Introducing Pulse

Well if you've been doing DNS zone transfers on VulnerableMinds.com then you know, but for the rest of you Pulse has been a mystery. Begun as Project Tango Pulse was meant to do one thing; give you a summarized, quick, complete look at the status of the information security threat landscape. It's a simple concept, but a lacking resource on the Internet.

Pulse came out of my own needs as a threat analyst. Work leaves me with no shortage of projects, research, emails, meetings, and yet the imperative need to have a complete view of what vulnerabilities, exploits, and malcode affecting all platforms. RSS feeds were a good start, but I quickly found myself reading dozens of feeds a day, many filled with useless information. Many I was able to replace or weed out, making it easy to get general news and the opinions, but I still needed more. I still needed information about threats, vulnerabilities and the code to exploit them, but struggled with so many feeds, and I still spent a huge amount of time reading unimportant information.

To this end I decided I needed a tool of my own, something to bring together all these feeds that bring into one place and yet eliminate the chaff, the low threat, the endless mailing list responses; the unnecessary.

The result is Pulse.

Now Pulse is a huge part of my daily workflow. I start my day with it, along with SANS Internet Storm Center and Arbor Networks Atlas portal. I feel that this combination gives me all the information I need to know to be on the "pulse" of the infosec threat landscape. 

I'll quit waxing philosophical about the why's and hows. It's straightforward, but I feel like it meets a need that isn't easily being filled by other services available on the Internet. So take a look, use it, enjoy, and feel free to send me feedback. Pulse isn't done, it's not finished, it's just beginning. To find out more:

• Introduction to Pulse - Presentation
  
• Project Tango Specification - Document

Time for a Tango

Well I've had a number of people curious about Project Tango. It's been going for a little over a week now, much of the initial work has been completed, and now I'm in the process of tuning some of the back end pieces for finalization and release.

So at this point I'm asking for some help, and in the process am going to give away a few things about the project, so here ya go:

• Are you a security professional who's an information junkie? Shoot me an email and let me know what you look for in getting your fix. What sites you read, what information you want, what information you don't want, and if you'd be interested in the Tango Beta.
  
• Are you a security professional using RSS to feed your information needs, whether addict level or more of a recreational RSS user? Shoot me an email, pet peeves, wants, information you don't or can't get via RSS, and if you'd be interested in the Tango Beta.
• Are you just really curious about what Project Tango is and want to make a compelling case to get in on the beta? Shoot me an email.
  

All email can be sent to tango.beta@vulnerableminds.com and we'll set you up for an early look at Project Tango.

Project Tango

No, this is not a reference to my favorite partner dance, and only partially an allusion to the common term used by counter terror teams to references subjects. Project Tango is a new initiative of mine that will be coming to the site soon. I'm hoping this will meet a need many already have in a new and innovative way.

This is a new direction for Vulnerable Minds, an experiment if you will, and I look forward to unveiling it. Want a hint as to where? All I'll say is Yahoo Pipes and Google Reader are two great tastes that taste great together.