Cb Past Form 1 For Job Application: Fill & Download for Free

The best way to transition from Finance to Tech is to wake up and do your homework.When beginning your job search, set four goals for yourself:1. Regain and maintain physical and mental health2. Learn a new industry (technology startups)3. Learn about companies and find job opportunities4. Develop relationships and expand your networkBelow, I’ll break down each of these goals in detail. The Google Sheet of resources by Alex Hardy would be very helpful.Pitching for a role at a company is a sales & marketing process.You are the product and you’re selling your brand but much more broadly you’re selling trust & confidence that you’re going to build something enormously valuable and that you’re going to be enjoyable to work hand-in-hand with over the coming decade of each other’s lives.When you market your product: People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves.I. BE SO GOOD THEY CAN'T IGNORE YOU.Display the hustle that you’d display with the job.1. Regain and maintain physical and mental healthMost people working on in finance severely neglect their mental and physical health. They rarely exercise, their diet is poor, and their stress levels are astronomical.Restoring your mental and physical health would lay a great foundation for pursuing the job search.This post is not meant to be super “self-help”-y, but I firmly believe there is power in both (a) building habits and (b) making those habits unrelated to your search in order to preserve your sanity. It can be exercise, meditation, writing, reading, etc._ _2. Learn a new industry: technology startupsTech companies/startups and financial firms are worlds apart in what their priorities are, how they operate, and what they’re like to work at. Learn as much as you can before applying for jobs. You’ll have a better sense for if startup life will be a fit for you, and it will help you identify interesting opportunities, interview more effectively, and hit the ground running if/when you join.Read more here.Within the context of any job interview, you’ll be expected to have knowledge of the relevant tech vertical, if not the startup world generally. For someone starting with no knowledge, spending about an hour per day getting up to speed is a good target. I’d break up reading into News and Analysis.✿ NewsThe Internet is a goldmine of resources. There has been a ton written and recorded about startups, so take advantage of all that’s available! The more you’ve read about what’s being built and how startups operate, the more effectively you’ll be able to (1) assess and pick a great startup to join, and (2) build a great product, marketing org, customer success team, etc. once you get started.Here are a few suggestions and several resources to get you started and stay informed:* Industry-specific Press: TechCrunch (Keep an eye out for fundraise press here), VentureBeat, The Verge and others maintain a good record of VC/Tech activity.* VC Newsletters: Term Sheet by Eric Griffin, Dan Primack’s Term Sheet, Connie Loizos’ StrictlyVC (Every day, you should read StrictlyVC. It’s a TechCrunch newsletter by Connie Loizos, with an overview of funding, startup news, and great interviews), Jason Calacanis’ Launch Ticker, Alex Kantrowitz's Big Technology, Benedict Evans, GGV’s 996 (about Chinese startups), The Information, CB Insights, Mattermark Daily, CrunchBase Daily are newsletters that summarize daily or weekly trends and venture activity.* Cool hack: Download Nuzzel. Follow the Twitter accounts of tech people, online publishers, and companies that Alex Hardy recommended, see what they’re sharing (Find more people to follow at my Twitter @sarahvo91), or Like/Follow their Facebook pages.The Google Sheet has all those good news sources.I personally prefer to update generic news at the pages I’m following on Facebook rather than Twitter. Of the 800+ accounts I follow on Twitter, a half dozen or so are publications such as companies and online publishers. I’m not interested in reading a press release or generic tweet on Twitter. Instead, I only follow people and prefer to hear candidly from the Co-founders, Executives, Investors, and Media Influencers so that I can stay informed and mentally in tune with their recent success, announcement, failure or wisdom.More Twitter tips can be found below.✿ AnalysisIt’s important to know what’s happening, but even more important to know what it all ‘means’ in context.* Books: How the Internet Happened — context on the evolution of tech over the last ~25 years. Zero to One — Peter Thiel’s take on how to take a company from an idea to reality. High Growth Handbook — advice for scaling startups across hiring, org structures, and more. Keith Rabois also tends to have great book recs. Highly recommend Venture Deals, or career guides such as Vault, etc. If you’re not a great reader, get a library membership & audio versions of several books are free. Get an Audible account if you can.* VC Newsletters & Blogs:A number of VCs and founders, such as Andrew Chen, Elad Gil, Dan Wang, Matthew Ball, Jason Crawford, Kevin Kwok, Eugene Wei, Sriram Krishnan, Lenny Rachitsky, Alex Taussig, Li Jin, Alex Danco, Tren Griffin, Brad Feld, Jessica Livingston, Justin Kan, Mark Suster, David Skok, Sarah Guo, Fred Wilson, Social + Capital Snippets, Marc Andreessen (PMarca guide to startups, particularly the only thing that matters), Paul Graham essays — a couple favorites are maker vs. manager time, and how to start a startup, Sam Altman, Bill Gurley, Steve Blank, Dharmesh Shah, The First Round Review, a16z, Nfx, Trends.vc etc publish advice for entrepreneurs/investors and provide commentary on deals and trends in the industry. I highly recommend Stratechery by Ben Thompson — insightful newsletter dissecting tech strategy and business. Subscription is $100/year but well worth it. A few gems to get started with: Aggregation theory, Amazon’s new customer, 2018 year in review. His analysis is unparalleled. He also has an excellent companion podcast, Exponent.* Podcasts: Recode Decode with Kara Swisher, Exponent Podcast by Ben Thompson, a16z Podcast, This Week In Startups with Jason Calacanis. How I Built This — like it sounds, founders talk about the companies they’ve built. Venture Stories — deep dives with startup founders, VCs, and thought leaders across a variety of topics. Invest Like the Best — interviews with renowned investors and beyond.* Videos: Sam Altman’s How to Start a Startup class. My favorite section is hosted by Keith Rabois on how to operate.The Google Sheet has other good sources for tech analysis and podcasts.Full list of tools here._ _3. Learn about companies & find job opportunitiesFind tech jobs at: John Gannon’s blog, Breakout List, Women in Wireless, Tech Ladies (if you’re a woman).The Google Sheet has sources for where to find companies and job openings: Angel List, LinkedIn, Product Hunt, The Muse, Gary’s Guide, Join-Startups, Uncubed, Vettery, Hired, SquarePegHires.Lists like the Breakout list and Wealthfront’s list can help you hone in on high potential companies. You may find that using the lens of industry/mission or stage to be a helpful way to narrow in on the type of company you’d like to join as well.Many VC Firms have job portals on their company websites.✿ Stay organizedTracking your opportunities will make your search more manageable. You should make a simple ‘target companies’ and contact people list.During your search, you’ll get exposed to many new companies. When you hear of one that sounds interesting, write it on the list. Even if the company doesn’t have an open or interesting role posted, list them anyway. In tech, the best jobs will often not be posted to a job board.One of the benefits of reading tech news is learning which startups recently received funding. Companies that raise money generally do so to hire new people. Those are great companies to target.✿ Determine your criteriaNarrowing your criteria will help you focus your search. Even if you are truly ‘industry agnostic’ and just want to work on something cool, you’ll need to have a better story when you interview. I suggest honing in on the following elements:* Role at the Company: Understand your role. Probably the most important factor. People working in finance may no concept about the different typical roles at a startup. What you did before will determine, to a large extent, what you will do next. If you previously worked in banking and want to pivot into tech, you will likely be hired for a finance-related role in a tech company. If you spent 10 years in the airplane industry and want to start a company, you will likely found an aviation-related start-up. Just saying.It is important to understand what a potential employer will expect of you. This can vary significantly by company, so ask around about a particular firm’s approach to professional staffing. See if you can figure out who the hiring manager is (aka your potential future boss). It can be helpful if this person also has financial experience, as they’ll understand your skillset and where you’re coming from more broadly, but certainly not a requirement.If there is a jobs page at the company you’re interested in, check out the Operations, Business Operations (aka BizOps), Analyst and perhaps Product Manager roles (though those can be notoriously hard roles to get without any previous tech startup or product experience).If you’re not a software developer, you’ll probably end up doing one of the following: Marketing, Sales, Growth, Finance, Business Development, Customer Success / Experience, Operations. Learn what each of these roles does.The Google Sheet has some suggested resources to assist.I found it very helpful to seek out people at startups who actually did these roles, and try to talk to them. Generally, the earlier stage the company, the less defined the role.Speaking about VCs, generally, later-stage and growth equity firms place a have a heavier focus on deal support (due diligence and financial modeling) while earlier-stage firms tend to emphasize portfolio company work.There is also a pretty wide range of expectations for the level of sourcing you will be doing. Almost all firms require investment professionals to actively source new opportunities and help build theses around particular companies and industries.At the early stage, the ranks of the non-partner investor are disappearing. VC firms are going back to being mostly partner driven shops, where dealflow and decisions stay up top. They are, however, staffing up with specialists. Like lefties out of the bullpen, VC firms now have recruiting partners, pr and marketing experts, technologists-in-residents — and USV even has an on board activist. If you can’t walk into a firm and tout a specific skill that is a benefit to portfolio companies, you’re going to have a very tough time getting in.Analyzing startups is not a portfolio company benefit. That’s a benefit to the VC firm. To the company, as a recently minted MBA with no startup experience who wants to run the 4th year numbers, you’re just a pain in the ass.* Geography: How comfortable would you be working remotely? There can be drawbacks to your productivity, happiness, and job safety if you are not working closely IRL with your managers.* Number of employees & Amount of funding: Think carefully about a company’s size. Funding is a good proxy for size & “stage.” Startups range in size or stage from seed stage (<$2m, <~10 people), series A (~$5–10m, ~10–70 people), series B (~$10–30m, ~30–200 people), to series C and beyond (~$20m+, 100+ employees). Note that these ranges are rough and vary by company. Crunchbase is a helpful place for looking up companies by funding raised and number of employees. Generally, the earlier the stage, the higher the risk. The earlier the stage of company, the more risk you’ll take on, but the more exposure you’ll have to things like finding product-market fit and the more equity you’ll have in the company. Your experience at companies of five people vs. 50 people vs. 500 people will be vastly different, even though each might be (wrongly) classified as a “startup.”* Industry/Vertical: FinTech? HealthTech? EdTech? AdTech? The possibilities are (seemingly) endless. Coming from Finance, you may got the most traction with FinTech companies. If there is an area you’re interested in, such as women’s health, or space exploration, this can help focus your job search immensely. If you’re truly agnostic, pursuing a vertical where you have *some* experience and/or genuine interest is a good place to start. Don’t worry if you don’t have an industry you’re particularly drawn to though. Most companies don’t require industry expertise, and you may find that other factors of the job like stage, team and role are more important to you than industry. One quick way to search by industry is to filter by ‘market’ in Angelist’s company directory.* Customer base (Business-to-Business [“B2B”] vs. Business-to-Consumer [“B2C”]): Who does the company market and sell to? How do its users or customers make decisions? Would your work / life experience help you succeed in one environment or the other?Once you’ve pulled together a list of companies you’re excited about, it’s time to reach out.Shotgun resume submissions result in hiring managers sifting through dozens of candidates to find the right person. (Good luck emerging from that particular pile.) To show the hiring manager you are the right candidate, you have to do the work. Instead of shot-gunning your resume, put in the time to determine a company you definitely want to work for — both in terms of the job and in terms of cultural fit.Pretend I’m the hiring manager. “I would love to work for you,” you say. What I actually hear is, “I would love for you to pay me.” You can’t possibly know if you want to work for a company unless you know a lot about it; that’s the difference between just wanting a job and wanting an actual role in a business.If you really want to maximize your chances of success, put as much effort into researching the company you’re interviewing for as you would a final you wanted to ace. Doing your homework will put you ahead of the curve. Fortune, as they say, favors the prepared.Talk to friends, relatives, vendors, customers… anyone you can find. Check out management and employees on social media. When you know the people, you know the company. Learn as much as you can.Follow people who work at that company/firm on Twitter. If they host events, try to get into them. If they run a forum, contribute to it. Demonstrate a track record of interest before you ask them to get interested in you.Research the history, founders, key executives, culture, recent initiatives, product, new innovations, market, customer reviews, public financial data — the whole nine yards. Think about the user, how the product fits into the industry as a whole, new growth opportunities it could pursue in new markets. Moreover, use the product, and develop opinions about it — how could it be better, how could it be changed?Research the shit out of the company looking to fill that role. Figure out what they need to be successful that you can deliver on. Dazzle them in the interview and cover letter by telling them in extreme detail how you’re going to solve their problems for them.Unlike financial jobs that have clear requirements and a well-defined interview process, getting a startup job isn’t typically as straight-forward. There may not even be a job posting at the company you’re interested in, but don’t let that deter you.Focus on the companies/firms where you want to work: Many of the best companies/firms have a process for hiring new employees/partners. They frequently tweet these positions out, often with specific application requests and short timelines. Their goal is to find people who are REALLY interested in their companies/firms.✿ Pitching for the role* Acquire the skills: You need to identify the skills you would need to acquire in order to be the obvious candidate. Make sure you have transferable skills, so career change is always possible.From college admissions to office politics, most things in life are games. If you decide to play games, take the time to learn the rules first, even if you end up not following them.If you’re trying to signal that you’re a member of someone’s tribe, you have to present evidence that you’re a member of their tribe. No one will ever think of you as a member of their tribe until they can actually see you as a member of their tribe. If you’re interviewing for finance, wear a suit. If you’re interviewing for tech, don’t wear a suit. Apply this to any context whatsoever ad infinitum and you get the idea.If you’re trying to connect with someone, you have to learn how to speak their language. If you’re in VC, terms like due diligence, ROI, P2P, B2B, bootstrapping, will be basic terminology. If you’re in music, terms like tempo, measure, pianissimo, DC al coda, will be basic terminology. Apply this to any context whatsoever ad infinitum and you get the idea.You shouldn’t be scared by the technical aspect, especially if you develop a baseline knowledge of how to communicate around a technical problem. Take an intro CS class, and dabble in a Python and a few other languages before your interview, which would be very helpful.Pick up skills you don’t have. Yes, you learned how to model in Excel and make pretty slides, but there are still many gaps in your skillset. I’ve found they break down along the following lines: Data and analytics, Business developments and sales, product.* Write a CV/Resume: Going to a top business school, having banking or consulting on your resume is an indicator to potential venture employers that you’re smart, aggressive, willing to work hard and well trained. There is clearly a bias in the world of finance towards VC jobs as training grounds. It will also bring you into contact with people who are likely to have networks that include venture capitalists as well as potentially up your chances of meeting key people. This is especially true if you’re thinking of later stage venture or private equity who — much more so than early stage venture — tend to look kindly on the training one gets in these jobs.IMPACT. Always show impact in each role, ideally in the form “moved metric X by Y%”. Try to use industry standard metrics and definitions whenever possible (revenue, users, retention, activation, etc). Describe a few of the hardest problems you solved & exactly how you solved them.Unless you are applying for a role in the same industry, don’t use buzzwords or unexplained acronyms anywhere in the resume. Basic spelling and grammatical errors are unacceptable and show a lack of attention to detail.Don’t use weird layouts unless you are really good at graphic design. The typical hiring manager is going through dozens at a time, don’t make it hard for them to read.* Write a cover letter: A brief introduction that shows you read the job description and specifically applied for this role goes a long way and can be the difference that gets you to the first step.Do not use cover letter to summarize your CV/Resume. A cover letter is a business letter in narrative form, not a symbols/bullet-points fest.Cover letter gives you the opportunity to tell the company who you are. They already know what you are from the CV/Resume. Make the most of the chance to get them to see beyond the CV/Resume.If you are making a career change, use a cover letter to tell the reader what you’ve accomplished and how it directly translates to meeting the company’s needs. Put the focus on your reasons for making the career change, and bridge between the experience you have and the job you are trying to get (the requirements of the position), how your relevant skills and abilities in your past career will translate to your new career, how switching industries is an advantage over other job seekers who have worked in the industry for years. Also offer a unique lens to view problems.And remember, enthusiasm goes a long way. Hiring managers get excited about applicants that really show a desire to succeed in the role and industry they are applying to.* Prepare for the interview: Your story is an essential part of your job-search efforts. Don’t overlook it.Among the hundreds or thousands of applicants for any given job, there will always be candidates with more relevant experience, more education, or closer connections with decision makers. Those are aspects you can’t control.What you can control, however, is how you tell your story.Become a marketer of your product. What are your customers’ needs and how does your product address those needs in a way that others don’t? Make your recruiters’ lives easier by owning your narrative. Why do you want to apply for that position? What have you done in the past that’s related to it? What unique skills or experiences can you bring to the table that would benefit your team?Candidates don’t realize that interview questions such as “tell me about yourself” or “walk me through your resume” are often the most important and advantageous questions asked. It’s an opportunity to tell your story and steer the conversation in whatever direction you choose. These questions are not an invitation to list every role and responsibility you’ve ever had but rather convey your knowledge and differentiator.It’s important to craft a story about how your experience is relevant to what you want to do. When pitching yourself for one of these roles, think of how your skillset & experience would translate into the role you’re targeting. Make sure to use the language that matches the job posting. Pull keywords from the posting and “naturally” integrate them throughout your resume. For example, coming from investment banking, it might be difficult to land a role managing a digital marketing team. However, experience with spreadsheets and interacting with clients might make you a good fit for business development or partnerships.Have a coherent story. Companies hire largely based on pattern recognition. They need to be able to glance at your resume, skim your cover letter, or talk to you for five minutes and immediately see why you would be a great candidate.Go work at a company that you believe in. Do not optimize for job title, find the coolest company and tell them you’ll “do anything.” Offer to work for free if you have to to show your value. This is the secret to the universe. I still do free things routinely to get people hooked on what I can do. If the company grows, you’ll grow with it and the job title will eventually come.While working at that company do the job you were hired to do between 8 am and 6 pm. Then do the job you WANT to be doing for that company between 6 pm and 8 am. Eventually if you do the job you want to be doing for free, the company will be forced to start paying you for it if you’re any good.The best way to prepare for all this is to actually go through the consulting process, but there are also online resources that outline the types of questions you can expect. The second best way to do that is through practice — call every friend who has experience and is willing to help, and do 20–30 minute mock interviews until it is almost like muscle memory.✿ Public service announcementRegardless of what you want to do, you need to build your personal brand. Start with an active online presence, because, you know, it’s 2019 and people need to be able to find you on the interwebs. In fact, they shouldn’t have to find you — they should just see you, and then start seeing you everywhere. Lots of doors opened up to me because I spent a lot of time in the last 2 years building my online brand and persona, specifically on Twitter.Leverage the power of media to build up social profile and connect with people => Build and expand your reputation and reach by delivering value => Use that to grow your business. See The importance of personal branding for more information.Maintain an online presence that’s respectful, professional, and courteous, noting that others may be able to see articles, comments, images, or videos that you’ve shared or commented on. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Ensure your online brand reflects the same professionalism and personality that makes you so engaging and has gotten you this far in real life.Be prepared before diving in to the job search. Even if leaving your current job hasn’t crossed your mind, you should always have two things ready and up to date — your resume and LinkedIn profile. That’s where employers are going to look for you. Make sure your LinkedIn is current with no egregious spelling or grammatical errors. LinkedIn (along with Twitter) is basically the front page of your internet identity.Some companies ask potential applicants not to send in a traditional resume, but instead to point to the applicant’s various activities around the web (their blog, articles they’ve authored, companies they are helping out with, etc). While this may be an extreme example of a firm valuing the online presence of potential colleagues (and one that has worked very well for the firm), having a visible profile online that you can reference and point to will be helpful in many a tech job search (especially so if the firms you are seeking employment from invest in these areas, as USV does). Your online activity can and should extend to reading and sometimes (thoughtfully) commenting on the blogs of the now vast list of VCs/Techies that write a blog. These sorts of interactions are just one way to start to engage in a conversation with people in the industry you might one day work with.And if the idea of a new opportunity has crossed your mind? Before you begin applying, know this: In cover letters, most people tend to talk about what they want instead of how they can help a company reach its goals. Many think the latter is implied, but it’s not — and you’ve got to draw that very specific line. It’s your responsibility to match those job description keywords and show how you line up with the role. There’s a difference between ‘I can contribute to your success in XYZ ways’ versus ‘I’m a great candidate, look at me’. The key here is to look at the success marker for the job and then be very specific about how what you’ve done can help replicate that kind of success. Use concrete numbers wherever possible.✿ Get started and have impact* Determine how you will make an immediate impact in the role from day one.Doing the job before you get the job is a great way to get the job.Many companies see training as a necessary evil. Training takes time, money, effort… all of which are in short supply. An ideal new hire can be productive immediately, at least in part.While you don’t need to be able to do everything required in the job, it helps if the company can see an immediate return on their hiring investment. (Remember, hiring you is an investment that needs to generate a return.)Know your company’s goals and metrics cold, especially if you’re the one responsible for that area of the business. 