Within VERT, we are rapidly approaching the release of our 1000th ASPL package. For those unfamiliar with the term “ASPL Package”, we are fast approaching the 1000th time that we delivered vulnerability content to customers. There’s an entire blog post planned around that in a few weeks as it is quite the milestone and accomplishment for the team, and I couldn’t be prouder of all the people who’ve helped to make this happen over the years.

Today, however, I wanted to talk about something else. I want to talk about the person who gave us VERT, the team that released all of those content updates. Mike Murray, the person who gave me my start in cybersecurity, passed away last week. I’m sure a lot of people are dealing with this loss and trying to find understanding in it all, I know I am. I didn’t work with Mike for that long, as he left nCircle shortly after he hired me, but we kept in touch over the years. For the first 5 years of my career, I considered him a mentor. He introduced me to the Security Bloggers Network, provided career and resume advice, and was a friend.

To this day, I still remember the interview training he gave and his advice around mirroring the person interviewing you. I share it with other people all the time and tell them where that advice came from. This weekend, I looked at the old emails I had exchanged with him. e-Cards, resume advice, discussions on security issues. No matter the email, Mike always replied.

We didn’t see each other often or talk nearly as much as I wish we had, but whenever the opportunity presented, he was available for a quick chat. Given the past few years, I’m glad I (Read more...)