A happy holiday gift guide, infosec pro edition
Three hundred and sixty-five days of angst is a good description of the job of an infosec pro.
Whether working for a well-funded bank or a fledgling startup, IT security professionals are exhausted every day. So for a holiday gift they need escapism. Here are a few suggestions for what to get the infosec pro on your shopping list. (Unless otherwise noted, all prices in Canadian dollars):
–A thick bathrobe to come home to. Wrap them up in warmth. What better way to shed the worries of the day. New York Magazine’s The Strategist has this list of 21 best bathrobes for women. GQ suggests these bathrobes for men. Want to shop Canadian? Try LL Bean Canada, or Harry Rosen menswear.
Not everything is digital today. Some decisions need an authoritative signature. And what better way to sign a name with a flourish than with a classy pen. Not just any pen — a fountain pen. Birks carries the Montblanc Meisterstück Gold-Coated Classique Fountain Pen for $800. It has piston converter, allowing for the optional use of ink cartridges instead of those messy (but classique) bottles of ink. Or The Bay has a Wildhorn pen and bifiold wallet combo set for $37 (half off regular price!!!).
Books are a great gift for getting away from it all. Is your friend a rock music buff? How about 50 Years of Rolling Stone, a compilation of articles from the magazine. Published in 2017, it’s now on sale at Chapters for $80. Do they long to get away from it all? There’s Wayward, for $44, photographs and the stories behind them by a leading surf, nature, and adventure photographer. And while it does involve tech, they may also like Sideways, $38, the story of why Google couldn’t build the supposed next-generation community in Toronto. If these book suggestions don’t do it, consider fiction by a Canadian author.
Books have caught your eye, but you think your friend wants to delve deeply into their profession? How about the recently-published Cyber Investigations, a how-to-do-it tome for $120. Or The Ransomware Hunting Team, $40, how a team of hackers around the world go after some of the biggest criminal threat actors around.
If you know them — and their computing devices — well enough, why not a security key for their home computer for unbreakable strong authentication? The choices include a Yubikey, a Google Titan key, a Kensington fingerprint key Don’t know which is best? Here’s a guide.
Finally, if you’re a CEO and want to show appreciation to your CISO or infosec leader, we suggest a chair — one that gives your prized staffer a seat at the executive table, where their voice will be heard more clearly.