1) It’s critical to your understanding of the business to understand what the major levers are and how they are defined and 2) it impacts your reputation among your company’s leadership. And don’t be afraid to ask about how metrics are calculated or defined. Sometimes metrics are thrown together hastily without much documentation, and may even have errors in them.Be proactive in your 1:1s. Come prepared with your point of view on the business, with what’s working and what’s not with how things are getting done today. Show that your thinking is rigorous and that you have thoughtful and creative potential solutions for the problems of the business. This will lead to opportunities for you to take on more responsibility and will steepen your learning curve.You can start thinking up strategies for helping them, potentially with hiring, marketing and business development opportunities. One thing that I see too many people moving from the finance world doing, both in attempts to get into VC and to startups, is relinquishing the resources they have at their old job. They can’t wait to get out of their bank or consulting firm, but they forget that they have connections to something that startups want desperately — money. If you want to break into the startup world and you come from investment banking, don’t forget the one thing that your resume says that actually speaks to entrepreneurs — you know potential investors.Focus on hitting goals and moving metrics. You joined a startup so you could build things. This means figuring out what actions will result in moving your company’s key metrics, and doing those things.Put what you can offer on display. If you’re a programmer, mock up a new application. If you want a sales position, create a plan for how you’ll target a new market or customer base, or describe how you will implement marketing strategies the business doesn’t currently use.A tell and show is your chance to prove you know the company and what you can offer. Your initiative will be impressive and you’ll go a long way toward overcoming concerns that you’re all hat and no cattle.Is it fair you’re doing a little work on spec? Should you have to create a mockup or plan to get the job? Not really, and probably not… but doing so will set you apart.Never let “fair” — when the only person “disadvantaged” is you — get in the way of achieving your goals.* The earlier you find a way to demonstrate your value, the better off you’ll be.If you held an internship prior to recruiting for full-time jobs, that’s a very strong signal that you’re not only interested in tech in theory, but also qualified and competent in practice.Of course, having prior experience is certainly not the only path to building legitimacy. If you’re interested in a role but lack any experience, you can demonstrate passion and pick up experience via a “side-hustle.” This could take many forms: building an audience on a blog or social media, helping a friend with their startup, or doing free research (If you see a VC firm that’s investing in a particular sector, develop your own opinion about the space and present it to the VC for free), putting together a prototype for an idea you have, winning a hackathon, leading a club, finding a bug in the company’s website, writing about technology, hosting events or conferences, starting a syndicate on AngelList, building a following on ProductHunt, advising companies, helping accelerators with sourcing or advising, starting a YouTube channel to talk about your favorite tech products, publishing a portfolio to showcase your design work, launching a new product or service of your own creation.II. DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS & EXPAND NETWORK.Be An Ecosystem Adopt — Become an active member of your local startup ecosystem. Spend as much time as possible in the company of aspiring and accomplished entrepreneurs. An effective way to associate yourself with high-caliber members of your startup community is to lend your gratis support to a venture accelerator or incubator or lab or school. In addition, establish relationships with the accountants, bankers, lawyers and investors who comprise your local startup world. This probably won’t lead directly to a job in Tech, but it will help you execute the next task.Having connections isn’t the requirement; it’s access to connections that matters, and this is something entirely within your control.The nature of the business is relationship driven.Building a network — get a warm intro is no secret and it is key to landing any competitive job.We live in a world where 85% of jobs are filled via networking. Building relationships and cultivating network are major keys that can supercharge your success. You need to seek and partner with the highest quality and smartest people in the industry. Your network is your source of opportunities. (Of course you can’t come up with opportunities on your own).The easiest way to get a job is leveraging your connections. In today’s climate, you will have a much easier time landing a job if you have a connection that can help you. No point in beefing your resume if you can’t even get your foot in the door. Be the one who knocks. You need to use the backdoor to gain access to the hidden job market. The big potential win is that by laying all this groundwork, you’ll find your way into a “hidden job” — one that isn’t found online or on a job board or even published. That’s huge. Remember to keep an eye open for hidden jobs that do not yet exist at a certain time. Once a company posts an open job, you are immediately in competition with a gazillion people, usually, for attention. One solution is to apply for a job that doesn’t yet exist at a certain company. In order to do this, you’ll need a solid understanding of the organization and its potential holes in leadership.Don’t wait to be called for an interview. Don’t even wait for an opening to be posted; after all, you’ve identified ways you can immediately help the company you want to work for. Wrangle an introduction, meet with someone who can actually influence the hiring decision, and pitch away.You can start the process by sending along what experts call a “value introduction letter,” or a succinct letter that introduces you as a person and the value you can afford the company. You’ll want to outline a clear action plan for addressing the company’s key pain points and actionable ideas for solving them. Consider starting with a question, like, “Are you looking to optimize operations and save on costs?” and then go into quantifiable metrics that you personally generated in your current or most recent role. The proof lies in the results.Think it won’t work? It will — as long as you show the person you contact how they will also benefit. Say, “I really want to work for your company. I know you’re in charge of social media marketing and I’ve developed a data-driven way to analyze activities, ROI, brand awareness… I’d love to take you to lunch and show you. If you hate my ideas, at least you got a free lunch. If you love them, you learned something. What do you have to lose?”A friend of mine who runs a tech company has hired four people who approached him in a similar fashion. He’s a go-getter; he loves hiring go-getters. And he loves when they find him.Just make sure you go straight to describing how the company will benefit from hiring you. Say, “Your website is good, and I can make it even better. Here are changes I will make in the first month, and here is how those changes will improve conversions and SEO results. And here’s a mockup I created of a new site design.”Approach them right and people will pay attention — especially entrepreneurs and small businesses. I don’t know any smart people who won’t drop everything to learn how to improve their business.Most people don’t mind being closed. Plus a decision put off until tomorrow is a decision added to the to-do list; no one wants more on their plate.If you truly know you want the job — and by this point, you should — ask for it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Who knows: if you’ve worked hard to truly set yourself apart, you might get hired on the spot.It’s best to start early when you are still working for your current company. The secret lies in presenting yourself as a “passive candidate” — someone who is interested in a new professional opportunity but not currently seeking one.A person who is already working for a competitor is seen as a prized candidate, as opposed to someone who is actively seeking employment. Recruiters are particularly zealous about seeking a prized “passive candidate” — someone who is open to new opportunities but not actively seeking them.Why? The psychology of hiring managers and recruiters often goes like this: If someone is good, they are already working for a competitor, and if they aren’t employed or are submitting their resume actively, there is often some kind of problem.Alternatively, even if there isn’t a problem, they can go all the way through a long and expensive hiring process only to find that the candidate has a competing job offer from another company. However, if they are dealing with a candidate who isn’t looking elsewhere, that risk goes away.One mistake I’ve seen is that people will hold off meeting with a potential employer until their resume is utterly perfect. You don’t necessarily have to do this. Of course you need to be good at communicating what you do, but over-preparing is probably not as valuable as building a relationship.When interacting with a potential employer, demonstrate that you have spent time building your network in the entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem. Venture Capitalists and Techies rely heavily on their networks to stay relevant in their particular sector and to ensure that they are interacting with the most promising entrepreneurs and companies. They will be looking to add people to their team who have focused on this core competency.This requires a lot of proactive reaching out and showing off some EQ. It is an art and requires a lot of strategies. If it is too much for you, maybe success doesn’t mean a lot. Move on.Skip the job boards, it’s all about a referral.It’s really important to build good relationships with recruiters. Business is all about relationships. We’ve all made made bad hiring decisions, so a referral from someone we trust is like gold.Unless it’s through on-campus recruiting, dropping your resume into an application link is rarely the fastest way to get a first round interview. More often than not, resume drops are black holes. Referrals, on the other hand, are your best friend.Referrals are the most surefire way to get an interview. A referred applicant is 15 times more likely to be hired than an applicant from a job board. Job boards have just a 0.4% effectiveness rate, according to a recent study, while the rate for someone who comes in the door via an employee referral is over 5%. The best job search is the job search that you don’t need to do.But while some job seekers seem clued in to that fact — almost 35% applied to their most recent position through a referral — the majority have not.Before jobs are posted online they’re filled either internally or through a referral from a trusted source. These gigs go to the people who are already standing outside the door. The recruiters tend to operate on historical data about who makes a good candidate, which is usually at big tech companies. You need to have enough legitimacy so that recruiters don’t look at your resume and wonder why you are applying for the job.Even better, candidates don’t need to be a perfect fit to be hired for these jobs. Instead they’re evaluated based on their track record of past performance, leadership ability and upside potential.It’s because of four reasons. 1/ Their trusted sources already have a strong reference on their behalf, so there’s less screening required. 2/ There’s no leadership/relationship risk. The team already knows each other. 3/ They are likely to move very quickly and follow a great person to another role, which accelerates hiring. 4/ Great people associate with other great people. More trusted referrals means faster, easier and better hiring.That’s terrific leverage.What drives these underlying dynamics? Supply and demand. For each role listed on a public website, top companies are usually flooded with more applicants than they can realistically process. Make their jobs easier by showing them that you’re the one.Without that network or with the wrong network, recruiting costs and time increase. Success rates of new hires declines. And more uncertainty is injected into the business._ _1. Identify the right type of people/companies and build your listMake a list of 5 companies you’d like to work for and for each company, try to find and reach out 5 people who currently work there. You want to be as certain as possible that the company you might jump to will make you happier than the one you’re leaving, and it’s hard to know that until you hear from people who currently work there, and chances are they would be able to help you get a job interview.✿ Get as specific as possibleThe narrower your scope, the easier it is to focus.✿ Organize your listYou should track your curated list of people in a Google Sheet with all relevant details.Again, it’s a numbers game. Manage your recruiting process like a sales funnel. Create an excel spreadsheet of firms and include team members for each firm complete with whatever professional (and even personal) details you can find.I don’t want to be too prescriptive about the length of the list, as there’s no magic number. However, I generally find that a minimum of 10, and ideally in the 15–20 range is good. Too many more and it’s hard to do it well and target effectively; much less and you’re not feeding the funnel.Here are some keys for all those involved on getting a job can use to enter through the backdoor:_ _2. Find out how to get connectedThe High Level✿ Use your network / Lean on your friendsIt would be great if they’re in your circle of friends. If you are in the fortunate position of knowing those people, then great, you can start there directly.Networking is a valuable long-term play no matter what career path you’re aspiring to. However, it would be unrealistic to expect to have a connection into every company — or VC firm on your list. So how do you reach those “untouchables”?If you don’t know those people directly, here are a few more thoughts on what to do next.If you are not connected to any of them but have a friend who is well connected, you should go through him/her. They will trust a recommendation from this source extremely highly. The best type of referral is from close friends or co-workers who can vouch for your performance, though you should also try tapping into your network or contacting alumni from your school.Most opportunities seem to connect in second degree networks. The goal is knowing of these as they come up, and being top of mind when they do.Remember that meeting people comes down to warm intros. A warm intro to a company always beats a cold email. Figure out who can you can get warm intros from. People are always much more receptive to introductions from people that they know and trust. The “warmer” the person that’s giving you the intro, the better.✿ Make new connectionsLet’s say you just got here and don’t know anyone. No friends, no network, nada.If you don’t know any connections, then it’s time to start connecting and building relationships. If you are struggling to connect via your network, your next best bet is to meet them in person. Do an extensive research on those people and find ways to meet and become their friends.It’s still doable.People are intimidated by the concept of “networking,” but meeting people is surprisingly simple.You can come to the Bay Area and meet entrepreneurs very easily..The Nitty Gritty✿ Improve your interpersonal skillsBefore approach your potential employer you have to put in your research. You have to know what the person has done in their life, what they are doing now and even a little about their family and other personal details. You might find that the person likes a particular sport or that they have a particular hobby. These can all be items and points of discussion when you start your efforts to reach out.Above all else, you need to show interest in the person. If you put forth the effort to get to know them even before reaching out you’re showing them that you are willing to work for what you want in life. That effort can lead to that person seeing potential or seeing right through unfound enthusiasm.When you think of getting a job, think of it like a sales funnel.The best way to get a job in Tech is to spend a few years helping people who work in tech, with no agenda other then to build up goodwill. If you do a really good job and help people in a meaningful way, at some point within those few years you will likely get recruited into Tech, asked to apply for a job, or receive an unsolicited referral. Most people will never get to work in Tech because they will not be willing to “help people” for a sustained period of time, without a clear path into a job. People don’t like doing work, unless they know exactly what they’ll get out of it. And if you’re one of the few willing to take the path less clear, you’ll find most of the competition weeded out by the unwillingness of others to do the same.This is especially true in VC. “Networking” as a way to get a job into venture capital does not work. Applying for jobs in venture capital very rarely works.VCs love free help. If you have skills that will augment their deal flow, due diligence capabilities or simply expand their network, you can make yourself an asset within the big world of tech. In other words, this is best done when you have developed a familiarity with a sector and can provide deal flow or chat about an interesting market thesis. Put your money where your mouth is — don’t be afraid to work for free for a firm/company you have a good relationship with and want the position, even if it’s not immediately available.See my tips for improving interpersonal interactions for more information.Fortunately for you, people in tech tend to generously volunteer their time and insight to engage with folks interested in breaking in to the industry.I broke down relationship development into the following:• Social Media• Email outreach• In-person meetings• Tech Events✿ Social Networks: your secret weaponThis seems obvious but spend time where the people you want to meet hang out. If you want to meet VCs → Twitter. If you want to meet engineers or designers or learn those skills → hackathons are a good place to start. Build a strong network in a relevant, concentrated space. Reach out to people who have a job you think you’d be interested in doing.* LinkedIn is probably the most “cold-call” like of all the techniques, but it can work if you do it properly. With the right setup, your LinkedIn profile can become a passive lead generator for new opportunities. But if you’re only using LinkedIn as a digital résumé placeholder, you’re missing out on hundreds of potential opportunities. You need to recognize that LinkedIn is a network of 400 million people, not just a database of them. It is also an incredibly powerful resource when it comes to skipping the online application process. It can help you reach out directly to the person who is on point for filling your dream role.Let’s say you’re applying for an account management role at Google in New York. Searching LinkedIn for “Account Director + Google + New York” will usually bring up the most senior person in the department. Then you can use the steps in this article to find their email address and begin building a relationship.Go on LinkedIn search for Googlers or people from your target companies. Figure out which open group they are in. Join that group. Go into member list, find the person and message them (a trick to message people without InMail). Tell them that you want to work for their company and ask for advice.Make sure you do your homework before sending messages. Do your research: Understand the role, organization, and individual job responsibilities for the person who you’re contacting, and tailor messages to individuals, rather than sending a generic, one-size-fits-all note.* Twitter is really really important.I was initially a huge Twitter skeptic. I thought it was a platform to post useless life updates and navel-gaze. Or another superficial channel to follow celebrities.In reality, some of the best analysis I’ve read, deepest conversations I’ve had, and tightest relationships I’ve formed have happened on Twitter. I’ve learned so much, deepened relationships, and even met new people IRL because of it.Twitter is the thinking person’s social media platform, when used correctly. It is what we think LinkedIn is. It is the fastest way to accelerate your career. It’s the best way to learn faster, build your resume, and find peers and collaborators who can create job and business opportunities for you.First, in the context of the job search, it’s an amazing tool to stay in the “flow” of tech news and analysis. Twitter is television for intellectuals. The idea of “learning in public” is irresistible once you figure out how to open source your thinking & level up with feedback loops from a small, informed, engaged readership. Crossing the inflection point is hard since we are conditioned to learn only in controlled environments.Second, the most effective networking strategy I’ve found has nothing to do with conferences, cocktail hours, cold emails, or any of the common ideas you hear:1) Do interesting things.2) Share them publicly.Like-minded people will come to you.Writing is a superpower.1) Pick a high value, emerging industry. Learn about your favorite obscure topic.2) Write about it.3) Share your writing online.Then, hundreds of interesting people from around the world will contact you. And some will become your best friends. Can’t recommend it enough.The easiest way to be discovered right now in technology and perhaps many fields is to create your own independent blog (which is your own website or Quora or Medium profile) and write then share your content on Twitter, or use Twitter for microblogging through tweetstorms. Twitter is a great place for people to discover your content. There is a huge dearth in availability of good, current, first party content today.Twitter is useful if you have a large network or friends with large networks, or a connection who can amplify your voice. (Facebook can be more broadly useful, though, because you can join groups that are associated with opportunities in your field and monitor posts in groups you are already affiliated with.)Twitter and Quora have many of the world’s smartest people. You can easily find like-minded people who also want to deepen and broaden perspectives there. If used correctly, it can 10x your chances of landing a great job in tech, especially if you have a blog or portfolio or resume available for view online. Twitter allows you to connect with people that otherwise would be impossible. I cannot overstate how magical that is. It’s a great way to interact with Founders, Executives, Investors, Media Influencers. Many of these folks would never respond to your email, phone call, or stop to chat with you on the street — However (inexplicably) they’ll respond to tweets. Sometimes you use sites like Twitter, Quora and LinkedIn not only for the sake of gaining knowledge or writing. Your content is just the key to open other doors. Most of the time I don’t write the best content. However it gives me an excuse to reach out to people in a less creepy stalky way.Sean Rose’s career path is a good example.Keith Rabois has hired people solely based on their tweets or their Quora answers. Keith has discovered insightful people on Twitter and ended up meeting them in person. Keith has offered people jobs, without meeting them in person, just by reading their published material on sites like Quora and Twitter.I built most of my “adult” network on Twitter. I can’t stress enough how valuable it is to use if you work in tech.Everyone must be onboarded! But it’s still so hard for people to join without someone to guide them through how to use it. So here are some tips for novices:* Define yourself and ask yourself what your interests are. I would suggest to have 3 topics that you’re most interested.* Start by using Twitter passively to consume content. Don’t read news. Read independent writers, not publications. If you want original ideas, you can’t consume what everybody else is consuming. Escape the present. We’re trapped in a Never-Ending Now — blind to our place in history, engulfed in the present moment, overwhelmed by the slightest breeze of chaos.I personally do prefer to update generic news at theSkimm and the pages I’m following on Facebook rather than Twitter. Of the 800+ accounts I follow on Twitter, a half dozen or so are publications such as brands, companies and online publishers. I’m not interested in reading a press release or generic tweet on Twitter. Instead, I only follow people and prefer to hear candidly from the Co-founder or Head of the division or Investor or Media Influencer or Journalist/Analyst so that I can stay informed and mentally in tune with their recent success, announcement, failure or wisdom.* Actively manage who you follow.One quick exercise to work backwards and become an early adopter of people is to think of the products and companies you love or use on a daily basis. Chances are they created by people you admire and/or would want to connect with. I’ve developed a habit of visiting the About/Team page of almost startup/company I hear and read about out of a passionate curiosity. Then I look up them on Twitter. The things and people you discover are amazing.Google search the lists of people to follow on Twitter in a specific topic/industry, or the rankings of people in that industry and look up them on Twitter afterwards. (I rarely do this though. Instead I often see them randomly on news pages I’ve been following on Facebook.)Search for your interests with a hashtag e.g #VC (for Venture Capital) and see the people in the search, you will find many.Follow relevant tech people and absorb what’s going on. A quick tip for a focused people search is to find those great people you know of and go through their activities. Read through the tweets of them. See who they are regularly engaging in conversation. See who they tweet with or who they follow. Look for who people you enjoy follow. See what others see by copying follow graphs of others into lists. Ask for recommendations on who to follow from people you respect. This way Twitter starts knowing your taste and provides you with recommendation as well. This will result in a tree branch like path. You can gain a ton of value by simply following relevant accounts.* New features unlock with scale of active followers.I think there are two onboarding challenges. Who to follow. And features only unlocked by having engaged followers. Wonder if there should be onboarding program for friend of friends into Twitter.* Less retweets, more original tweets and replies (ok to retweet with commentary). If you’re shy about tweeting — don’t be! “Just do it”There are two choices you can make with the content you produce.1. Play on the News i.e. what is novel and ephemeral.2. What is timeless.What do you want to be known for? What do you think will stand the test of time?All the best content and conversation is in the replies. Study replies section of power users for discovery. Reply to threads you find interesting! Good way to “meet” people.* Find your tribes and then resonate.* Pick 3 people you think are doing a good job learning on Twitter & observe them for a month. Ryan Hoover was one of them. I spent a lot of time observing how he used it and modeled off of it until I found my own approach. His early writing on the origins of Product Hunt talks about how crucial online relationships were for him.