So, DC has an ISM-Community chapter.  We have a membership last I checked of 3 and we grew by an amazing 50% today. =)

Seriously, though, and I know you’re asking: What can one more security group in the DC area fulfill?  That was my first question when we first started talking about local chapters many months ago.

I mean, we have the following groups:

• ISC2 (get certified, do good works, get CPEs, work on DoD contracts)
• ISSA-NOVA (Take some training, be an auditor or manager)
• Infragard (Protect the infrastructure, get some priviledged information, rub elbows with the F-B-I)
• NovaSec (We’re not CISSPs, we’re technical!  Check your guns and your certs at the door)
• Security Geeks-DC (We’re highly technical, but we died out while Mike was taking his “vacation” in “someplace sunny”, much to his lament)
• SANS (go to a conference, get a technical certification, start a university)
• Numerous others

As usual, I’m tongue in cheek (I’m a jerk, but not that much of a jerk =)   ) about what these groups do, but keep in mind that I’m in some way associated with some of these groups, so I’m not by any means hating on them.

We have all these other organizations that do a fine job at what they do, so where is there room for just another security group?

ISM-Community is different.  Otherwise, we wouldn’t even think about trying to “compete” with these other guys.  What we are about is projects which other people can use the output from.  In other words, we’re the kind of community that can throw together a hasty boundary determination guide (for example, just writing “off the cuff”) if we want, and in a matter of days, people will have a quick-reference chart to print out and hang on their cubicle wall, use as a C&A artifact, cut up and make training slides from, use to teach their boss, and thumb through on the metro.

This is all stuff that if I were to do it for an agency, you wouldn’t be able to use it because it would belong to my customer or have sensitive data in it or be covered under a non-disclosure agreement.  However, all of us can clean-room a version and then it belongs to everybody.

Now isn’t that special?

• In This Corner, the Business Reference Model
• And in This Corner, Special Publication 800-60
• Feds to Embrace SaaS, End is Nigh for Security!
• The “Off The Record” Track
• ISM-Community DC Chapter Meeting Announcement