CSO Compass Award: Erin Jacobs

CSO, United Collections Bureau

By Bill Brandel

May 10, 2010 — CSO — Many CSOs might prefer that the issues raised by Facebook, Twitter and blogs just go away. Not United Collections Bureau CSO Erin Jacobs. She has embraced social networking to create her own forum for pushing the boundaries on the matters she holds dear: security, Mac OS X and gender issues in information security. Not your average CSO, Jacobs has cultivated an online presence using the handle SecBarbie (www.secsocial.com/blog).

See the full list of this year's Compass Award winners

CSO: Why did you start the SecBarbie blog?
Erin Jacobs: When it started in '05, it was about security sociability. I'd blog for humor, lightheartedness, post about things that amused me. I never anticipated any sort of following or readership. It is a space where I discuss security industry-related challenges I experience in my workplace, or discuss vendors. It was just my blog, very self-serving. I really don't think of it as being on some high horse or a huge pedestal.

Often, I am using SecBarbie to just poke fun at myself.

Is it your mission to raise the profile of the security profession?
Actually, I am attempting to elevate and cultivate gender awareness in this industry. There are fewer women entering the computer profession today than in 1980. In 1980, there were not nearly as many career choices available to women as there are today. So to see that number go down is concerning.

Do you think there should be more women working as security professionals?
I'm not sure if that matters. But all people should have the same opportunity. Due to the way we are weighted, there won't be as many C-level women. For example, Apple has no women in C-level management. Is Apple not welcoming? Not the case. We simply are not keeping women engaged in regards to what is available. I think part of it is that we are doing a bad job of teaching information security to (female) teenagers.

As a security professional, does your own use of social media create any challenges for you?
Social media is giving us a ton more challenges than we ever expected. People are putting all this info out there. For safety purposes—whether it's for a teenager or an organization—it's all the same. What is out there—all of it—will stick, permanently. Where is the dividing line between what you do at work and on your own personal time, and where is the jurisdiction for that in an organization?

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