* See How to be good at Twitter for more information.The Google Sheet has a good guide for doing so and also some Twitter accounts for you to start following. (Find more people to follow at my Twitter @sarahvo91)✿ Email OutreachBlind Emails Suck: The corollary of blind in-person meetings being good is that blind not-in-person emails suck. They probably receive around 20k such emails each year, and while they are careful to spend time on each and every one, the lack of a human connection means that it can be super tough to evaluate whether a person is one they believe they can help.For 99.99% of those inquiries, they just don’t have time to actually respond to them. Otherwise, they would spend their entire day talking to random people. Cold email is almost never going to work and is a subpar use of your time — which is the single-most valuable asset for a techie.You should assume that if you just email a “cold” job application, it will not get lifted off the resume pile (unless that’s a strong one). Given the current desirability of working in tech, companies have all of the hiring leverage. It sounds cliché, but you must stand out.One such way to stand out is making these cold emails a little warmer or being referred to an opportunity or person you’re interested in connecting with via a “warm introduction.” This is where someone you know, writes an email vouching for you to someone you don’t know (but want to be connected with). It is a deep-seated tradition in tech. Cold emails should be concisely written and warmly sent. Just use email to connect with a broad group of people who you think would be additive to your job search.When asking for a warm intro, certain etiquette is expected. This is a good overview of rules for requesting an introduction to someone you’d like to meet. See How To Turn A Cold Email Into A $2.5M Seed Round by Allie Janoch for more information.Here are other tips:Proofread. All. Of. Your. Emails. Nothing will torpedo your credibility more quickly than email typos. Prospective Employer: “If you can’t compose an important five sentence email without spelling or grammatical errors, how can I trust you to market or sell my product, or run my company’s finances?” Many people believe this. Mistakes will hurt you. Proofread all of your emails. A good proofreading trick I learned was to read the draft of your email backwards, i.e. starting at the end and reading upwards to the beginning.When asking a favor from someone, your goal is to make their life (and fulfillment of the favor) as easy as possible. So when you ask for an intro, make sure the email that YOU send to THEM is forwardable. It should be a clean email (not a reply to a previous thread). It should include a few sentences on who you are, what you’re asking, and why. Be concise — Use three bullet points max. If you can’t describe who you are, why they should help, and how they should help in 3–5 sentences they will probably not read it anyway.Offer context on who you are first — If you two met somewhere, remind him/her. If you two went to the same school, know people in common, are from the same place, anything. If you both have any connections in common, highlight them. Getting a referral from someone you know is a good reason. You can reach out to that person and let them know that a mutual friend or acquaintance referred you to them. Even something as simple as saying that you saw that person at a local event and didn’t have time to introduce yourself can be an acceptable reason. Or maybe you’re reaching out because you follow that person on social media and find yourself agreeing with them on a number of items. If you have done anything impressive, tell him/her. Interesting as it may be, don’t include your entire life’s history. Your description of yourself should be three–four sentences at most. People are busy.DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK — things work because people pay it forward. You’ll be surprised at how many people will help, do introductions, or give you quick feedback if you ask kindly, are precise in your request, and concise.Have a very short first paragraph that has an “ask” in it or “the point of the email.” Busy people see a long email as an obstacle and often move on to the next, easier-to-process one.Have a specific ask. Offer the reason for your request. Be precise in your request — “Can you help me?” is bad. “Can we get on a call?” is bad. “Do you know person X and could you forward the following blurb to them?” is great. “I am applying to YC. Does my application make it clear what I build?” is great. The most important element of your first correspondence is having a reason for getting in contact. People don’t like to be bothered, but research shows that if you provide a reason for doing something that you’re more likely to get a favorable response. I had a great response rate to cold emails when I had a specific ask, like a quick informational interview or specific advice on the job application process. When you reach out with a clear purpose, people are typically very willing to help. People are inundated with, and loathe the open-ended: “We should get coffee sometime” Better to say something like “As [introducer] mentioned, I’m in the process of figuring out my next opportunity. Given your move to [Company Y] after your time in [Industry Z], it would be great to learn more about how you decided to make the move”. It needs a story about why you would like to have coffee with this person. I’m not saying you have to stroke their ego, but it helps.Explain why it’s related or why they should help you. Tell them why they can uniquely help — Do your research and don’t ask them for help on things they can’t help with. If you didn’t articulate why and how they can uniquely help you, they assume you are spamming a bunch of people to ask for the same thing. Or even better, share your intentions and desire for help. I recommend starting the conversation by stating your reason for reaching out. Ask the person a few questions about themselves. Lead into their professional life and look for a way to move the conversation into your desires for them to be your helper. For example, ask the person about something they’re working on now. Once you’ve given them time to tell their story or to explain the situation, mention your interest in the topic and move into your desires as a professional. This is the perfect way to find common ground and show that a potential relationship can make sense. Discuss what you’re doing right now, share your goals and what you want to work on. Be direct.Add value. It’s about them, not you. If it’s for business, just be more direct and tell them exactly how you can help them. Understanding what’s in it for the other party — the why — to meet is an essential consideration before making the ask for a coffee. The more other-centered and mutual you can be with the request, the higher the probability that your investment time will yield a benefit.Do not undercut your own authority — Don’t apologize for asking. Don’t tell them a sob story. Stay factual. If you demonstrate you are not confident or irrational, they are less likely to want to help you.Invite some of them to coffee — your treat if possible — to connect on a personal level. You can get away with a lot more if you’re the one buying the drinks. People in general will want to help if it doesn’t cost them much. Get great at asking for coffee. Some people are always open for coffee, some need a strong reason, and some people simply don’t meet with strangers regardless of how strong your ask is. However, If you don’t ask, you’ll never get the meeting.Offer three specific times of day to meet, at “whatever location is most convenient” for the person you’ve been intro’d to. Throw in: “if none of those times work, happy to propose more.” Scheduling sucks, and your goal is to make this as frictionless as possible.If you want an action taken DO NOT write to multiple people unless it’s clear who is in charge of the action. Groups often defer assuming somebody else will action (free rider problem). If you need multiple people to take actions send separate, individual emails addressed to each person separately. It takes more work — it yields better results. Also, beware of Gmail font problems (Google it)Here is an example email:Subject: Hi, John — Coffee in Chicago?Hi, John — I’m a big fan of your work. I’ve learned a lot from you, and I’ve been able to incorporate so many of your tips into my career.Can I buy you a cup of coffee next Tuesday? I know you’re busy, but I would love to share my story with you and also figure out a few ways that I can help you. I’ll come by you.Thank You,RobbieORSusie suggested that we meet because of (a particular reason) and thought it would be mutually beneficial for us to connect. I’m available later next week and would love to host you at my office as we have great coffee!Be gracious. Don’t be offended when people don’t respond. If you don’t get a response don’t be pissed off and don’t react snarky. Track which ones have responded and which have not, and determine a cadence of follow-up for those who haven’t responded. The goal is simply to get a reply. You can gently nudge with a follow-up, but be careful. Wait at least a week, and don’t be annoying. Use common sense, but err on the side of being patient. Persistence is annoying — If they don’t respond after the 1st email, they’re probably not going to respond. Don’t email them 6 times/week asking if they saw your email. That’s only going to make them ignore you in the future. Email in a month with another request, and if they can they will help. Politely hit reply to your first email and say something like, “Sorry to chase. We all get busy on email and just wanted to be sure you saw the following.” It may take 3+ reminders. Persistence pays.Be human and actively project warmth. Profusely thank people who make introductions for you. When your connection provides you a warm intro, you (the requestor) should respond promptly — within a couple hours. Let them know how it went — The only payback required is a thank you and a follow up. There’s no better feeling than knowing you helped someone.✿ Blind in-person meetings (Meet people in real life — IRL)Establishing connections via email is one thing, but actually getting together face to face takes the relationship to a different level.A great deal of recruiting begins with a genuine connection with the management team, and so if you meet someone in person you will both be able to test that connection automatically.Tech people all spend a great deal of their time externally. The best place to meet people is an environment in which they can be who they are. Figure out where tech people in your city usually hang out online and offline, and hang out and approach them there. As mentioned above, try to become their friends first. Business second.Not only would many of people you meet immensely be helpful to you in the immediate-term (for which you should be hugely grateful!) — but you run across many of them professionally, keep in touch with a decent amount, and may end up becoming good personal friends with a few.Rules for meeting people IRL:With pre-arranged appointments: Don’t be late. Seriously. Be five minutes early. To some people, there are few greater sins than disrespecting their time.Do your basic research. Look up the person on LinkedIn, and Google a bit about their company and themselves.Have a list of a few questions you want to ask. You can ask them the generic advice of “how they got to their current role”, but better to have specific questions about their background and company.Even if it it’s not a formal interview assume all of these professional interactions are interviews. You never get a second chance to get a first impression. Again, you want people to want to help you.The more that you can establish a genuine connection with someone, the more likely you both will be to help each other.Goes without saying, but you shouldn’t be distracted or checking your phone during one of these such meetings.Keep these meetings to 30 minutes. After 30 minutes has elapsed, tell the person you’re meeting with that you want to be conscious of their time and confirm they can continue chatting.Don’t be shy about asking them how best to pursue a career like they have and if they can think of anyone who might be helpful in your search.When the meeting concludes, thank them profusely, and ask how you can help them — even if you’re unsure that you can.Write a gracious thank-you email that includes any follow-up items.If they liked you, they might refer you internally and get you into a process.✿ Tech Events and MeetupsTake advantage of networking meetups or events to get to know people. Attend industry specific conferences, startup events, demo days, mixers, etc. These offer opportunities to quickly grow the number of deep connections you have in a short amount of time simply by sitting down for coffee with new people.Find out which events and conferences they’re attending, and get yourself a ticket. An easy way to find these events is to read Charlie O’Donnell’s weekly newsletter, search on Eventbrite or Meetup.com (a lot of events are free and only require registration!). Also, If you’re currently part of an accelerator programme or coworking space, keep an eye on the mentoring programme. Various members of venture teams often host workshops and mentoring sessions. Networking in Silicon Valley is very hard. There is no central place to meet people. It’s elusive. It’s all about the back-channel. You rely on founder friends and parties, which can be equally elusive, mostly to get access to investors and helpful people.If you’re in NYC, you can have a never-ending selection of nightly tech events. Gary’s Guide is a good go-to resource for sourcing tech events. For people based in NYC, it’s the most complete weekly overview of the NYC tech ecosystem, period. Don’t let the retro formatting fool you.The Google Sheet has other good sources for finding tech events.How to get the most out of tech events:Some people think that tech Meetups and events are a waste of time. Indeed, some even turn out to be so. I viewed each of them as pure option value. That is, there was no downside to going, and if I could make even one relevant connection, it would be totally worth it.Here are some good general rules to follow:Consider yourself in a business setting. Don’t get too drunk or behave in an otherwise inappropriate manner.Seriously, it’s important. The tech world is very, VERY small. As Warren Buffett said: Your reputation takes 20 years to build and five minutes to destroy.I suggest ‘focused’ industry MeetUps (FinTech, AI, VR, etc.) as opposed to generic tech or startup MeetUps.If you’re not comfortable talking to innumerable random strangers for hours (I’m not), go in with a manageable goal. Talk to two new people.A very easy ice breaker is “Have you been to XYZ event before?” or “How did you hear about XYZ event?” Yes, it feels ridiculously socially awkward at first, but such is life.Cool Hack: at some point during the MeetUp, go up to and thank the organizers. First off, it’s good manners. Secondly, they are generally active members in the Tech community (They went through the trouble and effort of organizing a MeetUp for goodness sakes). They can likely help you.These events generally have a panel of speakers. Often after the panel discussion concludes, the audience, in unison, makes a mad dash toward the speakers to ask them questions one on one. Then a hopelessly long line begins to form. I generally refused to stand around waiting in these lines waiting to schmooze with the speakers. Better to find them on LinkedIn or Twitter afterwards, and reference that you saw them speak but didn’t have a chance to connect.In any social interaction at these events, don’t monopolize someone’s time. Similarly, be courteous if your time is being monopolized and you’d like to exit the conversation. You can always say “It would be great to continue this conversation some other time.”Again — this will feel socially awkward. Get over it.Don’t interject or blatantly interrupt people who are mid-conversation. It is understood that you are allowed to “saddle up” to an in-progress conversation. Wait for a natural break if you’re going to make a comment.If possible, identify people ahead of time you’d like to talk toI don’t make myself business cards, but find it effective to simply connect with people on LinkedIn soon after I’d met them.I know what you’re thinking: All of this is too much work to put in, especially if there’s no guarantee your extra effort will result in a job.But you’re looking at it the wrong way. Doing what everyone else does is very unlikely to result in a job.Decide you will be different — and then work hard to actually be different. Then you will stand out. Then you’ll have a much better chance of landing the job you really want.Best of luck!

It all basically starts with your digital image sensor, which replaces film in a digital camera. While you can’t see it, the image sensors is a big array of photodiodes.Capturing LightEach photodiode is the basis for collecting light, but there’s a bit more going on there in every sensor.Each photodiode is, in fact, a stack of “stuff”. Each photodiode will have a microlens over it, to concentrate light on the active area of the device. If it’s a color sensor, it will have an R, G, or B filter (usually) to make it color sensitive, because the device has a fairly wide-band response on its own. The photodiode itself is a P-N junction semiconductor. Photons impacting photodiode body excite electrons.That flow of electrons alone isn’t enough, though, because that’s an instantaneous respose to light. So the photodiodes each feed their own capacitor, called a “charge well”, which allows electrons to build up over time in proportion to the impacted photons. That’s the basis for a camera sensor supporting a timed exposure.Too much light can “saturate” the photodiode, pushing it to a maximum flow of electrons that doesn’t increase with increased light. Similalry, when you have completely filled a charge well, additional exposure does not increase the brightness of that pixel. Either of those situations will cause overexposure of that pixel. The native light sensitivity of such a sensor in photographic terms is based on the size and sensitivity of each photodiode and the capacity of each charge well.The Actual ExposureSo let’s make that exposure. We can do this in one of two ways. First, let’s draw from the old chemical cameras. A film camera has a shutter that gates light onto a piece of film for a very specific amount of time. So we can close a shutter to block out all light, then reset all the charge wells to zero. The sensor will sit there doing nothing until the shutter is opened, allowing charge to build up for each pixel until the shutter closes. That charge will remain until each charge well is processed (more on that in a bit) and eventually cleared, and once the shutter is closed, that process will commencem, since of course, the sensor must be read out before the next shot can take place. This is how most professional cameras work.However, the mechanical shutter is an extra expense, and we certainly don’t seem to have those in tiny cameras or cellphones. What’s going on there? So imagine we press the shutter button. The camera was previously used for viewing through the sensor, being a phone or P&S model, and so the array of charge wells has to be cleared. So ok, clear it, start the timer an enable charge collection. The exposure takes place, and now we need to process each collected charge. If we can do that for the whole chip, instantly, we’re done here… poof! Electronic shutter, no mechanical bit needed.But in practicality, your camera probably can’t process all 12 or 20 or 50 or whatever megapixels in one instant. So let’s break up pixels into smaller groups, the number of pixels that can actually be processed at the same instant, and give each group its own charge well clear/enable control. Coordinate this with the computer/image processor in control of the whole process. Now clear out all the charge wells. Next, enable that first group and start the timer. Stop that timer, process those pixels. Next, start the timer for the next group, and so on. This is an electronic shutter called a “rolling shutter” as the exposure gradually “rolls” down the sensor. Most modern electronic shutters work this way. It’s not quite as slow as it might sound, because it can be pipelined… the next line’s exposure most likely starts while the previous line is being processed.Setting That ExposureSo you might have noticed that an exposure was set… maybe the photographer set it manually, but most of time these days, the photographer is using auto-exposure. So how do it know?On a mirrorless camera, P&S, or smartphone, the camera’s taking measurements though the sensor as it’s showing you your viewfinder image, and it’s probably locking that in when you half-press the shutter, at least on those that have half-pressible shutters.On a DSLR, there’s a partially transparent mirror. Some of that light goes to your eye, some goes instead to light and focus sensors that are separte from the image sensor which is, of course, blocked by the mirror. But that secondary system does the same job, measuring various points in the scene and suggesting/setting an exposure.You Keep Saying “Process”… What’s All That?Ok, so as I mentioned, every charge well contains a charge, a specific number of electrons. That’s not quite a useful thing, since actually counting electrons is a tricky thing. But that charge can be converted to a voltage, a much easier thing to measure.And let’s think for a moment… in very bright light, the charge wells fill up. So the largest voltage we are able to process should be based on the largest charge we can store. But what about photos in low light, where the charge collected will be very small in comparison. The analog part of the image processing system usually includes a varible gain amplifier (VGA, also sometimes called a programmable gain amplifier). And in fact, if you have an professional camcorder, there’s probably a dial or at least a setting on that camera called gain, measured direction in dB (decibels). In a still camera, this will be calibrated to industry standards and called your ISO instead, technically it’s ISO 12232:2006. More on this in a bit.After that amplifier, there’s an analog to digital converter. That’s the device that will process every pixel’s charge-become-voltage and turn that into a 10-bit, 12-bit, 14-bit, or even larger binary number. The diagram shows this happening on the same chip, which is the modern way these things are done. But in the past, the image sensor output an analog signal that was routed to an external analog to digital converter, then on to a separate image processor. These days, more of this kind of work can take place on the sensor chip itself.This diagram shows a block called “digital calibration”. This can be a number of things, but one of them is patterned noise elimination. In every image chip, there’s a bit of “dark current” that flows in a photodiode even when there’s no light at all. This will have a small impact on the charge collected in each charge well. If it was identical for every photodiode, it would be pretty easy to deal with. But it’s not necessarily so, and that’s a problem, because a pattern of offsets will show to our very-good-at-pattern-detection eyes as a visible thing. Thus, the camera can snap a “dark current” image and essentially subtract that from the captured image.Note that anything that’s after the ADC can take place on the photo sensor, on a separate image processor, or anywhere else. Moving the ADC to the sensor allowed for much lower noise in camera systems, but once you’re digital, it doesn’t matter. The same processing blocks can exist, no matter where they’re located. Also note that modern cameras often have many ADCs, in order to do the conversion of pixels in parallel, for a faster readout of the chip.We’ll cover the other blocks later, other than the last two, since digital gain, scaling, and other operations are often done in the image processor, not the imaging chip. A FIFO is a buffer, meaning “First in, First Out”. Basically, the digital data travels into the FIFO on the camera chip when it’s ready, and it’s pulled out at a steady rate by the digital I/O interface to the system’s image processor. A common interface shown here is MIPI, or more specifically, the Mobile Industry Processor Interface group’s CSI-2 and CSI-3 interfaces, which are digital serial interfaces for moving image data around. Like HDMI or PCI, there are multiple “lanes” available. The block diagram shows four lanes, but some camera interfaces have 12 or more, for faster transfer.The data sent over from most image sensors is considered raw image data; aside from some corrections, it’s the data that comes directly from the sensor. It’s also not in a format that would make much visual sense to our eyes!The Image ProcessorOnce the raw image data is captured, it can be processed, even by CPU. But most systems have dedicated hardware there to do this quickly and at low power, since most of the processing steps are well defined.But first… do we need anything else done to this data? Well, usually. In fact, we probably dump it into a memory buffer right away. This is a big chunk of RAM on either a smartphone or a real camera that will immediately store what’s being delivered by the camera chip without worry to what to do with it yet. It’s going into a software FIFO, essentially… each image in a line waiting to be additionally treated and put on disc. Dumping the raw image into a RAM buffer as quickly as possible make the camera ready for the next shot. If this memory buffer fills up completely, the camera will stop accepting new photos until at least one of the photos has been processed and saved.So what all else? If you’re shooting in raw mode, probably not much. The data will be sent directly to a more conventional embedded CPU on a camera, the main application processor on a smartphone. That data will be formatted according to some standard, such as Adobe DNG, and written out to a file, along with metadata: photo settings, date, time, GPS perhaps, that kind of thing. Photo saved, you’re done.Digital GainWe can talk a bit about digital gain here. As I mentioned, cameras typically have an analog gain stage, the VGA/PGA, that boosts the signal on the way to the ADC. It only make sense to boost this signal up so much, though, because at some point, all you’re doing is boosting noise. Some cameras, dubbed “ISO-less” cameras, don’t even bother with the amplifier, and just use software to adjust the image. Others may offer “extended” ISO seetings, which may mean ISO numbers not quite compliant to ISO 12232:2006, or just speed settings at a quality not quite to the expected standards. These extended ISO numbers are nearly always done with digital gain.So recall, awhile back, I pointed out that once the data is digital, it doesn’t really matter where we process digital operations. The ultimate expression of that is the aforementioned raw file, which is storing the exact sensor color pattern, etc. of your camera chip. It will also store the hardware value of ISO used for the shot. If the software ISO setting is different, if there’s digital gain being added, that’s just stored as metadata. The program that processes your raw image will apply that digital gain.But for JPEG, the actual image has to be created as a final “finished” image before being compressesd to JPEG. Digital gain is perhaps more helpful omn a JPEG image. You already had your analog gain, but what’s digital gain? Simple enough: if I multiply every value in the image by 2x, I have added +1EV… just like going from ISO 200 to ISO 400. I haven’t, of course, added any new data or new information, just changed how that data is interpreted. So for a raw image, that does absolutely nothing… but we’ve already saved off the raw image.So let’s image this is a nice pro camera and you’re shooting with a 14-bit/color sensor. And you’re heading into a JPEG… ok, not my first choice. But think about it… there are 6-bits between a 14-bit image and an 8-bit JPEG. So using digital gain, you can actually tweak out another 5 EVs of gain here. And what probably happens here isn’t necessarily multiplication, but simply choosing which 8 of the 14 bits per pixel to send to JPEG encoding.De-Bayering The ImageNext… remember that mention of a color filter over each photodiode. They’re usually in an array, and most cameras use the Bayer array or mosaic, invented by Bryce Bayer at Kodak in 1976.This takes advantage of the fact that the human eye isn’t all that sensitive to color (Dave Haynie's answer to Is there a digital camera that has the same picture quality as the human eye?), but more sensitive to luminance. So we can filter different pixels and interpolate the color to get a convincing digital image. The process of doing this is called demosaicing, or sometimes, de-Bayering.Each pixel will be assigned its native color value. So at the Red pixel, you have four green and four blue surround it. The de-mosaicing hardware or software will average those four green and assign that to the green value, average the four blue and assign that to the blue value, and voila, a 24-bit RGB pixel. This works well enough, though it can lead to small color errors. But it’s by far the standard for most cameras today, and as megapixels grow, those errors shrink.After that, usually, the image processor might resize the image. Most photographers save the full sized image, after all, that’s what they paid to get. But some folks are shooting direct out-of-camera for specific things that don’t need more resolution, that might want a different in-camera crop, etc. So that, too, is done prior to JPEG encoding.Image ProcessingBut we’re not done yet! The stated goal of most smartphone photography is to deliver the best-looking image possible. Not necessarily the most accurate or true-to-life, not even the most technically ideal image. But the image that most people will think looks the best, probably optimized for a computer or phone screen.So smartphones and P&S cameras apply lots of digital processing to images. They will adjust colors, usually based on a setting such as “Vivid”, “Natural”, etc. They will analyze the image and apply smoothing algorithms if there’s too much noise in the image (low light shots, generally). They may apply sharpening algoriothms as well, sharpening up edges to make the image “pop” and look better that it actually was. Some may apply a particular film look, or a special “art filter”,. at the user’s option. All of that’s got to happen before JPEG encoding. You’ll also note that, if you do shoot in raw mode, those special features are not available in raw mode.JPEG EncodingSo now we have this nice full, processed RGB image, larger than the actual raw image the camera captured, and it’s sitting in a block of RAM. It’s time to shrink it down via JPEG encoding, and that’s lossy encoding. We’re tossing out some of the image data. Lots of data, but hopefully, data that we puny humans don’t miss a great deal. And for those Jedi Mind Tricks to not make you too angry about quality, some work needs to be done. Most of these tricks are also employed in digital video (DTV, DVD, Blu-ray, YouTube, Netflix, etc).The first thing we do there is change colorspace. RGB is just not the place to go around messing with data. That’s directly how we see color, via the cone cells in our eyes, and so it’s best to mess a bit with this data in other ways. So the RGB is transformed to a color space called YCbCr color space (in the analog world usually called YUV). This transforms RGB into one luminance component, Y, and two color components, Cb and Cr. This is not a lossy conversion, and it’s completely reversible.Next, some JPEG encoders do an evil thing that you probably never noticed: color downsampling. An 8-bit RGB triplet converts to an 8-bit YCbCr triplet. But remember how I mentioned that our eyes are not so sensitive to color? Well, the digital video people didn’t miss this anymore than Bryce Bayer did, and so there’s sometimes a step in which we just start tossing stuff out. Specifically, some of the chroma samples.Since it’s derived from television, subsampling looks at two lines of color data at one time, basically blocking pixels in 4x2 chunks. If the JPEG encoder does nothing, that’s called 4:4:4 subsampling in digital video terms: 4 luma samples, four color samples from line 1, four color samples from line 2. If we toss out 1/2 of the color data, we have so-called 4:2:2 subsampling: 4 luma samples, 2 color samples from line 1, two from line 2. And if we toss out 3/4 of the color samples, that’s either 4:2:0 or 4:1:1. I don’t know of any still cameras encoding in 4:1:1 JPEG, but the old DV video format for NTSC does 4:1:1 color. Your digital HDTV or UltraHD at home, whether from broadcast, cable, satellite, DVD, Blu-ray, or internest streaming, whether AVC or HEVC, is using 4:2:0 color. So are your video recording devices, unless you have a higher end professional camcorder.Still cameras usually have JPEG quality settings; this is one of the tweaks they can make to reduce size. But with today’s memory sizes, there’s no good reason to not use full quality JPEG, if you don’t want to bother with raw and the necessary “digital darkroom” processing you’ll need to get the best image from a raw file.So anyway, now we have this array of subsampled pixels, and we’re going to divide them yet again for even more reindeer games: lossy compression! Yup, while that color thing could really have tossed out lots of data, that’s not even the part most people are talking about when they call JPEG “lossy compression”.So each 8x8 block of pixels in your photo are put into their own group. Then the image processor runs a thing called the discrete cosine transform, kind of a digital Fourier transform. All that pixel data is transformed into frequency data, each pixel now representing the coefficient for a certain frequency, like a pixel pattern. And no, that’s not the lossy part either… this transform is full reversible as well. But next comes the lossy part, quantization. Each 8x8 block is multiplied by a quantization matrix, essentially functioning as a digital filter to reduce the complexity of the transformed matrix, setting many cells to zero — effectively tossing them out. Now, with the whole image reduced in complexity, it’s Huffmann encoded — a lossless entropy encoding. At that point, the image is put into a standard JPEG wrapper, also stuffed with metadata, and saved out to the camera’s storage medium, probably flash memory.The JPEG algorithm acts like a block-by-block low pass filter, cutting out high-frequency information: sharp detail. It’s designed in such a way that this isn’t easily noticable when applied lightly. But apply it too strongly and our eyes will “fill in the blanks” of discrepencies between cells and imagine block lines where none really exist. We can be fooled a little, but we have our limits.

A lot of people have asked me for a warning on this answer. It's very long, and very detailed explanation to support my belief of what the future is going to hinge on us getting right. That said, if at any time you feel yourself losing interest, please take that time to skip to the bottom section, after the family on the beach, to see why I wrote it. Thanks and please enjoy the essay.If one scrolls through the many answers of this question, "What are the biggest ways in which the world will be be different 20 years from now, the greatest 'X factors' that will change our lives," they'll see many wildly bold, exciting, and optimistic predictions of a future not far from us today. So far, they have ranged from technological leaps in machine automation, biotech, robotic swarms, and 3D printing; to social evolutions such as the conversion to all credit economies, an end to diseases, the post-scarcity, and new levels of international individual equality. Yet more promise better governance via more openness, and even a possible end to war through an even more interconnected world. Of course, others are going the other direction with predictions of diseases we haven't yet discovered, or worse, haven't yet invented. Some warn weapons too terrifying to detail. Others have echoed cautionary tales against the possible destruction of us all through climate change, energy crisis, nuclear devastation, and now to add to the list... radical religious fundamentalism.As I scroll through I, like many of you reading, are wondering to myself what the odds of any one of these outcomes may be. Some seem well thought out, bringing in insights from brilliant minds. Some are simply ridiculous. I am left, however, with one surreal and terrifying truth... at least a few of them will be right. Some of these predictions, wild as they may be, will come true. The sad thing is, we aren't really sure which ones. All we can be sure of, is that there will be change. Change, however it happens, is the one certainty among all this speculation.Change will most certainly come, but it won't come alone. After great change, there is always a period of disruption. Disruption is often used in Silicon Valley to symbolize the moment one company strikes it rich by finding an unknown vacuum to fill, a need to satiate, or dismantling an inefficient system. For many others, it is the fear that automation will leave them and millions of others out of a job and no hope to fill it. To some governments, disruption means a protest of thousands of angry and jobless people turning into a riot, or even a full blown rebellion. Disruption may be in the creation or destruction of entire industries, or as has been the case very recently, entire regimes. Most of the world has already experienced a decade pass where we feel less safe, less secure, and less sure that some catastrophic event won't destroy our lives in the blink of an eye or the click of a mouse. Likewise, many millions have already felt the effects of change destabilize their nations with ramifications that will echo for years to come. Many of the other answers to this question have illustrated why, whether they intended to or not.Consider a case study in change and disruption that was the Arab Spring of 2010. Then, new technology gave way to empowering the youth of several nations with information. A wave of democratic energy swept across the region. Caught in this wave were dictators over nations like Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria. The world watched in amazement as millions upon millions flooded streets to demand change. To them, change indeed came. In several nations, reforms are taking root, and dictatorial regimes have been replaced, if not ousted entirely. Millions are indeed living freer lives.But...At the same time, today there are three nations currently gripped in struggles of civil war, numerous uprisings already violently crushed, millions already killed, and many tens of millions of people displaced from their homes both nearby and across the world. Worse yet, chaos and anarchy in the region formed in the void of power that once existed under the despots who ruled there. In that void grew medieval death cults bent on absolute devastation and the full scale disruption of the Western world, for no other reason than that the West needed to be disrupted. Today, news of the Middle East centers only on one word - Chaos.This isn't to say that change is necessarily a bad thing, nor even that the disruption that change brings is evil in itself. It is just acknowledging that change happens, and that where change occurs, not far behind it, disruption is sure to follow. Finally, where disruption takes place, as we have seen in Middle East, instability is sure to follow, as well. It is this instability that leads to the crises which we hear about daily, and this instability that creates an ever widening gulf between where are today and the world we envisioned for it twenty years ago. Furthermore, as we experience yet more change, the kinds of technological, social, and political changes highlighted over and over throughout this question, instability will build upon itself, sometimes making way for progress and improvements, but other times, most of the time, preparing the ground for the kinds of horrors that only come from the vacuum where order once existed. It is in these environments desperation happens, and the kind of dangerous actions take place which only further dismantle everything. We see a model of this in Syria, where a desperate leader does unspeakable things to his people, to stop rebels and religious fanatics, all empowered by modern technology, both military and civilian. From the chaos of that nation we have seen yet more chaos spread far beyond when millions fled to Europe, bringing with them terror hidden as one of the refugees.For this reason, the real "X factor" won't be any one technology or suite of technologies. It won't be an idea or a revolutionary act of governance, nor will be the culmination of one single ideological movement. The real "X factor" will be how we deal with all of these changes that are sure to come. How do we deal with change which could come from any source, at any time? How can we continue our operations when others fall into chaos? How do we guarantee safety when we have no guarantees on what tomorrow will look like? The world will change, but it will be the people who can adapt to that change that will survive it the best. Those people are going to be the ones who protect themselves, their communities, and their assets. As others fail and a little bit more chaos is built, these groups and individuals will be those who provide the long term stability needed and become anchors in ever changing worlds. For that reason, the true "X factor" in the future will be the force, in all its forms, that allows the most positive change for the greatest numbers of people, while preventing the kinds of negative change that pulls us all a little bit closer to the abyss.The factor, is security.But wait, security isn't something that is "possible." It is everywhere around us already. While I would agree, this answer will seek to explain just how good our security needs to be in the future, and how it has failed us today. More so than this, I want to show all the needs we have for security already, and how improbable it is that we will live in perfect peace in the next twenty years. Internationally, 2015 saw a surge in terrorism born from conflicts in the Middle East. Attacks in Paris, one at the beginning and again the end of the year, along with another in California, woke many in the West to the present threat that exists when terrorists inspired by jihad overseas are brewed at home. The year also saw tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of individuals hacked in some of the largest information attacks in history. Going beyond this, privately operated drones are now being empowered not only to deliver mail to our doorstep, but to look right in on our lives, as well. What this means for today is a desperate scramble to attempt to find a new normal which we can all feel a sense of peace. What it will mean in the next twenty years is a complete change in the way we see the security industry, and scale which we deal with it in our daily lives.The rest of this answer will be dedicated to listing some of the ways the security industry will need change, and how those changes will affect off all of us. Perhaps more than the question asked, this answer will leave you realizing one truth. Anyone can handle when something goes right, and some new technology makes your life better, but who is going to be left when everything goes to Hell?Information SecurityNot every bad thing can kill you. Oh sure, there are many things that can still ruin your life, but most won't kill you.Something that has remarkably changed in last twenty years is something that didn't exist twenty years before it - online security. The information we publish online about ourselves, the groups we associate with, and even our country, can devastate our lives, or even the lives of people we will never meet. This is so true, that to sign on to read this article, you no doubt had to fill out at least four passwords. Then there is work email, phone keys, banking password, anything associate with a bill, your firewall software (that one's ironic) and anything with the Apple logo that assumes anyone with fat fingers are criminals and forces you redo your freaking password every single time I try to buy a song... legally (that'll teach me the punishment for being good.)In fact, the information that exists in the open is an entire field of spycraft. Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is intelligence collected from publicly available sources. It is the science of gathering executable knowledge to use against someone which they have willingly left available to the world. That's not true, some of that knowledge could be stolen and published already, without the subject's knowledge, and certainly without their permission. In my book, The Next Warrior, which deals with exploring the real way technology will change the face of warfare in the next few decades, this concept is explored with a young female spy named Samantha Avery. In 2026, Avery isn't like the modern day spies, case officers that are employed by the CIA. She sits at a desk and gathers information at her comfortable office outside Washington DC. What makes her special is the ability to find and pool vast databases and other intelligence sources hidden throughout the internet to decipher useful information and patterns her clients are willing to pay desperately for. Why is this special in 2026, when we have Google today? One might only look back to 2006, when there were only 85,507,314 websites in existence. For a better understanding of how much things have changed, as I write, there are 998,253,877[1][1][1][1], just shy of a billion. Sure Google will still be a valuable tool, but as the rest of this section will show you, the information you can access via Google is limited. Beyond the reach of search engines is information hidden in the dark web, databases and forums which house classified, illegal, or personal information that some would pay well to know, or for Avery's case, just pay well to know what to do with it.That said, Cyber Security is already a big deal today. The world isn't waiting for 2026 when Supersleuthes have already mastered the art of unburrying skeletons. Between personal invasions of privacy, to massive breaches of corporate firms and even national governments, the industry surrounding cyber security has exploded to levels we haven't seen ever. In the future, this will be even more true. When we consider the other answers, which show a future possible (almost certain) marriage between our electronics, communications, cars, homes, and entertainment unseen today, and add with them more levels of privately controlled automated drones, our augmented reality suites, driverless everything; all at work, school, home, and at play, security analysts cringe at the myriad of ways in which these technologies will interlock and overlap - each time creating a new vulnerability and entry into our own private motherload of personal information. In truth, swarm technology and the internet of things is a terrifying concept, because with each new device that enters our sphere of influence, we experience a new breach point to our data, one that hackers can use to enter into our lives.Take Nicholas Allegra. He's a hacker who makes a hobby out of defeating Apple's best and brightest security chiefs. [2][2][2][2]“It feels like editing an English paper,” Allegra says simply, his voice croaking as if he just woke up, though we’re speaking at 9:30 pm. “You just go through and look for errors. I don’t know why I seem to be so effective at it.”Going by the hacker name Comex, Allegra created the JailbreakMe code, which allowed millions of users to upload any applications they wanted to Apple's infamously restrictive devices. The way he did it was through exploiting a bug in how Apple’s mobile operating system iOS handles PDFs fonts. That allowed him to both locate and repurpose hidden commands. That critical flaw allowed a series of exploits that not only gains... blah, blah, blah, technical nerd jargon. The point is, this kid was able to publish code allowing millions of people to manipulate their phone against the creator's wishes because of the way the phone read fonts on pdfs.“I spent a lot of time on the polish,” Allegra says with a hint of pride.As I said before, these sorts of security failures aren't limited to phones. In the next era of technological revolutions, new methods will open to new exploits in the same way that a 19 year old can crack the world's safest phone. In a further example of how more tech means more problems, security researcher Nils Rodday is preparing a demonstration for the RSA security conference in San Francisco that will show how he is able to hack and take control of police drones from more than a mile away.[3][3][3][3]"...flaws in the security of a $30,000 to $35,000 drone’s radio connection allow him to take full control over the quadcopter with just a laptop and a cheap radio chip connected via USB. By exploiting a lack of encryption between the drone and its controller module known as a “telemetry box,” any hacker who’s able to reverse engineer the drone’s flight software can impersonate that controller to send navigation commands, meanwhile blocking all commands from the drone’s legitimate operator.I'm just going to take this opportunity to remind people that these things exist, and leave it at that.Personally, I'm just glad people like Nils Rodday and Comex aka Nicholas Allegra are at worst chaotic good, working for the betterment of us all through nefarious means, rather than a full on evil geniuses.There are, however, lots of evil people on the internet and many of these people want to do you great harm, or at least, have no concern for your well being as they attempt to make a better life for themselves. Whether it is because of a lone wolf cyber idealist like Comex; a community of hackers with motivations ranging from patriotism, sexism, anarchism, or just for the lulz; corporate hackers out to steal your money; or national hackers out to bring down the power grid, the internet is growing a more dangerous place, and Wall Street knows it.HACK, the exchange-traded fund bundling 30 cyber security companies, has seen quite a year for just these reasons. Last year, following a spree of high profile hacks across several industries, the fund skyrocketed, increasing in value nearly 30% in only six months to over a $1 billion market cap.[4][4][4][4] Since June, the value in the fund has receded, along with the entire sector. Since the downturn, however, these security companies are coming together, literally, to shake up the security industry again. In the last quarter, niche security companies that weren't able to compete on their own, are merging together and with much larger firms to solve problems some thought we wouldn't have cracked for another decade, along with others, no one predicted.Last year, there were 133 security M&A deals, up from 105 in 2014, according to 451 Research’s February report on the tech outlook for 2016. Its recent survey of investment bankers showed that security is expected to have the most M&A activity this year, surpassing mobile technology for the first time in six years.What this means is that many of today's fears and concerns for tomorrow are getting a lot of attention, and new methods to solve them are gathering steam and energy to attempt the mitigate the flood of invasions expected in the next two decades. One of the biggest leaders in this is a company you know well. Microsoft is shoring up their defense against cyberattacks by purchasing many of these fledgling firms into their corporate umbrella, creating several new layers between its customers (along with itself) and would be hackers. [5][5][5][5]The majority of the new additions came from startups that didn't really have a place in the industry, solving problems too specific to truly go it on their own, but filled with good ideas and brilliant people. Microsoft's recent acquisitions have been intended to add new capabilities, as well as new minds to the brain pool of Seattle. The hope is that, as these new units are integrated, the company will be capable of creating value and new technologies that will keep Microsoft and its users secure for at least the span of this question.So here's the real question. What exactly is it that Microsoft is afraid of? Throughout this answer, I'll attempt to explain some the risks that have the world's largest tech firms, and even the world's largest nations, preparing for a battle that we all need them to win. We will start off small with things that can only ruin your life, and then work up to the stuff that can legitimately break the world.Beginning in August 2014, a the hashtag #GamerGate[6][6][6][6] began to form. It was began by groups of video gamer enthusiasts with the stated purpose of combatting political correctness, censorship, and poor journalistic ethics in video game reporting. Specifically, those who organized their efforts with the hashtag targeted several female members of the gaming community for attacks against the genre norms and values. In retribution, these women and commenters denied the ethical basis and condemned the affair as misogynistic.Which it sorta totally was. That last paragraph really churched up the #GamerGaters, but when you get right down to it, most of what came from the debacle was anything other than advocacy for ethics in video game reporting. The roots of the debate began as a progressive pull to make females in video games less... um... genetically improbable babes.Designers and other feminist gamers argued against the exploitive nature in which females were depicted in many games, showcasing outrageous body types, and surfacing new controversies like "Same Armor/Same Stats" and "Less Armor/More Protection".So yeah, anyone who argues that is pretty much arguing, "I want more boobs! Don't take away the boobs!" Granted, in the defense of the status quo, some interesting arguments did come out, such as asking whether a very popular, very buxom, character from the 1990's should be "reduced" for the upcoming remake. The argument there was that to retool, some said sensor, a character which is already well known on account of her body type is an attack on anyone who legitimately has that body type. In this case, it sends the message that simply having large breasts or long legs is wrong, and something to be ashamed of. [7][7][7][7]I honestly didn't know if I just heard a masterful counterargument supporting both sides of the controversy from the feminist perspective or simply some grade A BS. Regardless, many of the feminists dismissed such