Origins of “The Magnificent Seven”
The Magnificent Seven is a 1960 western, based on The Seven Samurai. In it, a Mexican village is at the mercy of Calvera, the leader of a band of outlaws. Incapable of standing up to Calvera, the village hired seven American gunslingers to protect them during Calvera’s raids.
Over time, the professional gunmen . . . played by the greatest western actors of the time . . . realized that they would NEVER be able to truly protect all the citizens of the community, unless they taught the villagers to defend themselves.
And so you must always realize when digesting our M-7 that we place a much greater priority on “awareness” than most organizations. We believe the best defense against cyber attacks is not technology, but education.
And no, “Dan Hadaway” does not always refer to himself in the third person, or talk about what he has done as “we.” You see, I involve my whole team in helping us decide what the top seven trends are. That way I’ve cast the net over waters of the hardcore techies, those working with Information Security Officers regularly, those doing technical audits of small banks, those reviewing the policies and procedures of said banks, and then of course me, the guy who likes to make philosophy of it all!
And like the Magnificent Seven, we learned a long time ago that true security comes from doing-it-yourself. We have always found awareness training to be “9/11’s of the battle.”
Original article by Dan Hadaway CRISC CISA CISM. Founder and Managing Partner, infotex
