A brief but comprehensive introduction to business cybersecurity for tech newbs.
Business executives commonly find cybersecurity a daunting subject—complicated and gloomily obsessed with nightmarish catastrophe. Debut author Moschovitis, a professional cybersecurity analyst, provides a pragmatically minded and accessible primer on the subject that won’t transform readers into experts but will allow them to engage in informed conversations with those who are. The study proceeds without any assumptions of prior knowledge, beginning with a basic introduction to the nature of risk and how to assess it, what precisely needs protecting, what kinds of threats and defensive strategies are possible, and an overview of best practices and a means to measure success. And in case all that planning fails nevertheless, the author also discusses incident-response plans. Moschovitis helpfully includes a focus on the culture where such issues are bureaucratically managed and explains the place cybersecurity occupies within the overall IT ecosystem. He builds a running glossary over the course of the book—helping facilitate conversation between executive managers and their cybersecurity experts—and furnishes numerous case studies to illustrate his principal points. He approaches these terminological clarifications in the spirit with which the entire work is composed in an effort to produce the kind of “meaningful definition we can pin to our monitors, consult frequently, and easily understand.” Moschovitis has a talent for translating the technically inscrutable into plain, informal prose. Cybersecurity is a maddeningly complex subject, and he manages to provide a remarkably synoptic introduction with admirable concision. This is more than just a catalog of conceptual elucidations—the author also gives an account of the stakes in devising a cybersecurity strategy. In other words, he gives inexpert executives the necessary knowledge to make their own decisions about what counts as an acceptable risk and which assets are the companies’ most important and therefore in need of the most vigilant protection. Moschovitis does sometimes meander too far, and when he does, he is prone to precisely the kind of tedious, gratuitously technical prose he decries: “Governance is the collective set of principle-guided actions that when applied guide a company to the fulfillment of its goals.” The chief difficulty isn’t the writing, though it seems as if computer jargon has been replaced by equally banal business-management jargon. (Is there a set that isn’t “collective”?) The real problem here is that while executives might be wholly ignorant of the basic principles of cybersecurity, it’s unlikely they need a quick course in business administration as well. It’s probably safe to assume that the kind of senior staff tasked with managing cybersecurity concerns doesn’t need an explanation of governance, especially one so anodyne. Notwithstanding his tendency to overexplain, Moschovitis impressively achieves his intended goal—a comprehensive account of cybersecurity that makes intelligent strategic collaboration between experts and nonexperts possible.
A valuable resource for executives concerned with the protection of vital technological property.Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-119-42951-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: BUSINESS
Did you like this book?
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
Categories: BUSINESS | LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION | PSYCHOLOGY
Did you like this book?
An exploration of the importance of clarity through calmness in an increasingly fast-paced world.
Austin-based speaker and strategist Holiday (Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue, 2018, etc.) believes in downshifting one’s life and activities in order to fully grasp the wonder of stillness. He bolsters this theory with a wide array of perspectives—some based on ancient wisdom (one of the author’s specialties), others more modern—all with the intent to direct readers toward the essential importance of stillness and its “attainable path to enlightenment and excellence, greatness and happiness, performance as well as presence.” Readers will be encouraged by Holiday’s insistence that his methods are within anyone’s grasp. He acknowledges that this rare and coveted calm is already inside each of us, but it’s been worn down by the hustle of busy lives and distractions. Recognizing that this goal requires immense personal discipline, the author draws on the representational histories of John F. Kennedy, Buddha, Tiger Woods, Fred Rogers, Leonardo da Vinci, and many other creative thinkers and scholarly, scientific texts. These examples demonstrate how others have evolved past the noise of modern life and into the solitude of productive thought and cleansing tranquility. Holiday splits his accessible, empowering, and sporadically meandering narrative into a three-part “timeless trinity of mind, body, soul—the head, the heart, the human body.” He juxtaposes Stoic philosopher Seneca’s internal reflection and wisdom against Donald Trump’s egocentric existence, with much of his time spent “in his bathrobe, ranting about the news.” Holiday stresses that while contemporary life is filled with a dizzying variety of “competing priorities and beliefs,” the frenzy can be quelled and serenity maintained through a deliberative calming of the mind and body. The author shows how “stillness is what aims the arrow,” fostering focus, internal harmony, and the kind of holistic self-examination necessary for optimal contentment and mind-body centeredness. Throughout the narrative, he promotes that concept mindfully and convincingly.
A timely, vividly realized reminder to slow down and harness the restorative wonders of serenity.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-53858-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL BUSINESS | PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | SELF-HELP | BUSINESS | MOTIVATIONAL & PERSONAL SUCCESS
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2021 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