views outright, some retaliating through the absolute attack on what it meant it meant to be a "gamer", coinciding the meaning with being synonymous with misogyny. That was wrong, but what happened next disappointed many as conversation wasn't the only thing that came out. Users operating, mostly anonymously via sites like Reddit, 4Chan, and 8Chan, began attacking the feminist taking the stances that games need to redirect. The attacks eventually grew to threats, including the threat of rape and murder. Most of us were surprised it got as bad as it did. I wondered why so many male gamers became so visceral in their attacks against female activists in the industry, or even just their defense of the boobs. I, along with much of the rest of the gaming community with large internet followings, just wondered with a bit of surprise how it got that bad.And that is what is really scary about online security threats like these. People online can get really mean, hateful, and even cruel. I'm not talking about calling you an "asshat" cruel. I mean subjecting people to the constant barrage of hate that results in IRL (in real life) ugliness. There is even a hashtag going out on snapchat called #TBR. For those of us blessed not to work with children on a daily basis, you've probably never heard of #TBR, but it stands for To Be Rude. Literally, it is nothing but children being hateful to one another, insulting one another in "secret", via Snapchat. Snapchat is a novel tool for kids because it allows sharing of content that will "delete" after a predetermined time or number of views, and only to those you choose. I suppose this may be useful to revolutionaries fighting against totalitarian regimes, but mostly kids just use it to post pictures of themselves naked and be monsters to one another. It sort of explains the ghost icon, though; a hint of secrecy.Now where this fits into the GamerGate controversy was that we didn't just see children acting like children. We saw adults acting very maliciously with the intent to cause fear and psychological harm, with the intended purpose of manipulation. By most accounts, that's terrorism. What made normal, boring actually, twenty and thirtysomething year old gamers turn into, well let's call it what it was, terrorists is a question we all need to answer, but it is probably the same reason kids use snapchat to post hateful videos instead of Youtube.Not getting caught.In both cases of Snapchat or #Gamergate, the offenders function behind a wall of protection from authority. For middle schoolers acting badly, it is really no different than any other time when mean girls said mean things when no teachers were around. With #Gamergate, we saw something very different. Grown adults behaving online in a way they never would in the real world. Many attribute this to the anonymous nature in which they gathered, communicated, and executed their "operations."Anonymity on the internet is an important thing if for no other reason than to understand how people act when functioning under the guise of anonymity. Dr. John Suler is a Professor of Psychology and has written on the subject of online behavior. In his paper The Online Disinhibition Effect, Suler argues that those on the internet are able to disconnect from their normal behaviors and can frequently do or say as they wish without fear of any kind of meaningful reprisal. An example being most Internet communities, even one such as Quora which uses real names. The worst kind of punishment an offender can expect for bad behavior is being banned from interaction. In practice, however, this serves little use; the person involved can usually circumvent the ban by simply registering another username and continuing the same behavior as before[8][8][8][8]. Suler calls this toxic disinhibition.CB radio during the 1970s saw similar bad behavior:Most of what you hear on CB radio is either tedious (truck drivers warning one another about speed traps) or banal (schoolgirls exchanging notes on homework), but at its occasional—and illegal—worst it sinks a pipeline to the depths of the American unconscious. Your ears are assaulted by the sound of racism at its most rampant, and by masturbation fantasies that are the aural equivalent of rape. The sleep of reason, to quote Goya's phrase, brings forth monsters, and the anonymity of CB encourages the monsters to emerge.Suler's work was a brilliant synopsis, but we on the internet need a simplified version. "John Gabriel's Greater Internet F***wad Theory" was a posted comic strip by Penny Arcade. The post regards reflects the unsocial tendencies of other internet users as described by the online disinhibition effect. Krahulik and Holkins, Penny Arcade's creators suggest that, given both anonymity and an audience, an otherwise regular person becomes aggressively antisocial.[9][9][9][9]How this relates to security is obvious to those who have experience it. The internet can feel like an unsafe place sometimes. The internet can be an unsafe place sometimes. Looking to the long term effects of bullying that are being better understood every day[10][10][10][10], sometimes I wonder if this place I've called a second home is a place I want my kids to play on. Most of us who are active on this playground understand this as the status quo, but in the future of internet security, the debate will center around the freedom to be private and the freedom to be anonymous. Many fear, given precedence, what may happen under this veil of anonymity. I can't help but agree that his is a rational concern for many. Sometimes the internet comments go far beyond words or threats, which carry lasting psychological damage to some of the victims, but transforming to very legitimate real world threats. What this will mean for the future is that companies is deciding what kind of culture they want to deal with. For the internet to stay the internet we want to be on, we may see more companies adopt guidelines like Quora's, with it's real names policy and Be Nice Be Respectful Policy, a place where people feel welcome and safe to exchange and interact.The Gamergate scandal didn't end at name calling, though. Several key individuals suffered far more than the traditional effects of the average internet rabble. Along with threats of rape and murder, which are disturbing, but easily dismissed given the safety that online anonymity provides, there was another threat, one which pierced that veil of safety and put the power directly in the hands of the mob.Doxxing.Doxxing - from documents - search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent."hackers and online vigilantes routinely dox both public and private figures."[11][11][11][11]During Gamergate the ugly side of the conflict saw the threat, "We will dox you," begin to surface for the first time. Doxxing, as the definition states is when online users attempt to publish personal information about other users, celebrities, or public figures against their will. This personal information ranges from your real name to private email, banking information, and anything that hackers can get hold of. Once one member discovers it and is able to publish it, the fear is that it may lead to future attacks, such as flooding email accounts with harassment emails via a botnet attack, or worse, people literally able to knock on your door.And this is exactly what happened to the internet's Queen, Felicia Day.Day commented that she had thus far remained silent on the issue of Gamergate to fans and the media, including over 2.3 million Twitter followers at the time, not because she wanted to or didn't care, but out of fear of getting doxxed – and seeing her personal information become public knowledge on the seedy parts of the internet.“I realised my silence on the issue was not motivated by some grand strategy, but out of fear that the issue has created about speaking out. ... I have tried to retweet a few of the articles I’ve seen dissecting the issue in support, but personally I am terrified to be doxxed for even typing the words ‘gamer gate’. I have had stalkers and restraining orders issued in the past, I have had people show up on my doorstep when my personal information was hard to get.”This was posted on her personal blog, in a post titled simply The Only Thing I have to Say about Gamergate.[12][12][12][12]She was immediately attacked online and doxxed. Felicia's experiences in the past have included direct encounters with stalkers, empowered by knowledge about her that they shouldn't have access to. Others, such as one of the women central to the beginning of Gamergate, Anita Sarkeesian a game designer who also makes videos explaining misogynist tropes in gaming, were far more disturbing.According to Time, Sarkeesian, had to flee her home because of violent threats. She was even forced to cancel a speaking engagement at Utah State University after an anonymous person sent a letter to the school administration threatening to massacre students if she spoke. “I will write my manifesto in her spilled blood, and you will all bear witness to what feminist lies and poison have done to the men of America,” the letter read.Now, perhaps, we are getting the reason that anonymity is something of a concern for security analysts. With abilities such as doxxing, which is just one among many possible issues that internet users face, those who use the internet, or everyone, is going to need to learn to deal with some new and very profound threats. In the way that we prepared ourselves for active shooters with things like A.L.I.C.E. training, training is going to have to be done to teach people how to protect their personal information from slippage, the military term for unwanted dispersal of sensitive information. If we don't take that initiative,I'm afraid of an internet where anonymity creates a world where there are no activists. Many who have read and follow my work know, if nothing else, one thing about me; I am super American. I like that I have this right and freedom to speak up and speak out, but at the point where living room vigilantes are able to threaten the safety of women for complaining about big tits in video games, along with anyone who happens to listen... I'm seriously afraid of a world twenty years down the road. That anonymity grants protection for criminal acts is something we should very seriously be concerned and something the leaders of the internet need to seriously consider when they list their values. As was mentioned before, to quote Goya, "fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters." That said, don't be surprised if in your next annual security briefing, you see the "Dox" for the first, but not the last time.Having said that, there is more power to the open internet than you think. Your private information, while important to you for reasons shown in the previous section, is very little compared to what organized groups with an agenda are really after - complete system change. These groups have proven the means to bring down massive sites and even fight terrorism. Of course, they have also cost thousands of innocent people their personal information, destroyed companies, and ruin marriages, along with more than a few lives.To begin, one needs to look into the (perfectly named) Ashley Madison Affair[13][13][13][13]. Ashley Madison was and is the internet's largest website for cheating. Literally, that's all they do is help people who are married cheat on one another. After a savvy campaign including talk shows and clever advertising, one which brought tons of open scorn, but just enough silent attention to keep the profits rolling in, a group calling themselves, "The Impact Group" decided they weren't amused with the salacious shenanigans. The Impact Group researched Ashley Madison and found it to be under the ownership Avid Life Media, which also owns other hookup sites like Cougar Life and Established Men, which they claimed supported prostitution and human trafficking. When Ashley Madison reported that they offered a service to completely delete the accounts of users no longer interested in their services, the Impact Group moved out to show that this service wasn't all it was cracked out to be. 37 million disclosed users later and the site which sold itself on discretion, was in the midst of its worst nightmare.The impact group is only one such online Robin Hood alliance which exists. Others out there have proven themselves time and time again to be able to affect change, either through direct action, or the threat of it via hacking individuals, corporations, and even governments. One such group calls itself, aptly enough, Anonymous.Wikipedia describes Anonymous as a loosely associated international network of activist and hacktivist entities. A website nominally associated with the group describes it as "an Internet gathering" with "a very loose and decentralized command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives".To understand them further, a group of users of various internet forums Reddit and 4Chan, all functioning under anonymous user names began coordinating efforts towards various political and social agendas. Conversation in the all anonymous sites would form, ranging on the spectrum of enlightened social commentary and debate, to outright bigoted hate groups. Within these conversations, like minded leaders would collectively pool resources, and take the conversation into a more private level.To use a metaphor, the internet is a single massive room where everyone is screaming to be heard. The chaos and confusion that follows allows a small group to gather by a wall, completely visible to anyone who were to look, and speak openly to where anyone could listen, but their voices still lost because of the constant noise of internet traffic and news. In these "private open sessions" the leader groups came to a consensus of some action which should be taken. Among them were many who were legitimately talented crackers, the term for internet hackers with malicious intents. Their skills, along with a few who just executed their wishes, were able to achieve some crazy results. From here, the cell would plan an operation, in their parlance, and if successful disintegrate back into the crowed. From there, they may join a new operation, or never be heard from again. For this, they describe their movement as "leaderless."In the beginning operations or "attacks" ranged on the low end with benign acts of internet weirdness, such as the when hundreds of Anons gathered in an online Finnish Hotel with identical black avatars, forming swastikas and closing down the pool due to "fail and AIDS". A bit higher up were a few high profile "operations" including attacks on the Church of Scientology, Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, various international copywriting offices, Paypal, and eventually Sony's Playstation Network.The group's preferred method of attack were a series of well-publicized publicity stunts and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS). A DDoS attack is one in which an asset is bombarded with fake traffic, slowing down the service or bringing them down all together. Consider a telethon for kids with cancer or adopting puppies. A version of a DDoS attack (by seriously mean people) would be hundreds of people who all collectively call in with prank calls, tying up all the operators, thus making it impossible to actually take real donations. On the internet, this is done through special programs written to cause a single normal device, such as the phone or computer you are reading this article on, to send false traffic to a website with its spare processing power in the background. Your devices are actually quite powerful and the spare processing power can generate a lot of worthless traffic for the receiver. This is often compounded through the use of botnets, programs which control many devices, sometime thousands, with or without their owner's consent, all generating traffic to bring down the target websites or online assets. Technically, this attack is harmless, unlike uploading a malicious computer virus, as all effects end the moment the attack stops. The servers go back to operating as normal, no harm done... except for the millions lost through down time and breaches in their security.Of course, this is all extremely illegal. Many anonymous members found that their movements weren't as secretive as they believed. Various Anons were jailed or suffered massive fines for their infractions. Sadly, many of the people who suffered the most were not leaders in the movements, or operations, but people who didn't understand the risks and were just acting under instructions from other Anons more versed in what could go wrong. One example of this is Dmitriy Guzner[14][14][14][14], a 19 year old American given a one year prison sentence for attacking a protected computer. It was around this time that Anonymous truly began evolving in an attempt to be more than just internet pranksters. Seeing many hauled off to long prison stays saw the movement break into various camps; namely those motivated for ideological reasons and those seeking to provoke for entertainment, ie. trolls for the lulz.Following this period of internal rebranding, and backed by energy gained through the Occupy Wall Street Movement[15][15][15][15], there was some realistic clout to those who participated in the online actions. Brought together by the idealistic sides of Anonymous, operations became more complex, as legitimately talented media experts, artists, videographers, and yes, more hackers, were able to add their capabilities to spread their message and their actions. In the next few years their major operations were more focused and even altruistic. Charitable actions included events like #OpOk and Operation Safe Winter, as well as attempts to intervene in what they viewed as unlawful police brutality, attacking the KKK, and taking down child pornagraphers[16][16][16][16]. Most recently, in an attempt to fight back against the growing threat of Islamic fundamentalism and Middle East born terrorism, operations like #OpSaudi and #OpISIS, sought to disrupt funding for the Islamic State and their vast online propaganda presence. According to some reports, as many as 20,000 accounts on Twitter of ISIS affiliates and recruiters have been brought down[17][17][17][17], as well as the hundreds of websites, and the releasing of ISIS recruiter's personal information including their home address. [18][18][18][18]While many question Anonymous as nothing but a bunch of unaccountable internet pranksters with various and chaotic agendas, others are impressed by their power and the complexity their operations are taking, if for no other reason, than the attention they are able to garnish for their causes and themselves. Others, however, aren't happy with what they are considering a virtual lynch mob. Some are leaving the group for its rather chaotic history of attacking innocent people, which have included people in the random databases Anons have gained access to, as well as anyone who speaks badly about Anonymous.[19][19][19][19]“When I started with Anon I thought I was helping people but over the past few months things inside anon have changed,” the hacker said in a statement posted to the Web. “I am mostly talking about AntiSec and LulzSec. They both go against what I stand for (and what anonymous says they stand for). Antisec has released gig after gig of innocent peoples information. For what? What did they do? Does anon have the right to remove the anonymity of innocent people?At least one commentator went so far as to consider them the living embodiment of George Orwell's thought police from his classic science fiction 1984. [20][20][20][20]There thinking anything against the Party was deemed a criminal act - a “thoughtcrime”, which brought about arrest and rehabilitation (read that as torture) under the Thought Police.1984 is considered a definitive cautionary tale, but what makes Orwell’s masterpiece particularly terrifying is how close 2015 mimics Orwell’s dystopian fiction. You see it in hacktivist groups like Anonymous, commentary shows like The Hannity Show, and online across social networks, the Thought Police has become a reality. If you are outside of their thinking, you become Public Enemy #1 and must be destroyed.What this means for businesses and organizations is yet another threat to security which has to be accounted for. No one knows when something they do, or some policy they have, will catch the attention of Anonymous, or any other major group of like minded internet anarchists to bring about action in numbers that the government can't actually do much about. You never know what kind of vulnerability you have until 10,000 angry hackers start inspecting the cracks in your walls.Ok, so maybe various versions of making people look bad on the internet aren't nearly as terrifying as legitimate terrorism, but what about the presence of true cybercrime, those who use the internet with no agenda for reform, no desire for publicity, and who 99% of the time, you never knew existed? What about when the threats aren't out to make you think about some subjective moral wrongdoing, but steal your money and ruin your life. What's really scary is that no one is safe - quite literally no one. Not even the director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency.A group of young hackers, using rather unsophisticated methods, broke into the CIA Director John Brennan's personal email. So that we are all aware, the director of the CIA is the guy in charge of all US spies and one would thing be well beyond the reach of hackers... especially a group of teenagers. Much to the chagrin of the US government, he really wasn't. This one, however, wasn't really his fault. The method the hackers used was to implement a tactic that predates modern computing by only a few thousand years. They pretended to be people they weren't, tricked a Verizon worker and got Brennan's email password changed the old fashioned way... by lying. The term they used is "social engineering". While they didn't find much, they did find were some documents important to him. Then they bragged about it on Wired. While all of us think this one is hilarious, if a story turns up about a few of these kids turning up missing in a couple of years when no one remembers their antics... don't say this wasn't foreseeable.The same group were responsible for this breach also targeted the FBI... because they are just ballsy I guess... and broke into portals used by police and federal agents to share intel. The site is also used to book suspects, and while it isn't known how much was taken, hundreds of thousands of users may be vulnerable, many already being leaked following the hack.2015 saw attack after attack like these, and some of the most massive breaches to internet security the world has yet seen, all with little other incentive than stealing money, stealing information, and extortion. Like my fictional spy from the future, there are many who profit heavily from the information you keep secret. Over the course of the last year, it is estimated that some 70% of the US population experienced some form of cyber attack and over 2.1 billion internet users worldwide. In a Verizon Study of 90 Security breaches, there were 285 million data exposures. Unsurprisingly, attacks are getting much more advanced, with hackers sometimes using multiple attacks simultaneously to succeed in a breach, such as malware, brute force, and SQL injection. Furthermore, 74% of the attacks were external, meaning that 26% were executed from within the companies we are trusting with our data. [21][21][21][21]In a related vein, but just as disturbing, we are now seeing more breaches being discovered by employees than outsiders. Traditionally, these sorts of attacks were discovered by feds or other companies detecting the irregularities.[22][22][22][22] Now, it is much more likely that when you're breached, you'll be the first to know... which for some of us, isn't that comforting.Depending on how you look at this, it could either be welcome news or utterly terrifying. On the one hand, this means that internal security is at least able to grow to the point that they become aware of their own breaches. On the other hand, it means that the number of breaches, and all the possible avenues of failure have become so numerous, that no government agency can possibly be aware of the threats anymore, let alone protect us from them.The next troubling discovery, this one from the 2014 report, was exactly how big the hacking business is. In spite of the whole last section of activities by groups such as Anonymous, malicious hackers working with financial motives still account for some 60% of cyber crime. Corporate spying, those seeking intellectual property and trade secrets accounted for some 25% (up from previous years). Those hackers who were not set on serious crimes (you know, for the lulz) or hacktivists with some ideological agenda, in spite of all the news, accounted for next to nothing.[23][23][23][23]That means that in spite of internet hacktivists publicised achievements, the vast majority of illicit attacks happen for no other reason than to rob of us of something precious.Some of the biggest of these hits last year:Excellus Blue Cross/Blue Shield - 10 million records lost including names, birth dates, social security numbers, mailing addresses, financial accounts, and claims information[24]Anthem Health Insurance - Access to 80 million current and former customers names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and income data[25]Experian - 15 million T-Mobile customers names, addresses, birth dates, drivers’ license ID numbers, and passport numbers. Encrypted Social Security numbers were also stolen, which may provide some measure of safety, but the company warned that encryption may have been compromised[26]Scottrade - 4-6 million customers contact details compromised[27]CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Costco - millions of customers' credit card, email, postal addresses, phone numbers, and passwords.