questions
  • FRSecure’s Penetration Testing Team
  • Other Stuff

[Brad] Great discussion. Hopefully we covered some of the common questions and misconceptions people have about penetration testing. Penetration testing is serious business, and we’re VERY grateful to have such a highly-skilled team like we do here at FRSecure.

Let’s dig into some news stories before we close this episode out.

News

[Brad] We’ve got four news stories to discuss this week:

Closing

[Brad] There you go, episode 51 is a wrap! Like many of you listening, we’ve got another busy week ahead.

Special thanks to Eric for joining us this week.

Thank you to our loyal listeners! Thank you for your tips and feedback. Send us your wisdom, questions, advice, whatever, by email to unsecurity@protonmail.com. If you’re the social type, socialize with us on Twitter, I’m @BradNigh and Evan’s @evanfrancen. Also, be sure to follow SecurityStudio (@studiosecurity) and FRSecure (@FRSecure) for more goodies!

That’s it! Talk to you all again next week!