Hope in one hand and shit in the other! this is what I was told as a child about hope, this is because hope is commonly associated with expectations, and expectations lead to disappointment.

It was not until later that I learned hope could also mean a want or desire for something to happen, that hope is about anticipation for positive outcomes.

Then I remembered I work in information security, an industry that at times appears to be a hopeless wasteland of soul sucking, ungrateful people, never-ending greed, over inflated egos, blaming and shaming and awful behavior. An industry were the vendors treat their customers like victims, while peddling rebranded anti-virus and packet inspection as next gen and don’t get me going on the “Rock stars” of the industry are high on their own farts.

Work in this industry long enough and you will start to lose hope, lost hope that anything will change, that we can get ahead of the criminals, that we can do the right thing, that we will become diverse and inclusive, that we will help and protect those we serve, that the next generation will know how a computer and network actually works.

Feeling hopeless makes it hard to get up each day and keep fighting this fight, hopelessness is hard on mental health, passion and drive start to suffer and apathy starts to set in. It was in this spiral of negative feelings about our industry and its future that I found myself, when I arrived at my very first GrrCON.

What unfolded over the next few days, surprised, renewed, refreshed, inspired, encouraged, empowered, energized and left me with a restored since of hope.

After spending an amazing time hanging with and learning from some of the kindest, nicest, humblest, smartest people in infosec. I could see we have a chance to do better, to be better and there are some of us in this industry who are in it for all the right reasons. From the amazing folks at ILF to the thoughtful sessions, the openness to share knowledge, and humbleness of some of the biggest names in the game. Every person I met from the newest in the industry to the dusty old dinosaurs (holding up a mirror) every single person was eager to help, excited to grow and learn from one another regardless of experience level.

We need to take what makes the attendees of GrrCON so special, put it in a bottle and sell it as a service.

All this and more tonight on the Security Shit Show with Chris, Evan and Ryan.