[28]Donald Trump's hotel chain - many thousands of guests' credit card data[29]Several people probably noticed that last line and thought to themselves, "Ha, that will show the asshat." Well, we need to think about that one again, don't we? Who was hurt by the breach at Trump hotels? Innocent people. Really think about who these people are who are hurt; people who slept at a place. Imagine yourself, really just you, getting a hotel anywhere in the world, never really thinking about the guy whose name is on the side of the exterior wall and if one day he may potentially run for President of the United Freaking States. No, you just slept in a place and now your information is floating around the internet by people who are trading it for money. So to those who are getting their lulz right now from finding out that the "Orange carpeted clown" got pwned ("laughing hard at the misfortunes of Donald Trump" for those not accustomed to the vernacular of the lower internet), you're real a-holes.To illustrate this point, as shown already, some the biggest breaches didn't steal money directly. The big payoff was information. Hackers who can get access to data about real people, not just one, but millions of people at a time, are the biggest scores in the illicit industry of online invasion. Stealing a whole database with customer or employee names, birthdays, SSNs, or any other useful private information can open the door for those people to be targeted later for individual attacks. These attacks may be for money, or they can be for more information, perhaps even national secrets, incriminating information for blackmail, or worse. Often, this information is collected and merged into larger databases, where users are profiled and where that which is stolen can be used against them in some of the most terrifying ways imaginable later... like a hack on the Internal Revenue Service.The IRS is a common target of hacking. As the central collection agency for all taxes of all people of the United States, it is one of the largest gold mines ever created. In 2015 it suffered the largest breach in its history. It acknowledged that hackers had gained access to view more than 300,000 previous tax returns. They did this through a tool made available by the IRS called "Get Transcript". Get Transcript allows users to view old returns. The safety in this system is that it requires numerous layers of identifying information to access Get Transcript and view those old returns. The types of information needed: names, social security numbers, birthdates, addresses - the very same items stolen from the other hacks mentioned above. This means that the hackers were able to make one of the largest internet heists in history, only through access of stolen information, gathered, collected, and organized by other hackers in a cyber black market where your information is the most valuable and most traded commodity there is.Relying on personal information — like Social Security numbers, birth dates and street addresses — the hackers got through a multistep authentication process. They then used information from the returns to file fraudulent ones, generating nearly $50 million in refunds.[30][30][30][30]That means that each of the victims were hacked not once, but twice. The big takeaway from the 2015 IRS Hack is that there is growing evidence of the existence of something we are all afraid of. Databases out there that are growing day by day, where cells of each of our data are collected and merged without our permission or our knowledge, and that these databases are being traded by people across the world, with no good intention for us. This leads many to believe in a future decades from now which has no secrets, where all of our information is direct and open to the public. For those of us with bank accounts, street addresses, or children, that's not the idealistic image of an open society that some would paint. The fact is, we live in a state of danger everyday because of the secrets we entrust to others. In the next few decades, for companies to remain viable, they are going to have to prove they can be trusted with our information. More so than this, if we ever want to feel safe again, perhaps the most valuable enterprise in the future of internet security might not be the next guy who is able to steal our information, but the first guys who figure out how to get it back.Now that we have thoroughly made it clear that there is no place left safe on the internet for the common individual, or even major corporations and government organizations, what about the governments themselves? What role do they play in this story.To begin with, let's talk about Hacking Team. Hacking Team is a company out of Milan that deals in "offensive intrusion and surveillance" capabilities. This includes the ability to monitor communications of internet users, decipher encrypted files and emails, record Skype and VoIP phone calls, as well as remotely activate microphones and cameras on the devices they target. Their primary clients include governments and major corporations, including a few governments with shady human rights records. Basically, they are the most terrifying conspiracy theories on the internet come to life.Hacking Team are leaders in the growing industry to help governments hack in ways that make the rest of this article look like child's play. The Hacking Team gives its clients, through use of their Da Vinci and Galileo platforms the ability to do everything from keystroke logging, GPS tracking on cell phones, and extracting wifi passwords, among many other capabilities.[31][31][31][31] Perhaps most interesting is their ability to steal data on local accounts, contacts and transaction histories by decrypting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency wallet files.[32][32][32][32]The tools they use, or rather sell, have been used by governments to... well... you've seen the movies. Before you start getting up in arms, you might want to check their previous clients, regimes such as Sudan, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, and have been accused of being used against activists and protesters in Morocco, Syria, the United Arab Emirates.[33][33][33][33]They even basically serve as the intelligence agency of the Uganda. Some of those relationships landed them in hot water with the UN. To make matters even more frightening, the Italian company maintains two satellite offices within the United States, one in Annapolis and another in Washington DC. That shouldn't lead people think this relationship buys the US anything though, since Hacking Team is suspected of selling tools to clients in Turkey who used it on a woman in the US[34][34][34][34]and is now suspected of selling their technology to Syria, as well.What's put Hacking Team in the news now? Perhaps unsurprisingly at this point, they too were also hacked in 2015. At some point their network was breached and published online - over 400 gigabytes of data. Like I said before, no one is safe.Hacking Team's fate, while ironic, only served to open the eyes of millions to existence of real companies whose only profession is equipping governments with the tools to break down any wall, crack any password, end any online uprising, and own our digital lives. For an example, let's start with something small, like a foreign government hacking into a major American company to determine what media Americans and the rest of the world were allowed to see.You know, I've always wondered if any of the "A movie they don't want you to see," advertisements were ever real. Turns out, there was one that absolutely was. In late 2014, Sony pictures planned to release a movie about a talk show host invited to North Korea. Oh, and he tries to assassinate the dictator. It was an okay movie, but honestly, not something you would watch twice on purpose. Where things went terribly, horribly wrong was when Sony pictures suddenly pulled the movie. In the weeks leading up to the release, the North Korean government expressed their "disapproval" of the film. With its ending scene depicting the violent death of their glorious leader, the North Koreans demanded the movie never show... or else. Whatever, we're Americans, or sort of. Sony Pictures was in America at least. What are they really going to do, bomb us?No, they didn't bomb anyone. Instead, what they did was hack Sony Pictures. In that breach, they stole data that included personal information about Sony Pictures employees and their families, e-mails between employees, information about executive salaries at the company, copies of then-unreleased Sony films, and other information. They threatened to release the information, which any of it could have been deadly to the company, from its employee's information to scripts of movies that haven't been made. What happened next?Sony pulled the film.Not long after, popular demand, and there was a lot of us who now demanded to see this movie, made it available for streaming. Eventually, we were all able to get our fill of the death of the most infamous man alive, but it cost us. The Guardian called the event a massive defeat on American soil and the message was received, international government sponsored hackers can scare Americans into doing whatever they want.It pissed us off as it introduced a new word into our collective lexicon: Cyberwarfare.CyberwarfareAccording to the Rand Corporation,[35][35][35][35] Cyber warfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nation's computers or information networks through, for example, computer viruses or denial-of-service attacks. RAND research provides recommendations to military and civilian decisionmakers on methods of defending against the damaging effects of cyber warfare on a nation's digital infrastructure because, when nations involve themselves in the acts of cracking, all bets are off. As previously mentioned, even massive companies like Sony can be leveled by a national attack. Second, we have to ask what counts as warfare? Can it really be an act of war if no one can possibly die from it? Does it matter that this was an American company? Does it change things that it is American citizens? What does retaliation look like? The truth is, we don't have a lot of answers for this right now, but where it might lead to is nerve racking.Joel Brenner, a Senior Counsel at the National Security Agency, in his book America the Vulnerable, focuses on the subject of cyber warfare. He speaks at length about the vulnerabilities to the United States, some already proven and some hypothetical. One threat we may one day face which he poses, comes in the form of an attack on our infrastructure. An attack centered on the Los Angeles powergrid could hold half the West Coast hostage. A similar attack against the DOD or VA could publish every scrap of data on over 22 million veterans for the whole world to see. What's worse, he showed how capabilities already exist that could do this.He continues in his book to describe the threat posed by China. China is a special case in that, besides a cyber warfare branch of the People's Liberation Army[36][36][36][36], China also has the added asset of tens of thousands of nationalistic, "Patriot Hackers". These individuals form a community of cracker groups which focus on exploiting all international information vulnerabilities from corporate, to military, and even personal. This core group of international hackers has been responsible for countless patent thefts and billions in lost research and development to the benefit of Chinese corporations, but is also responsible for compromising classified information worldwide. China's hacker community is distinctly different from that of nations like the United States, which, if a pattern could be set, would be better described as anarchistic and anti-government (remember Anonymous), and even those in Russia, who are much more geared to cyber crime for profit. China's hackers, instead work together alongside, or at least to the benefit of, China's national government. All this while still be officially "unaffiliated" with the government for diplomatic and legal reasons. Effectively, the Chinese have a clandestine cyber national guard, growing in capabilities and there isn't really a thing the world can do about it.In fact, the largest breach of security for information in an American database last year didn't come from someone hacking some corporation to turn a quick profit. It came from China.[37][37][37][37] Last year, the Office of Personnel Management discovered that information over 21 million victims had slipped into hacker's hands. [38][38][38][38]The attack lasted over a year and included some 19 million people who applied for government security clearances and the information pertaining to their background checks, along with 1.8 million spouses, friends, and family members. To throw gasoline onto the fire, another 5.6 million fingerprint files of federal employees may have been lost[39][39][39][39], as well.Moving Westward, Russia is a concern, as well. Having lost much of their technological edge in the last twenty years, they're working to reclaim lost ground. Currently, when one thinks of Russian hackers, they are probably thinking of internet fraud and child pornography. Over the last few years, however, their capabilities have attempted to close the gap. Recently, in their ongoing conflict between Ukraine, Russian hackers were able to shutdown major sections of the Ukrainian power grid. [40][40][40][40]More concerning, however, is Russia's attempts to control the media through the very bottom up. Called The 50 Ruble Army, Russia has copied a Chinese tactic to start employing professional commenters, people who scroll the internet commenting on content that weighs negatively against Russia with links to pro-Russian content, articles, and propaganda.[41][41][41][41] (Oh, yeah. Did I forget that about China, too?[42][42][42][42])If you speak about Russia long enough, you'll see these guys.But Russia and China aren't the only concern in cyberwarfare. What's surprising many, is the capabilities of players that weren't normally seen in traditional spheres of computing capability. In 2011, by all accounts, Iran was able to steal a United States CIA stealth drone, literally out of the sky. [43][43][43][43]According to Iranian sources, they were able to capture the US drone by "spoofing" the onboard GPS system. After technicians were able to hack into the drone, they broke the link with the systems remote controllers. From this point, according to the Iranian source, they simply told the drone to land in on an Iranian base, believing it to be its home in Afghanistan. [44][44][44][44]Quite frankly, if any part of that story is true, that is a real head scratcher for the Americans. More so than that, given the relatively unharmed state of the drone, at least from the pictures, it very well could be true. As far back as 2012, the concept of GPS spoofing was a proven concept by researchers at the University of Texas. [45][45][45][45]Given the resources of an entire nation, it wouldn't surprise me terribly if they figured it out faster than a single American college.Granted, the loss of our drone rattled many, but it wasn't the first attack in the Iran/American Cyber War. Nor would it be the last.Let's take a step back to the 1980's. Russia had poor abilities to produce microchips and the soviets worked to steal technology from the West, decades aheads of them technologically speaking. Because of a defector, the United States was able to know what it was Soviet spies were after. The Americans allowed flawed microprocessors to be stolen and their programs copied. These were made so well that they passed an initial inspection, only break down chemical and manufacturing facilities and overpower turbines in the Trans-Siberian pipeline. When soviet spies stole plans for gas-line pumps, they were unaware that it was intentionally designed to pump with much more pressure than the pipes were ever meant to handle. William Safire of the New York Times in 2004 was the first to break this story 25 years later. In his words, "The result was the most monumental, non-nuclear explosion and fire, ever seen from space."Fast forward a few decades.In January 2010, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency visiting the Natanz uranium enrichment plant in Iran noticed that centrifuges used to enrich uranium gas were failing at an unprecedented rate. The cause was a complete mystery—apparently as much to the Iranian technicians replacing the centrifuges as to the inspectors observing them.Five months later a seemingly unrelated event occurred. A computer security firm in Belarus was called in to troubleshoot a series of computers in Iran that were crashing and rebooting repeatedly. Again, the cause of the problem was a mystery. That is, until the researchers found a handful of malicious files on one of the systems and discovered the world’s first digital weapon.Stuxnet, as it came to be known, was unlike any other virus or worm that came before. Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information from them, it escaped the digital realm to wreak physical destruction on equipment the computers controlled.WIRED senior staff writer Kim Zetter[46][46][46][46]A piece of code began showing itself around which became known as the Stuxnet virus, made famous for its approach to disabling Iranian nuclear refinement operations. Brenner describes why Stuxnet was so incredible. It was a worm, a self-replicating virus, which utilized not just one, but four previously unknown vulnerabilities in Microsoft operating systems to spread itself throughout a worldwide infection. Once spread, it sought out particular Siemens centrifuges, like those used by the Iranians to refine Uranium, and bring them down. This virus baffled engineers for months, unaware that random system outages were really the result of advanced sabotage efforts from outside the country. What it showed was the threat to even extremely powerful and well defended military systems were possible via online attack. More perplexing, the Stuxnet virus, Brenner postulates, could have only have been created by one of a very few groups who would have had the technological capability to create it, that being the national governments of either United States, Russia, China, Israel, or one of a few members of the European Community. It goes way beyond the capability of the midnight hacker savant or the college computer science nerd out for kicks. This was deliberate and ingeniously engineered attack conducted by nations.Enter: The US Cyber Command. All the necessary ingredients are in place for the possibility of cyber-threats from other nations, or even cyber-terrorism. For all intents and purposes, the United States built them. For that reason, the United States military created the US Cyber Command. On June 23, 2009, the Secretary of Defense directed the Commander of U.S. Strategic Command to establish a sub-unified command, United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM). Full Operational Capability (FOC) was achieved Oct. 31, 2010. The Command has three main focus areas: Defending the Department of Defense's Intelligence assets, providing support to combatant commanders for execution of their missions around the world, and strengthening our nation's ability to withstand and respond to cyber attack. I couldn't find a video. I don't think they want me talking about it.Many speculate that either the US Cyber Command, or some other third party affiliate with the CIA, or even companies like Hacking Team to have created the Stuxnet virus, in conjunction with allies in Israel. As of yet, US Cyber Command has only once, very recently admitted ever taking part in any offensive actions. In the fight to retake Mosul, Iraq US forces are working with allies in the region to stop ISIS on the ground, in the air, and via the web. [47][47][47][47]Meanwhile, U.S. forces are waging a cyber offensive to cut or spy on ISIS communications in Mosul. Carter said cyber attacks are being used “to interrupt [and] disrupt ISIL’s command and control, to cause them to lose confidence in their networks, to overload their network so that they can’t function, and do all of these things that will interrupt their ability to command and control forces there, control the population and the economy.”While this is the first admitted time the US Cyber Command has officially been used in an act of cyber warfare, it will certainly not be the last. Along with this, many fear a future where it is needed. In an answer on a similar vein, I was once asked how vulnerable the US Naval fleet was to attack.Future state-on-state conflict, as well as conflicts involving non-state actors such as al-Qaida, would increasingly be characterised by reliance on asymmetric warfare techniques, chiefly cyber-warfare, Chipman said. Hostile governments could hide behind rapidly advancing technology to launch attacks undetected. And unlike conventional and nuclear arms, there were no agreed international controls on the use of cyber weapons."Cyber-warfare [may be used] to disable a country's infrastructure, meddle with the integrity of another country's internal military data, try to confuse its financial transactions or to accomplish any number of other possibly crippling aims," he said. Yet governments and national defence establishments at present have only limited ability to tell when they were under attack, by whom, and how they might respond.The US Defence Department's Quadrennial Defence Review, published this week, also highlighted the rising threat posed by cyber-warfare on space-based surveillance and communications systems."On any given day, there are as many as 7 million DoD (Department of Defence) computers and telecommunications tools in use in 88 countries using thousands of war-fighting and support applications. The number of potential vulnerabilities, therefore, is staggering." the review said."Moreover, the speed of cyber attacks and the anonymity of cyberspace greatly favour the offence. This advantage is growing as hacker tools become cheaper and easier to employ by adversaries whose skills are growing in sophistication."[48][48][48][48]Some of those vulnerabilities are forehead-smackingly simple, once you know where to look. “You can walk around any ship, most aircraft, and you can find either USB ports or serial ports that were put there for maintenance,” said Leigher. “They were done for good engineering reasons” — to download diagnostic data, for example — “but the engineer wasn’t thinking about computer security.” What if an enemy agent under cover as a contractor or even as a civilian on a good-will tour slipped a virus-loaded thumb drive into one of those ports? What if the bad guy simply tricked a sailor into doing it for him?[49][49][49][49]U.S. computer experts playing the part of foreign hackers managed to shut down all communications among the U.S. Pacific fleet, and could have shut down the entire western half of the U.S. power grid.[50][50][50][50]In that answer, given everything we know about the numerous breaks in our defenses, the capabilities of hackers across the globe, and the outdated systems of much of our Navy, it is plausible a group of hackers which are well enough organized and with enough backing, could compromise our carrier's systems. It is possible that infected equipment could be installed on the ships themselves, since it is economically impossible to produce all the technologies built for these ships in government controlled factories, nor even, all in the United States. Foreign manufacturing produces gateway points for hardware to be slipped in with infected files that could then reproduce throughout the vessel's internal secured networks and systems. If this were to happen, it is possible that these ships could be brought down through their own control systems, locking up, halting their communications, melting down their reactors, crashing them into the rocks or even city docks, or just causing them to float dead in the water defenseless against enemy attack and unable to protect us here at home.Physical SecurityChanging gears from cyber security to the tangible world, 2015 saw one of bloodiest years on record since the end of World War II. Terrorism that originated in Middle Eastern conflicts has spread out and is beginning to become commonplace in Europe and even starting to appear, yet again, in the United States. The Charlie Hebdo and November 2015 Paris Attacks, along with a third attempt foiled by the presence of American military veterans rocked Europe as the world mourned for them. In the US, a similar, though far less attack, took place in San Bernardino, California. Between these three major attacks, around 160 people were killed. This, however, pales in comparison to the world-wide effects of terrorism. In total, there were nearly 400 terrorist attacks around the world that we know of[51][51][51][51]. In that, it is likely that more than ten thousand people lost their lives in acts of pure terror. I say pure terror, not to add drama to the point, but to differentiate these acts from the similar acts of violence. Acts of warfare, kidnapping, and social strong-arming are being ignored, as their practice has exploded in the last decade to unestimatable levels.How this will affect the world in the next twenty years is that people, meaning nations, firms, and individuals, will be taking greater steps towards ensuring their own safety in the event of attack. For many, this will see annual trainings being required at many workplaces and schools. Many are already doing this. In another answer, I described how the last decade of terror and threat of "active shooters" has led to new methods and tactics aimed at empowering the individual victim to better deal with theses threats in a way that mitigates their danger, or when cornered in the worst case scenario, confront and attempt to neutralize the attackers. One such training program is ALICE, controversial in that it actually coaches victims of an active shooter incident to fight back as a very last.[52][52][52][52]Private Security CompaniesBeyond the need for standard training, which will introduce a new vocabulary and the mindset to go with it, is traditional security, which is getting a remarkably untraditional makeover. Companies today are forming which are consolidating the need for security. Less and less often are you seeing security divisions within companies which are not in the business of providing security. Instead, the role of security guard for most companies is often filled by an agent of companies which specialize in the outsourcing of such skillsets. What this means for the future is that we won't see the old mall cops drifting around on their segways, whose only real talents don't actually center on tactics and prevention, but on finding a job where they are being paid to stand there.Instead, these jobs are going to be going more and more to the larger security companies who specialize in the role. Soon, we will likely see a time where all private security for public places, such as malls, workplaces, and schools, all wear an inconspicuous similar uniform labeled with the same logo throughout. Instead of working directly for the companies that employ them, they will be contracted in, all centrally trained and networked with their other satellite offices and local police, all working under a centralized headquarters somewhere in the city, or perhaps across the globe. One such example is Sweden's Securitas, a logo known throughout the West.A recent article followed Securitas and the year it has had[53][53][53][53]. According to the Association for Financial Professionals, Securitas experienced "a sharp rise in profits for 2015 amid an increased threat of terrorism and the European migrant crisis."Net profit for the full-year rose by 18 percent to 2.44 billion kronor (258 million euros, $288 million), or eight percent excluding currency effects.Sales climbed by 15 percent to 80.8 billion kronor.In Europe, sales rose by eight percent to 37.5 billion for 2015 and by 11 percent in the fourth quarter, bolstered by the November 13 attacks in Paris and the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants in Europe.The company earnings report cites the increased need for security services owed to terrorism alerts and the refugee situation has impacted organic sales growth in Western Europe, mostly in countries like France, Belgium, Germany and Sweden. They also reported a similar rise in Turkey, a country which has welcomed around two million Syrian refugees and saw numerous terrorist attacks within the last year. Securitas also saw a 24 percent increase in North American sales, as well.Securitas isn't alone, however. Spain's Prosegur has a healthy share of the European public security market along with an American based security firm G4S. G4S started becoming more known for its role as the principal security provider for the 2012 London Summer Olympics, a significant role ever since the Munich massacre where eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were killed. They have also been called by some the largest company you've never heard of[54][54][54][54], since they maintain the third largest corporate workforce of any company Earth (660,000 employees) and are considered (loosely) by some to be the largest private military that has ever existed.