What is the Rural Technology Fund?

In this non-profit edition of the Exploring Information Security podcast, Chris Sanders joins me to discuss the Rural Technology Fund.

Chris (@chrissanders88) grew up at a disadvantage. He wasn't rich or handed a great educations. He speaks of being part of the free lunch kids at school. He's managed to turn himself into a successful information security professional, with his own company and non-profit. A lot of that is due to his teachers and mentors encouraging his interest in computers. The Rural Technology Fund is a way for him to give back and give other kids an opportunity to see if they have a spark for technology.

In this episode we discuss:

  • What is the Rural Technology Fund?

  • How it got started.

  • How people can apply for funding.

  • How people can contribute.

Ways to donate can be found at their website. Also, make sure to pick them as your charity for Amazon Smile.

Why is passion an infosec requirement?

In this strong episode of the Exploring Information Security podcast, Chris Sanders CEO of Applied Network Defense and founder of the Rural Technology Fund joins me to question why passion is an infosec requirement.

Chris (@chrissanders88) recently put up a blog post titled, The Cult of Passion. In this post he discusses the concept of passion being a requirement in information security. This is something I've railed against in the path. Like Chris I think it sets the bar higher for those trying to get in. They feel like they have to spend 18 hours of their day doing infosec related things. That is in fact not the case and there are plenty of successful people in infosec that don't eat, sleep, and breath infosec.

In this episode we discuss:

  • What is passion?
  • What is some of the psychology around passion?
  • Why passion isn't a reliable measure for hiring managers.
  • What should people be focusing on instead of passion?