Security’s Choice: Top Articles of 2017

2017 was a very busy year for security professionals. Between multiple high-profile data breaches and cyberattacks, terrorist attacks and mass shootings, security leaders are still juggling the weighty responsibilities of risk mitigation, reputation management and loss prevention.

Below are some of Security magazine’s staff’s top articles of 2017, with trends, events and guides for security leaders in the New Year.

Editor-in-Chief Diane Ritchey

1. The Las Vegas Massacre: The Anatomy of a Catastrophic Security Failure. While the investigation into the shooting continues, Tom Conley highlighted the reasons why the Las Vegas shooting was a dark day for security, as he says, instead of an opportunity for enterprise security to effectively and quickly mitigate a security incident and save lives.
2. The Science of Shoplifting. Shoplifting is a larger problem than what most consumers believe. Theft and fraud cost U.S. retailers billions in annual losses, as well as generating violence. Shoplifting also drives up prices for paying customers and filling the coffers of gangs and terrorist organizations. Professional thieves view shoplifting as a science, and they have perfected some interesting methods to succeed and in some cases, to make a career out of it. It was a pleasure to speak with Dr. Reed Hayes and to learn how he gets into the minds of shoplifters and organized crime professionals.
3. Recruiting for Security Leadership Success, by Jerry Brennan, because so often, professionals, in any career, can be blind to their leadership abilities, or inabilities, I should say. Success in business is often determined by a role within an enterprise, how high you climb the corporate ladder, but once you get there, how are your peers and employees really seeing you? Are you succeeding because you have a title, or are you succeeding (or not) because of your day to day actions or inactions?

Security Managing Editor Claire Meyer

1. The Most Influential People in Security, 2017. It’s always fascinating to me to see which security leaders go above and beyond their day-to-day duties within their organizations to really make a difference in the security profession and in the lives of their neighbors and communities. This year, we profiled insider threat expert Michael Caimona at Boeing Intelligence & Analytics, Chief Ronnell Higgins at Yale University, Richard McComb of DHS, James Trainor of Aon and more.
2. The 2017 Security 500 Report. Are you factoring in how all of your security initiatives serve to protect the enterprise’s reputation? This year’s Security 500 Report aims to shift CSOs’ perceptions around enterprise risk management to highlight one of the hardest factors to measure.
3. How New York is Shaking Up Cybersecurity. Here at Security magazine, we always enjoy our Cyber Tactics columnist Steve Chabinsky’s unique way of making cybersecurity relatable, and his report on New York’s newest cybersecurity regulations was no exception. The timeliness of his report, especially after neighboring states began to follow suit, earns it a spot on this list.
4. No More Hoodies: Why We Need to Attract More Women to Cyber. Let me be clear: I have nothing against hoodies. They’re quite cozy. They have pockets. But they’re also a symbol of the dark underbelly of the IT profession, and that image of a hooded hacker might be contributing to the talent gap by discouraging young women from entering the profession. A Kapersky Labs report this year showed that most women decide against a career in cybersecurity by age 16, and in this blog, Theresa Payton works to show how changing the image of an IT professional could change young women’s interest in a promising career field.

Other Top Articles from 2017

We had an abundance of news to report on in 2017, and we appreciate your support in making this one of our busiest years of traffic on SecurityMagazine.com! In case you missed any of these articles the first time around, here are some of our top stories of 2017:

• Creating the GSOC: 4 Leading Examples of Successful Security Operations Centers
• Kirstjen Nielsen Named DHS Chief of Staff
• Airport Security: Active Shooter, Insider Threat, Terrorism and Protests
• Terrorism Challenges Facing the Trump Administration
• What the Most Common Passwords of 2016 List Reveals
• Cybercrime, Malware Shift to Mobile Devices
• 7 Tips to Improve Security Officers’ Incident Report Writing Skills
• Hackers Attack Every 39 Seconds
• Top 12 Interview Questions for Security Leaders