[55][55][55][55]While training for you and me will be mandated behavior to attempt to control and mitigate threats, and very large, very structured private security companies will provide for the broader public to help prevent the dangers, another tier of security will create a phenomenon never before seen - the million dollar bodyguard.High Value Body Guards and Military ContractorsExecutive security is the industry of protection for VIP and High Value Individuals. While this includes those who specialize in shuttling primped up primadonna starlets like Justin Beiber from show to show, unharassed by throngs of fans, there is a much deeper need for experienced, battle ready security teams.Due to the attention grabbing nature of these massive catastrophes, many other acts of overt criminal activities have grown in practice, but go relatively unnoticed by those not engaged in foreign policy news. First among these is the threat of kidnapping. While assassination or general acts of terror surely rank high on the list, kidnapping has a special role to play in the story of international chaos that exists today and which will continue in the future.To understand why this is, one needs to understand how criminal empires and murder crazed caliphates primarily get funding. According to documents discovered following a raid of a prominent ISIS leader[56][56][56][56], the organization is funded massively through the use of kidnapping with the purpose of ransom. CNN and Business Insider investigate further to show the staggering amounts of money generated by these tactics[57][57][57][57] and the rationale for why the act of kidnapping is really such a good idea for such criminal and terrorist organizations.[58][58][58][58]The kidnapping of Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa rattled the international press for this reason. This time, however, it wasn't for the sheer barbarity that their fellow news agents were experiencing, (those attempting to report the news in the region are a favorite flavor of victim for the Islamic State, along with female humanitarian aid workers [59][59][59][59]) but the magnitude of the ransom being demanded. The Islamic State demanded of the government of Japan $200 million for their safe return. Like so many others, this negotiation broke down and both were eventually beheaded in brutal fashion.ISIS' rationale seems similar to other terror groups: Kidnappings help raise money and, if ransoms aren't paid, make a point, such as the groups are not to be messed with and even civilians are in danger.$200 million is sizable demand and one which could drastically help fund the operations of the terrorist organization, which is currently already expanding its reach internationally as its borders shrink locally. While these two did not turn a profit, others did. The French have denied that they have paid ransoms[60][60][60][60], but according to a New York Times Report[61][61][61][61]they succeeded in buying back the freedom of kidnapped Frenchman from the Islamic State from ISIS. A second group working for a french nuclear firm were also freed by an al Qaeda affiliate in return for money. In perhaps the greatest coup for the terrorist state, 49 captives of Turkish origin were returned, seemingly for no reason at all to Ankara. Those following the report, myself among them, strongly suspect a major payoff for their safe and uneventful return[62][62][62][62]. There are other reports of three hundred Christians being charged more than $30 million for their release. One victim gave in an interview with New York Magazine that his captors forced him to call his family and a friend while he was being tortured, in hopes that his anguished screams would move them to pay the ransom money.[63][63][63][63][64][64][64][64]“We were blindfolded and chained, and every day they would torture us,” he said. “They would come in, one at a time, and electrocute us or beat us with anything they could find.”“But they didn’t kill me because they wanted to ransom me. One time, they made me speak to my family on the phone as they were electrocuting me. Then, they made me call a friend, who told them he would pay.”However, the practice of criminal kidnapping for profit is not limited to the ISIS threat. Moving to the Gulf of Aden and Somalia in one last example, one only has to recount the story of Captain Phillips. [65][65][65][65]There, Somali pirates attempted to take an American vessel hostage along with its crew. This practice has become common in the narrow straits between Iran and the Horn of Africa. Massive ships with massive shipments worth billions are capable of attracting huge payouts to the pirates and the warlords who control them from the mostly European companies who control them. In the case of Phillips, though, the problem wasn't solved by a financial transaction so much so as the extremely potent delivery of precision fire from the muzzle of US Navy SEAL Snipers.Regardless of the success of the Phillips case, piracy and kidnapping for ransom are not going away. In fact, seeing the financial and propaganda potential for such violations, the value of making such attacks has prompted many, many more. This, perhaps, has only been exacerbated by the American shift in policy that some would say encourages the practice by providing a means for private individuals to pay the ransoms of their friends and families, thus encouraging more like kind kidnappings.Having said all of this, it is no longer safe for most Westerners to travel to the Middle East, and the growing troubles of the region are only spreading more and more throughout the Islamic world, as millions sympathetic to the ideals of the Al Qaeda and the Islamic State begin to copy their tactics and methods. Still, people still have business to do, so Westerners are still going to go there. This leads to the need for private military contractors (PMCs).Mention of the practice of PMCs is one that elicits fear and suspicion in most people unfamiliar with how they are actually used. Often, they can't be mentioned without imaginations of secret mercenary black helicopter events and Orwellian fears of off the books private armies. In all honesty, very few such companies are used for anything other than bodyguards for individuals of extremely high value in the region, rather than elite soldiers willing to kill for the highest dollar. The US State department often contracts with these companies to provide a greater level of security than they can do otherwise with the military for their foreign dignitaries and ambassadors, and the CIA for their foreign case officers. This is outlined well in the opening chapters of the new book 13 Hours - The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi. The book begins by detailing the lives of the contractors involved, both professional and personal. All of those in the book possessed varied military experience, some US Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and Marines. They may have in their experience sets Master's Degrees in Criminal Justice, stints as the local police chief, or run warrants as bail bondsmen, and PIs stateside. Other PMCs may come from more diverse backgrounds; internationals with the French Foreign Legion, British SAS, and any number of other places and backgrounds. When I was deployed to Iraq, one team which frequented our Entry Control Point in Al Anbar Province had team members that came from as far off as South Africa, Romania, and Singapore, lead by an English Special Air Service soldier.For the CIA and State Department, the go to is the Global Response Staff, an open secret of an organization created after the attacks on September 11th, 2001. The GRS gathers together teams of the best and most experienced operators from within the United States military with the knowledge and experience to be able to covertly guard its most valuable assets anywhere on the globe. What distinguishes these individuals from the common military they appear to be is the benefits package. Some PMCs today take in over $150,000 annually for their work overseas, on average, around three to five times what they could have expected in any given military career doing much harder work. Why they are useful is their flexibility and potency. Small teams deployed to a city can easily intertwine with the area, and adapt to cover any target that needs their level of protection. They can do this, however, without the massive overhead of the slow moving US military and sticking out like a sore thumb in places where Americans already have a hard enough time blending in. While these men (and women) and their skills don't come cheap, they come without the prohibitive costs of deploying an entire unit of Marines or Army soldiers, which could rank in the millions, assuming an entire base doesn't need to built for the task.As Benghazi itself showed, the need for these individuals does still exist, and the threat of kidnapping, assassination, extortion, and any number of nefarious concerns may confront high value individuals at any time. This is why operators, such as those working with the Global Response Staff or other private military contractors will be in extremely high demand by foreign dignitaries of all nations, local government leaders, spies, journalists, and corporate executives who travel abroad, all doing business in places where business has to be done. These are the types of people who don't want to be recorded in orange jumpsuits, a propaganda tool for murder fiends across the world. What this also means is that over the next twenty years, PMC operators of every brand and color will be in such high demand that they pop up literally everywhere important people can be seen in places where bad things often happen. What's more, many will be more than the sum of high paid former Special Forces operators. They will be homegrown and specialized to their tasks through courses like the various Executive Protection[66][66][66][66][67][67][67][67] courses that exist and under instruction by companies such as the American security services training company Academi[68][68][68][68]or the European Security Academy[69][69][69][69]. Both of these firms provide, alongside their training, mission support in the form of human resources, planning, and operational support. Remember that these people aren't accountants, get creative and realize that that means more or less exactly what you think it does.The big change we will see as a result of this will be rather undemocratic shift in politics across the world. As the means of terrorism continues to grow, the need for higher and higher priced body guards to handle the threat will make some very rich people very safe, while leaving many others with little more than a prayer. In the end, expect to never see another photo again of any person of worth in a critical conflict area of the world without a dedicated staff of very skilled warfighters at their sides and at the ready.Of course, this causes us to ask a very important question, where are all these extremely well paid and well trained operators going to come from?National DefenseAs mentioned before, the vast majority of contractors trace their roots to service with the US military, or the militaries where their company operates. The cream rises to the top, so the best contracts are awarded to those with proven success and training, namely to services like the Navy SEALs, Army Delta Forces, Rangers, or the United States Marine Corps infantry, particularly any of these with experience in combat. Less prestige and pay may be warranted to someone of non-combat military jobs, police officers, and security specialists, and the lowest level bids will likely go to local militia and hired gunman. It must always be remembered, though, that the demand will always come for those elite operators, the Special Forces team members of the US military's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).Like any industry built on recruiting the best of a different industry, the first, which expends all the resources to make those operators so valuable, suffers the long term effects of the brain drain. It will be the US military that foots the bill, paying for years, sometimes decades, of training into making civilians into the most lethal warriors on the planet. During their times in, they will amount to the tip of the spear, deploying with units like the SEALs, Marine Raiders, and Army Rangers, to conduct missions in the service of the United States. They will face dangers no one else in the world could handle, able to push through with only the value of the extensive training hours they have logged, the teams they learned to be a part of, and the massive logistical behemoth at their back. As a friend of mine would say, "They are the Dudes of Dudes."At some point though, many just get done with all that. Perhaps they just want to do something else with their life. Underwater basic weaving, maybe. Or crochet. These dudes have enough man cards racked up from 12 years in the SEALs to become professional crochet artists if they want. Many want to retire to their families, while some see the reality that, if they take the PMC jobs, they will experience a better lifestyle with far better pay than the military could ever provide, easier missions, and less chance of death or maiming. It needs to be understood that Benghazi was a freak event. From 2009 to 2012 only 5 members of the Global Response Staff were killed[70][70][70][70]. During the same time 1,808 Americans troops lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan .[71][71][71][71] This includes events like Operation Red Wings, the largest single loss to the US Navy SEALs in its history, when four SEALs on advanced recon were attacked, killing three and a quick reaction force helicopter sent to in to rescue them id was shot down with a rocket propelled grenade, killing all eight Navy SEALs and all eight U.S. Army Special Operations aviators on board.[72][72][72][72]Quite frankly, I wouldn't blame anyone for hanging up the uniform at that point, and it is a wonder why so many of them still don't. But many do, for all the reasons listed before.Now it's important to think about what this means to the military as a whole. The military's job, be it Marines, Army, Navy, or Air Force, are to be the strong arm of American diplomacy and the backbone of defense in NATO. Over the last fifty years, however, we have seen the military reduce in strength, rather drastically, to the point that today we have fewer active duty military than we did prior to the start of World War II.[73][73][73][73]Moreover, the prevailing strategy over the last thirty years has been to obliterate the enemy using advanced weaponry and devastatingly superior technology. The problem we've seen, however, is that the military is proving more and more often to be under equipped to handle the manpower requirements necessary to successfully pacify an occupied territory such as Iraq or Afghanistan, let alone both. Regardless of the number of drones we have in the air, without boots on the ground, we simply don't have enough men to keep the peace. This is particularly true when we consider expending and $80,000 missile on a $200,000 bombing run to kill two insurgents in a tent a sustainable wartime strategy. [74][74][74][74]Instead, the United States has centered its focus on Special Warfare, creating units whose primary focus is in black ops intervention and direct action operations. These forces are truly lethal, the creme of the crop in every sense of the word. They are, as they say, the point of the spear. The problem is, they are only one small point, and not capable of being everywhere at once. For an example, the SEALs are who everyone talks about. For as much as they are mentioned the US Navy SEAL community only has about 2,500 active duty members[75][75][75][75]. There is a reason they are special. Of the three hundred million Americans, almost none of them have what it takes, including the physical desire just to do it, that is required to be a part of these elite teams. This is also why we can't just train to be like them[76][76][76][76]. Of those who try, more than 80% will fail, and according to Marcus Luttrell, the subject of the book Lone Survivor, more candidates die in training than do active duty SEALs in combat.[77][77][77][77]It takes a very special person to even consider joining up with the SEALs, but the problem is, there just simply don't seem to be enough special people to accomplish the missions which are placed on the nation's special warfare community. There is a real need for a larger presence on the ground, which given the direction of the American military back towards an isolationist point, doesn't exist in the numbers needed either.Considering this, if the military is getting smaller and smaller, focusing more of its efforts into the actions of very small, very elite units, and those units are the primary source for private military contractors, it lends one to really consider the threat the PMCs have on the standing military. For the last 7o years, the US military has been the go-to force for international peacekeeping and creating security, protecting international sea lanes, and ensuring that diplomatic efforts stay open. In that time, and despite the constant "If it Bleeds, It Leads" sensationalist news to the contrary, the world has become a pretty awesome place. There are fewer violent deaths, fewer deaths from disease, fewer wars, and increased wealth across the globe. Look at this graph. It's a nice graph. Do yourself a solid and realize that Coca-cola and the Kardashians didn't cause this. Globalization did, and globalization doesn't happen without someone ensuring everyone playing the game is playing by a minimum acceptable set of behaviors.That job of "globo-cop", in the words of Ian Morris in his book War - What is it Good For? Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots, has traditionally fallen on the Americans. Now considering that the world's current state of relative peace is reliant on a strong force to serve as its backbone[78][78][78][78], what happens when the backbone of world order is weakened, or removed altogether?When that backbone, in this case the US military, is suffering from attrition both in the form of budgetary cutbacks in a belief that it can get by with replacing thinking soldiers with more advanced, but ultimately fewer remote controlled or autonomous systems[79][79][79][79], as it continues to pull back it's overseas holdings[80][80][80][80] and is constantly being cannibalized by the United States' own State Department, CIA, and numerous multinational corporations to provide for their own security needs, where does that put the rest of the world?Focusing on the PMCs, when the highest order performers, in this case the Special Forces operators, no longer provide the kind of support often needed of people with their skillsets, but instead act as a force of protection for VIPs, they are not fulfilling their true potential or carrying the burden the world needs of them. They babysit high value targets rather than killing terrorists and dethroning evil regimes. Instead of getting things done and making peace, they simply serve as a force ensuring peace for those they work for. I want to be clear, I have nothing but respect for these men, and everyone should feel free to enjoy life and pursue happiness, but one has to ask if this path the United States is setting itself on will make for a very, very ugly world twenty years down the line when the best of the best simply aren't where the world needs them anymore.Quite frankly, this story is already starting to play itself out. Military .com posted a review of the United States Army where an industry think tank warned the service was "weak" and incapable of performing the necessary role of sustained conflict in two theaters. [81][81][81][81]Add to this a recent Gallop Poll asking asking if Americans still had faith in their military. The results weren't good.[82][82][82][82]The answer is increasingly 'no,' according to a new Gallup poll. Last year the number of Americans who thought they were protected by the world's strongest military was 59 percent, but this year that number has dropped to 49 percent – the lowest figure in the 23 years Gallup has recorded the trend.While polls are only polls, it does point to a very disturbing trend. People are losing respect for the United States military, and when the world's most important enforcer of global security is no longer respected, one has to wonder what the next twenty years are going to look like. Quite frankly, the United States will be fine. We won't see any existential threats to our way of life any time soon, but the rest of the world may not be so lucky without us. The Middle East, as I have made abundantly clear, is only getting worse as the United States continues to remove itself from the region. Their conflicts are spreading through North Africa and now into Europe and India. Russia is starting to pick up the slack, for better or worse, but their track record for making the world a better place within their shadow is abysmal at best. Perhaps China? Since they have shown little ever to provide security to any foriegn counterparts in spite of their massive military, I don't see security happening outside of the private sites they lease from host countries. Also considering their increasing internal struggles to balance unnatural growth expectations with a workforce growing more demanding every year, and older at the same rate, I doubt they will ever be able to truly challenge American hegemony in the next century. So if no one is capable of ensuring the kind of peace we have grown to expect up to today, what can we expect of tomorrow?I'm not one to usually give into pessimistic fears, but if you want to start getting scared, I wouldn't blame you. The next twenty years are going to get a lot more volatile, and in many places very dangerous. Those who will fare the best will be those who can accept the danger and create a plan to mitigate it.The Black SwanThe last leg of this answer to, "What are the biggest ways in which the world 20 years from now will probably be different from today?" is the Black Swan.Black Swan events, as defined by the guy who proposed their theory are thus:The disproportionate role of high-profile, hard-to-predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and technology.The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using scientific methods (owing to the very nature of small probabilities).The psychological biases that blind people, both individually and collectively, to uncertainty and to a rare event's massive role in historical affairs.This is the stuff no one saw coming that will, more or less, invalidate every prediction we have had so far. They are the agents of chaos, and the disorder in ordered states. They are events which cannot be predicted with ease, never predicted together, and barely explained even in hindsight, but which have monumental effects on the hereafter. They are the surprises God throws at us that both level and unlevel the playing fields as industries rise up out of nowhere, nations fall into memory, and cities crumble as the earth shakes. Consider technology, the surprise we all see coming, but no one guesses quite right. Technology is still growing at an exponential pace. Every day it continues to change the way we live, the way we communicate, and how we conduct business. The rise of social media, perhaps the most unexpected event of the last ten years, and the rise of cellular communications in general over the last twenty certainly fits the ticket. Unfortunately, as technology has become a tool which has empowered literally billions of people into a better, more enlightened and more productive life, so too has it empowered millions of others to pursue their own interests at the detriment of everyone else. Twitter, something that was only founded exactly 10 years to this month helped spur revolution in states like Libya and Syria. Of course, now it also serves as a recruiting tool for Islamic State radicals. Drones, the weapons that were only in their infancy during my first deployment to Iraq, are now toys for children and delivery tools for Amazon. Of course, they too have a dark side which many, many already fear.For that reason, from Swarm of Things to Human Augmentation, Crowd-sourcing to Autonomous vehicles, 3D Printing to Genetic Engineering, the brave new world we are all ready to embrace will empower those of ill-aims so greatly that only an equally aggressive improvement in the means by which we secure our safety, both bodily and the information about us, will ensure the dream of tomorrow the builder's of this technology wish to provide today.Beyond technology, Black Swans are the wills of billions of people; competing, converging, colliding. Nearly all you will never meet, but a few of which, will shape your future.A Black Swan is former fighter of the Soviet Union, setting his sights on his former ally.