Launching today
- Gary Hinson
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Finally! The wait is over! Cybersecurity Hyperglossary starts shipping today.
I’ve been looking forward to this day since resolving to publish the book at the end of 2024. I didn’t fully appreciate just how much work remained to be done, and owe my sincere thanks to the publisher and editorial team. Turning my 800-page 285,000-word monster of a Word table with 5,555 rows, 40,000 internal cross-references and hundreds of Internet hyperlinks into a publishable book took an immense, painstaking effort from all involved.
We now stand on the brink of a breakthrough: cybersecurity is advancing from a trade to a profession.
Trade
Originally a term from the intelligence community, tradecraft refers to the techniques, methods and technologies used in cybersecurity - the "boots-on-the-ground" skill set. Tradecraft involves deep technical expertise. Aside from merely appreciating the value of a complex control such as Multi Factor Authentication and knowing how to implement it, cybersecurity specialists also acknowledge its limitations, to the point of being able to bypass or undermine inadequate MFA. Knowing how things are built and what they are made of gives us an edge when someone is stressing them to breaking point and beyond.
However, the skills, knowlege and competence is hard-won. An enormous amount of reading, researching and experimentation is supplemented by guidance and advice from peers willing to disclose their secrets. The 'intelligence community' is a clue: collaboration is key, albeit mostly informal and in private.
Profession
A profession is a calling or vocation founded upon specialised education and training. In cybersecurity, it represents the institutionalised certification, codes of ethics, regulatory compliance and life-long careers. Collaboration includes formal interactions such as lectures, seminars and peer-reviewed papers, along with informal friendly chit-chat including social media these days.
Alignment requires awareness and consensus on a global scale, particularly among cybersecurity and related specialists ... which means plenty of communications and shared understanding.
The Cybersecurity Hyperglossary presents a snapshot, a record of the terminology in use at the present time. Meanwhile, the language continues to evolve as we reinterpret and adapt the words to suit our purposes. Innovative cybersecurity in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Zero Knowledge Proofs and Brain Computer Interfaces presents challenges and opportunities. At least now we have a reliable guide to the terms we'll be using to describe and debate this stuff going forward.
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