Welcome to the Vigilant Violet blog!
Here you will find a wealth of information, inspiration, education, and actionable insights to help you take the next step in your information security career.
Identity Is the New Perimeter. We're Not Securing It Like One.
We designed access controls around human users. Then came service accounts, API keys, OAuth tokens, CI/CD pipeline credentials, AI agents with standing permissions to read your email and write to your systems. Suddenly you have an enormous non-human identity surface that's under-governed, over-privileged, and in most organizations — nobody's actually accountable for it. Identity is the new perimeter. We're not securing it like one.
Stop Managing "Resources”. How to Start Leading Humans
Math being math, the impact of a teacher is amplified and grows broadly. Teachers influence nations, change music, discover planets, and move economies.
From Promise to Preparedness: How to Secure AI and Keep Our Edge
GenAI is moving fast—faster than your risk register and definitely faster than your last governance meeting. Securing it isn’t just a tech puzzle; it’s a leadership challenge. In "Securing Generative AI: A Strategic Framework for Security Leaders," Pierre Mouallem lays out a solid foundation—but real-world security leaders know the real struggle isn’t in knowing what to do. It’s doing it at scale, under pressure, and without crushing the innovation we’re trying to protect. Let’s talk feasibility, friction, and what it really takes to get this right.
Noise Reduction: How to make Vulnerability Management a Real Threat Awareness Tool
Drowning in scanner alerts? You're not managing risk—you're babysitting noise.
Vulnerability scanners are just the start. Real security means going beyond alerts to validate what’s actually exploitable. Inspired by a sharp piece from Picus Security, this post dives into why CVSS scores and endless CVEs don’t tell the full story—and how exposure validation can turn chaos into clarity. Ready to shift from noise to nuance? Let’s go.
Why the Sum is Greater: Beyond the Footnote
I am the sum of my experiences. I am a leader, a builder, an adventurer, a mentor, a gardener, a runner, and a lifelong learner. Being transgender? It’s just a footnote.
Lean Forward: How to Navigate Career Changes During an Economic Crisis
Some say we are again in an employment bust cycle. For information technology, at least, the last couple of years have been hell for finding new work. As I look out at my peers and others I’ve worked with, I see two trends...