[83][83][83][83]Black Swans are are planes filled with people crashing into buildings on a clear day in September, and from the visceral reaction, war in two nations erupts.As those wars drug on, the Black Swan was an angry and deeply confused young Army private, with a desire to punish the world. He let slip the largest stockpile of military secrets in history. Some were secrets of the United States, but more importantly was what we had learned of everyone else.In the aftermath, a Black Swan was a wave of democratic energy and revolution. Spurred by the leaks, and the revelations about their dictators, millions went to the streets demanding reform.Amidst the cheering, the sounds of bullets rang out and three civil wars began.In the void that arose, one of these saw the Blackest of Swans, a resurrected medieval empire of hate rising from the desert sands to engulf and overwhelm the Levant.In the terror it brought millions set to flight, many overwhelming Europe.And terror following them in.Those of us alive in 1996 remember that time before the towers fell and not a single one could have predicted any of this. Then we lived in a world of plenty where we were all still cheering the fall of the last evil empire which crumbled when its reach was greater than its capabilities. We were building relationships and the world was going closer together. "They were simpler times," is something old ones always say of when they were young, but looking back to the last two decades, do we not all feel old now? Who, in their most honest self could have predicted any of the events of chaos which bears fruit only to more chaos like it? Who standing back before would have suspected a future like we have seen in his next 20 years?What we can be sure of is that not everything will turn out as we hope. Change will come, but not like we expect. We can't turn away from it. It's coming whether we like it or not. And as soon as think we have it all figured out, a black swan will swoop down to remind us how little foresight we had. This post isn't meant to scare or to paint a dark cloud on the future because of a few of the nightmares that exist today. It is simply a reminder that the unexpected is a factor, and that running from it, or being afraid of it, we need to prepare for it. The best we can do is prepare. Learn the threats that exist today and prepare as best we can so that when change come, we... you, me, us, are able to embrace it. Only those who build their houses on solid rock will weather the coming storms or terror, hacking, disasters, cyberware, and the dark abyss of humanity behind a mask of anonymity and a jihadist's mask. Don't be afraid. I'm sure, exactly because of all the answers which existed to this question, that the world of tomorrow will be as a utopia to the one I live in today, but only if we are collectively prepared for the changes utopia brings along the way. That's why, above all else, those who look to their own security, their adaptability, and their capacity to embrace change and endure disruption... they will be the x factor in the next 20 years.For more answers like this, check out Global Outlook and follow my blog War Elephant for more new content.Thank you for reading, seriously. You've probably wondered why I would bother writing a 16,000 word essay on every terrible thing that could happen in the next twenty years. Well, obviously, it's for the money. Whether this answer is viewed as the most enlightened of the 100+ answers so far, I can only hope. That said, I appreciate the Open Philanthropy Project for giving me the place the reason to record my thoughts for all of you now, regardless of whether it makes it to the top or not.That said, I wanted to write on this subject in particular, is a matter of background. I am a Marine, honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps in 2008. My primary military occupational specialty was Tactical Data Network Specialist and this was the role I carried on my first tour in Iraq in 2005 along with my second in 2007.My job centered on building and maintaining the information network with which mission critical information and communications were carried out. Our responsibility was to ensure that that data network was secure from outside threats both physical and through our network. I maintained my base's SIPRnet that is discussed over and over in the Manning case. We knew the information was critical, mission-important and not necessary for the general public at their malls. Below, you'll see what were effectively my area of operations during 2005. Yeah, starting to see why I care so much about internet and military security so specifically now?Since leaving active duty, I went to college and became a writer. It is through writing that my greatest achievements have been realized. I've met people I never thought I would and learned lessons I never would have imagined. In that time, I've focused on educating others about the military. From Iraq to what it was like and what it means to be a military veteran, there was so much that needed to be understood. In doing this, I've learned a great deal about the conflicts of our world and the dangers we face. Since growing to understand all of this, it's been a personal mission of mine to explain all of this to as many as will listen. That said, it's also been among the great joys of my life to build and be a part of a community dedicated to understanding the world, its dangers, and bravely pushing through to live in the world we all want so badly. That said, there is another reason why I have been writing so hard this last week.A few months ago, my wife peed on a stick and now my life is going to change forever.This is my son Alex, and in July we look forward to introducing him to all of you. That said, because I am about to be a dad, this could be one of my last posts like this where I get to drive my focus towards a single massive project, eating away my time for the benefit of others. A good dad has to provide a future and sharing knowledge pro bono, while an endless source of self-fulfillment, doesn't give Alex the life I want him to have. I've been very lucky where I work to be able give time to my second profession. Where do I work? I'm a teaching paraprofessional in Oklahoma. I work with the kids at our school who make bad choices. In my room they mentorship and discipline, learning to write essays and pick up trash in the way only an obsessive compulsive Marine writer could make them.That said, being a teacher, let alone a paraprofessional teacher, isn't all that great. The benefits don't provide much, and the pay is terrible. According to the Washington Post, Oklahoma ranks 48th this year in Teacher Pay at about $44,000 a year[84][84][84][84]. Yeah, and as a para... I can expect about a quarter of that. Did I mention that my wife is also a teacher? If you would like to know what it is like for our house take a look at the title of this little gem: Superintendent: Budget Cuts ‘Worst Financial Crisis To OK Schools In Decades’.That said, the last real chance for me to keep writing projects like this is to appeal to people like you. Over the last year and a half, I have been submitting my work through the crowdsourcing website Patreon. If you follow me, you've probably seen my little at the bottom asking you to pledge to my campaign. My supporters have literally changed my life and allowed me to do projects I never would have imagined, all the way up to the point where I was finally able to write my own book The Next Warrior. Still, if want to give my son the life I really want, I need more. That's why I'm going full mercenary, and writing one of my longest answers ever, just to get your attention. If you really like my submissions, I really need your help.This is a link to my Patreon Support Page: Jon Davis is creating A Military Sci-Fi Novel, Articles, and Essays. Here you can pledge any amount you like and every time I submit an article, post, or chapter to one of my books, you'll donate that amount to the Jonathan Alexander Davis College Fund and/or Leaky Roof Trust. There is also a monthly maximum that you can elect to make, so you don't have to worry about me writing fifty articles at a time. The only ones that make Patreon are big articles... kind of like this one.By supporting me, you also support others. 20% of my donations go to other Patreon users as well, namely other veterans like me. So a donation to me helps others veteran artists as they grow, cope, and share their own experiences with the rest of the world. So once again here's that link: (PS - Baby/Veteran/Poor Teacher - needs your help) Jon Davis is creating A Military Sci-Fi Novel, Articles, and Essays.That said, If you're reading this far, I'm sure you've already upvoted, by the way (cough). All kidding aside and with deepest sincerity, I enjoyed every minute of the research and writing that went into it, and hope each and every one of you enjoyed it too. Thank you for reading and sharing.Semper Fidelis,Jon DavisFootnotes[1] Total number of Websites[1] Total number of Websites[1] Total number of Websites[1] Total number of Websites[2] Meet Comex, The 19-Year-Old iPhone Uber-Hacker Who Keeps Outsmarting Apple[2] Meet Comex, The 19-Year-Old iPhone Uber-Hacker Who Keeps Outsmarting Apple[2] Meet Comex, The 19-Year-Old iPhone Uber-Hacker Who Keeps Outsmarting Apple[2] Meet Comex, The 19-Year-Old iPhone Uber-Hacker Who Keeps Outsmarting Apple[3] Hacker Says He Can Hijack a $35K Police Drone a Mile Away[3] Hacker Says He Can Hijack a $35K Police Drone a Mile Away[3] Hacker Says He Can Hijack a $35K Police Drone a Mile Away[3] Hacker Says He Can Hijack a $35K Police Drone a Mile Away[4] Cyber Security Is BIG Business[4] Cyber Security Is BIG Business[4] Cyber Security Is BIG Business[4] Cyber Security Is BIG Business[5] Microsoft Shores Up Its Cyberattack Defenses[5] Microsoft Shores Up Its Cyberattack Defenses[5] Microsoft Shores Up Its Cyberattack Defenses[5] Microsoft Shores Up Its Cyberattack Defenses[6] Gamergate controversy[6] Gamergate controversy[6] Gamergate controversy[6] Gamergate controversy[7] Tifa's Breasts Too Big for the FF7 Remake?[7] Tifa's Breasts Too Big for the FF7 Remake?[7] Tifa's Breasts Too Big for the FF7 Remake?[7] Tifa's Breasts Too Big for the FF7 Remake?[8] Online disinhibition effect[8] Online disinhibition effect[8] Online disinhibition effect[8] Online disinhibition effect[9] Penny Arcade[9] Penny Arcade[9] Penny Arcade[9] Penny Arcade[10] The Long Term Effects of Bullying[10] The Long Term Effects of Bullying[10] The Long Term Effects of Bullying[10] The Long Term Effects of Bullying[11] Page on None[11] Page on None[11] Page on None[11] Page on None[12] The Only Thing I Have To Say About Gamer Gate[12] The Only Thing I Have To Say About Gamer Gate[12] The Only Thing I Have To Say About Gamer Gate[12] The Only Thing I Have To Say About Gamer Gate[13] Page on krebsonsecurity.com[13] Page on krebsonsecurity.com[13] Page on krebsonsecurity.com[13] Page on krebsonsecurity.com[14] Verona teen sentenced to year in prison for online attack of Scientology[14] Verona teen sentenced to year in prison for online attack of Scientology[14] Verona teen sentenced to year in prison for online attack of Scientology[14] Verona teen sentenced to year in prison for online attack of Scientology[15] How Anonymous Turned Occupy Wall Street From A Fledgling Movement Into A Meme[15] How Anonymous Turned Occupy Wall Street From A Fledgling Movement Into A Meme[15] How Anonymous Turned Occupy Wall Street From A Fledgling Movement Into A Meme[15] How Anonymous Turned Occupy Wall Street From A Fledgling Movement Into A Meme[16] Anonymous hackers turn fire on global paedophile menace[16] Anonymous hackers turn fire on global paedophile menace[16] Anonymous hackers turn fire on global paedophile menace[16] Anonymous hackers turn fire on global paedophile menace[17] ‘You’re a virus, we’re the cure’: Anonymous takes down 20,000 ISIS Twitter accounts[17] ‘You’re a virus, we’re the cure’: Anonymous takes down 20,000 ISIS Twitter accounts[17] ‘You’re a virus, we’re the cure’: Anonymous takes down 20,000 ISIS Twitter accounts[17] ‘You’re a virus, we’re the cure’: Anonymous takes down 20,000 ISIS Twitter accounts[18] Anonymous claims to have stopped its first terror attack[18] Anonymous claims to have stopped its first terror attack[18] Anonymous claims to have stopped its first terror attack[18] Anonymous claims to have stopped its first terror attack[19] 'Anonymous' hacker quits, calls group's members hypocrites and its efforts fruitless[19] 'Anonymous' hacker quits, calls group's members hypocrites and its efforts fruitless[19] 'Anonymous' hacker quits, calls group's members hypocrites and its efforts fruitless[19] 'Anonymous' hacker quits, calls group's members hypocrites and its efforts fruitless[20] Tech Tuesday: Considering the (Frightening) Power of the Virtual Lynch Mob[20] Tech Tuesday: Considering the (Frightening) Power of the Virtual Lynch Mob[20] Tech Tuesday: Considering the (Frightening) Power of the Virtual Lynch Mob[20] Tech Tuesday: Considering the (Frightening) Power of the Virtual Lynch Mob[21] Just how many people have been Hacked? -[21] Just how many people have been Hacked? -[21] Just how many people have been Hacked? -[21] Just how many people have been Hacked? -[22] 5 takeaways from Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report[22] 5 takeaways from Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report[22] 5 takeaways from Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report[22] 5 takeaways from Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report[23] 5 takeaways from Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report[23] 5 takeaways from Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report[23] 5 takeaways from Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report[23] 5 takeaways from Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report[24] This Big U.S. Health Insurer Just Got Hacked[25] Anthem: Hacked Database Included 78.8 Million People[26] Hack Brief: Hackers Steal 15M T-Mobile Customers’ Data From Experian[27] Scottrade suffers hack; 4.6M customers notified of breach | ZDNet[28] CVS Photo website might have been hacked[29] Trump hotels hacked, credit card data at risk[30] Hacking of Tax Returns More Extensive Than First Reported, I.R.S. Says[30] Hacking of Tax Returns More Extensive Than First Reported, I.R.S. Says[30] Hacking of Tax Returns More Extensive Than First Reported, I.R.S. Says[30] Hacking of Tax Returns More Extensive Than First Reported, I.R.S. Says[31] The spies behind your screen[31] The spies behind your screen[31] The spies behind your screen[31] The spies behind your screen[32] Hacking Team broke Bitcoin secrecy by targeting crucial wallet file[32] Hacking Team broke Bitcoin secrecy by targeting crucial wallet file[32] Hacking Team broke Bitcoin secrecy by targeting crucial wallet file[32] Hacking Team broke Bitcoin secrecy by targeting crucial wallet file[33] A Detailed Look at Hacking Team’s Emails About Its Repressive Clients[33] A Detailed Look at Hacking Team’s Emails About Its Repressive Clients[33] A Detailed Look at Hacking Team’s Emails About Its Repressive Clients[33] A Detailed Look at Hacking Team’s Emails About Its Repressive Clients[34] American Gets Targeted by Digital Spy Tool Sold to Foreign Governments[34] American Gets Targeted by Digital Spy Tool Sold to Foreign Governments[34] American Gets Targeted by Digital Spy Tool Sold to Foreign Governments[34] American Gets Targeted by Digital Spy Tool Sold to Foreign Governments[35] Cyber Warfare | RAND[35] Cyber Warfare | RAND[35] Cyber Warfare | RAND[35] Cyber Warfare | RAND[36] PLA Unit 61398[36] PLA Unit 61398[36] PLA Unit 61398[36] PLA Unit 61398[37] As federal agency reels from massive data breach, Chinese hackers blamed | ZDNet[37] As federal agency reels from massive data breach, Chinese hackers blamed | ZDNet[37] As federal agency reels from massive data breach, Chinese hackers blamed | ZDNet[37] As federal agency reels from massive data breach, Chinese hackers blamed | ZDNet[38] The Massive OPM Hack Actually Hit 21 Million People[38] The Massive OPM Hack Actually Hit 21 Million People[38] The Massive OPM Hack Actually Hit 21 Million People[38] The Massive OPM Hack Actually Hit 21 Million People[39] OPM Now Admits 5.6m Feds’ Fingerprints Were Stolen By Hackers[39] OPM Now Admits 5.6m Feds’ Fingerprints Were Stolen By Hackers[39] OPM Now Admits 5.6m Feds’ Fingerprints Were Stolen By Hackers[39] OPM Now Admits 5.6m Feds’ Fingerprints Were Stolen By Hackers[40] http://www.newsweek.com/russian-hackers-shut-ukraine-power-grid-415751[40] http://www.newsweek.com/russian-hackers-shut-ukraine-power-grid-415751[40] http://www.newsweek.com/russian-hackers-shut-ukraine-power-grid-415751[40] http://www.newsweek.com/russian-hackers-shut-ukraine-power-grid-415751[41] Information Warfare: The 50 Ruble Army[41] Information Warfare: The 50 Ruble Army[41] Information Warfare: The 50 Ruble Army[41] Information Warfare: The 50 Ruble Army[42] 50 Cent Party[42] 50 Cent Party[42] 50 Cent Party[42] 50 Cent Party[43] Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer (Video)[43] Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer (Video)[43] Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer (Video)[43] Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer (Video)[44] Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer (Video)[44] Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer (Video)[44] Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer (Video)[44] Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer (Video)[45] Todd Humphreys' Research Team Demonstrates First Successful GPS Spoofing of UAV[45] Todd Humphreys' Research Team Demonstrates First Successful GPS Spoofing of UAV[45] Todd Humphreys' Research Team Demonstrates First Successful GPS Spoofing of UAV[45] Todd Humphreys' Research Team Demonstrates First Successful GPS Spoofing of UAV[46] An Unprecedented Look at Stuxnet, the World’s First Digital Weapon[46] An Unprecedented Look at Stuxnet, the World’s First Digital Weapon[46] An Unprecedented Look at Stuxnet, the World’s First Digital Weapon[46] An Unprecedented Look at Stuxnet, the World’s First Digital Weapon[47] The Battle for Mosul Has Begun[47] The Battle for Mosul Has Begun[47] The Battle for Mosul Has Begun[47] The Battle for Mosul Has Begun[48] Cyber-warfare 'is growing threat'[48] Cyber-warfare 'is growing threat'[48] Cyber-warfare 'is growing threat'[48] Cyber-warfare 'is growing threat'[49] Navy Battles Cyber Threats: Thumb Drives, Wireless Hacking, & China[49] Navy Battles Cyber Threats: Thumb Drives, Wireless Hacking, & China[49] Navy Battles Cyber Threats: Thumb Drives, Wireless Hacking, & China[49] Navy Battles Cyber Threats: Thumb Drives, Wireless Hacking, & China[50] Page on ali-cle.org[50] Page on ali-cle.org[50] Page on ali-cle.org[50] Page on ali-cle.org[51] It’s Not Just Paris: From Nigeria to Egypt, 10 of 2015’s Worst Terrorist Attacks[51] It’s Not Just Paris: From Nigeria to Egypt, 10 of 2015’s Worst Terrorist Attacks[51] It’s Not Just Paris: From Nigeria to Egypt, 10 of 2015’s Worst Terrorist Attacks[51] It’s Not Just Paris: From Nigeria to Egypt, 10 of 2015’s Worst Terrorist Attacks[52] Jon Davis's answer to In reference to a 2015 Oregon mass shooting, Ben Carson said he would have rushed the shooter. Would rushing a shooter be a good option at any point?[52] Jon Davis's answer to In reference to a 2015 Oregon mass shooting, Ben Carson said he would have rushed the shooter. Would rushing a shooter be a good option at any point?[52] Jon Davis's answer to In reference to a 2015 Oregon mass shooting, Ben Carson said he would have rushed the shooter. Would rushing a shooter be a good option at any point?[52] Jon Davis's answer to In reference to a 2015 Oregon mass shooting, Ben Carson said he would have rushed the shooter. Would rushing a shooter be a good option at any point?[53] Terrorism fears secure profits for Sweden's Securitas[53] Terrorism fears secure profits for Sweden's Securitas[53] Terrorism fears secure profits for Sweden's Securitas[53] Terrorism fears secure profits for Sweden's Securitas[54] The Largest Company You've Never Heard Of: G4S And The London Olympics[54] The Largest Company You've Never Heard Of: G4S And The London Olympics[54] The Largest Company You've Never Heard Of: G4S And The London Olympics[54] The Largest Company You've Never Heard Of: G4S And The London Olympics[55] What's the largest private army in the world?[55] What's the largest private army in the world?[55] What's the largest private army in the world?[55] What's the largest private army in the world?[56] Jon Davis's answer to What are the most striking insights of the recently published ISIS Files?[56] Jon Davis's answer to What are the most striking insights of the recently published ISIS Files?[56] Jon Davis's answer to What are the most striking insights of the recently published ISIS Files?[56] Jon Davis's answer to What are the most striking insights of the recently published ISIS Files?[57] ISIS Is Making An Absurd Amount Of Money On Ransom Payments And Black-Market Oil Sales[57] ISIS Is Making An Absurd Amount Of Money On Ransom Payments And Black-Market Oil Sales[57] ISIS Is Making An Absurd Amount Of Money On Ransom Payments And Black-Market Oil Sales[57] ISIS Is Making An Absurd Amount Of Money On Ransom Payments And Black-Market Oil Sales[58] Huge ransom demand for Japan hostages raises questions[58] Huge ransom demand for Japan hostages raises questions[58] Huge ransom demand for Japan hostages raises questions[58] Huge ransom demand for Japan hostages raises questions[59] Kayla Mueller Helped Homeless Women, HIV Patients, War Victims[59] Kayla Mueller Helped Homeless Women, HIV Patients, War Victims[59] Kayla Mueller Helped Homeless Women, HIV Patients, War Victims[59] Kayla Mueller Helped Homeless Women, HIV Patients, War Victims[60] France denies paying ransom for al-Qaeda hostages[60] France denies paying ransom for al-Qaeda hostages[60] France denies paying ransom for al-Qaeda hostages[60] France denies paying ransom for al-Qaeda hostages[61] Held 3 Years, French Hostages Return Home[61] Held 3 Years, French Hostages Return Home[61] Held 3 Years, French Hostages Return Home[61] Held 3 Years, French Hostages Return Home[62] Turkey Obtains Release of Hostages Held in Iraq[62] Turkey Obtains Release of Hostages Held in Iraq[62] Turkey Obtains Release of Hostages Held in Iraq[62] Turkey Obtains Release of Hostages Held in Iraq[63] ISIS Tortured Christian Hostage Until Family Paid $80K Ransom[63] ISIS Tortured Christian Hostage Until Family Paid $80K Ransom[63] ISIS Tortured Christian Hostage Until Family Paid $80K Ransom[63] ISIS Tortured Christian Hostage Until Family Paid $80K Ransom[64] ISIS Demands $30 Million Ransom for Christian Hostages in Syria - Breitbart[64] ISIS Demands $30 Million Ransom for Christian Hostages in Syria - Breitbart[64] ISIS Demands $30 Million Ransom for Christian Hostages in Syria - Breitbart[64] ISIS Demands $30 Million Ransom for Christian Hostages in Syria - Breitbart[65] Jon Davis's answer to In Captain Phillips (2013 movie), Greengrass clearly seeks to elicit empathy for Muse and the Somali pirates. How are we supposed to feel about them by the end of the film? Are we supposed to feel bad for them?[65] Jon Davis's answer to In Captain Phillips (2013 movie), Greengrass clearly seeks to elicit empathy for Muse and the Somali pirates. How are we supposed to feel about them by the end of the film? Are we supposed to feel bad for them?[65] Jon Davis's answer to In Captain Phillips (2013 movie), Greengrass clearly seeks to elicit empathy for Muse and the Somali pirates. How are we supposed to feel about them by the end of the film? Are we supposed to feel bad for them?[65] Jon Davis's answer to In Captain Phillips (2013 movie), Greengrass clearly seeks to elicit empathy for Muse and the Somali pirates. How are we supposed to feel about them by the end of the film? Are we supposed to feel bad for them?[66] ESI \ Comprehensive Executive Protection Training[66] ESI \ Comprehensive Executive Protection Training[66] ESI \ Comprehensive Executive Protection Training[66] ESI \ Comprehensive Executive Protection Training[67] Executive Protection and Bodyguard Training[67] Executive Protection and Bodyguard Training[67] Executive Protection and Bodyguard Training[67] Executive Protection and Bodyguard Training[68] DCJS Executive Protection/ Personal Protection Specialist (32E)[68] DCJS Executive Protection/ Personal Protection Specialist (32E)[68] DCJS Executive Protection/ Personal Protection Specialist (32E)[68] DCJS Executive Protection/ Personal Protection Specialist (32E)[69] Home Page - European Security Academy[69] Home Page - European Security Academy[69] Home Page - European Security Academy[69] Home Page - European Security Academy[70] CIA’s Global Response Staff emerging from shadows after incidents in Libya and Pakistan[70] CIA’s Global Response Staff emerging from shadows after incidents in Libya and Pakistan[70] CIA’s Global Response Staff emerging from shadows after incidents in Libya and Pakistan[70] CIA’s Global Response Staff emerging from shadows after incidents in Libya and Pakistan[71] Operation Iraqi Freedom[71] Operation Iraqi Freedom[71] Operation Iraqi Freedom[71] Operation Iraqi Freedom[72] Operation Red Wings[72] Operation Red Wings[72] Operation Red Wings[72] Operation Red Wings[73] Defense Department to cut Army to pre-WW II size[73] Defense Department to cut Army to pre-WW II size[73] Defense Department to cut Army to pre-WW II size[73] Defense Department to cut Army to pre-WW II size[74] How much does one airstrike cost?[74] How much does one airstrike cost?[74] How much does one airstrike cost?[74] How much does one airstrike cost?[75] Jon Davis's answer to Why doesn't the US military just train every soldier like a Navy SEAL?[75] Jon Davis's answer to Why doesn't the US military just train every soldier like a Navy SEAL?[75] Jon Davis's answer to Why doesn't the US military just train every soldier like a Navy SEAL?[75] Jon Davis's answer to Why doesn't the US military just train every soldier like a Navy SEAL?[76] Jon Davis's answer to How do I train myself like a Navy Seal? What are the some of the practices a normal person can include in everyday life which can replicate the mind and body of a Navy Seal (meditation, workout, reading)?[76] Jon Davis's answer to How do I train myself like a Navy Seal? What are the some of the practices a normal person can include in everyday life which can replicate the mind and body of a Navy Seal (meditation, workout, reading)?[76] Jon Davis's answer to How do I train myself like a Navy Seal? What are the some of the practices a normal person can include in everyday life which can replicate the mind and body of a Navy Seal (meditation, workout, reading)?[76] Jon Davis's answer to How do I train myself like a Navy Seal? What are the some of the practices a normal person can include in everyday life which can replicate the mind and body of a Navy Seal (meditation, workout, reading)?[77] Marcus Luttrell, speaker New York, 1 of 2 / Operation Red Wings - Lone Survivor[77] Marcus Luttrell, speaker New York, 1 of 2 / Operation Red Wings - Lone Survivor[77] Marcus Luttrell, speaker New York, 1 of 2 / Operation Red Wings - Lone Survivor[77] Marcus Luttrell, speaker New York, 1 of 2 / Operation Red Wings - Lone Survivor[78] Jon Davis's answer to What would happen if the USA stopped trying to "police the world"? What effects would this have, economically and militarily, on the USA and other countries?[78] Jon Davis's answer to What would happen if the USA stopped trying to "police the world"? What effects would this have, economically and militarily, on the USA and other countries?[78] Jon Davis's answer to What would happen if the USA stopped trying to "police the world"? What effects would this have, economically and militarily, on the USA and other countries?[78] Jon Davis's answer to What would happen if the USA stopped trying to "police the world"? What effects would this have, economically and militarily, on the USA and other countries?[79] Robots May Replace One-Fourth Of U.S. Combat Soldiers By 2030, Says General[79] Robots May Replace One-Fourth Of U.S. Combat Soldiers By 2030, Says General[79] Robots May Replace One-Fourth Of U.S. Combat Soldiers By 2030, Says General[79] Robots May Replace One-Fourth Of U.S. Combat Soldiers By 2030, Says General[80] Will Marines be forced to leave Okinawa?[80] Will Marines be forced to leave Okinawa?[80] Will Marines be forced to leave Okinawa?[80] Will Marines be forced to leave Okinawa?[81] US Army Scores 'Weak' in Think Tank's Review of Military Power[81] US Army Scores 'Weak' in Think Tank's Review of Military Power[81] US Army Scores 'Weak' in Think Tank's Review of Military Power[81] US Army Scores 'Weak' in Think Tank's Review of Military Power[82] Why is America losing faith in its military?[82] Why is America losing faith in its military?[82] Why is America losing faith in its military?[82] Why is America losing faith in its military?[83] Jon Davis's answer to To what extent is Al-Qaeda a creation of the CIA?[83] Jon Davis's answer to To what extent is Al-Qaeda a creation of the CIA?[83] Jon Davis's answer to To what extent is Al-Qaeda a creation of the CIA?[83] Jon Davis's answer to To what extent is Al-Qaeda a creation of the CIA?[84] How much teachers get paid — state by state[84] How much teachers get paid — state by state[84] How much teachers get paid — state by state[84] How much teachers get paid — state by state