lensblog

My first month at ISA (Information Security Architects) draws to a close soon, and looking back at the past few weeks, I’m surprised at how the time has flown. Not that I’ve been so hectically busy that I never noticed the time, but rather that I’ve been engaged at a level that I haven’t experienced in a very long time.

Initially I was just supposed to get up to speed with F-Secure, their AV product range, and refresh my knowledge of Trend Micro as well, but seeing as we haven’t received many tickets for either set of products, I’ve kept myself occupied by jumping in the deep end with Checkpoint firewall support.

Well, not so much the support side of things just yet. Changes, I leave to those a little more qualified than I am, for the moment. No, my major task these past two weeks has been firewall log forensics. Breaking down thousands upon thousands of lines of logged events to spot trends, looking for attacks, potential network issues, etc.

I found it funny that I ended up using some of my old development tools in order to do so. SQL queries are amazing at breaking things down into manageable chunks of data…

I must admit, though, that I feel really stupid sometimes, having to ask my colleagues for advice all the time, but considering I haven’t yet gone on training for the product, I think I’m doing the best I can under the circumstances.

My other project has been building a MS ISA server for testing purposes, collecting browsing data for our Dev Team. And learning Websense again.

All in all, feeling a little overloaded, information-wise, but still enjoying it. The people at work are great, the environment is pleasant and I hardly notice the time there, in fact, I leave most evenings well after my finishing times. Mostly to miss traffic, but it’s also great to sit and chat with fellow geeks, play some pool, etc until such time as we all head our different ways.

For the first time in a long time, I feel at home in the IT industry again.

Well, I’ve survived my first week at the new company. No, survived is the wrong word, I think. Enjoyed, is a better choice.

Granted, I haven’t started any of the real hard work yet, rather, I’ve been studying their products, getting to know the staff, building my PC and subsequently my virtual PC’s to run and test the products.

I’ve been made to feel very welcome by all involved and have met some very interesting people. Amogst them, I’ve found some kindred spirits that share my passion for certain things in life: photography, esoteric studies, music, even gaming. It was very amusing to find that at least two of my colleagues are playing or have played World of Warcraft.

Next week the pace will increase somewhat… but I’m ready and looking forward to it. For all the obstacles that I felt were in front of me on leaving the old company, I feel the path ahead is now the right one.