Alan Paller: Journalists among Most Important People in Cybersecurity
Alan Paller
Writers from washingtonpost.com, Wired, International Data Group, Dark Reading and USA Today topped the list of cybersecurity reporters who received the 2010 Top Journalist Award at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Calif., earlier this month.
“Journalists are among the most important people in cybersecurity because until the public fully understands the threat, the nation will never act to solve the problem,” said Alan Paller, SANS Institute’s director of research.
Brian Krebs, formerly of washingtonpost.com, received the most votes. Over the past 15 years, he wrote hundreds of stories for The Washington Post and its online edition, including more than 1,300 blog posts and eight front-page stories and a Post Magazine cover.
“[He] breaks more stories more often than any other cybersecurity journalist,” said a panel member. “Plus, he seems to really focus on breaking stories that matter, not just those that will generate buzz.”
Finishing second in the voting was Robert McMillan, who has written about computer technology since 1996, and in 1998 was co-founder and editor-in-chief of IDG’s LinuxWorld online magazine. In addition to LinuxWorld, he has written for New Scientist, Wired News, Linux Magazine and the Detroit Free Press.
“He seems to never sleep, an admirable quality in a wire reporter, and tends not to sensationalize,” said a panel member.
The additional eight winners were recognized because of their exceptional journalism this year, and in previous years.
Kevin Poulsen is a former black-hat hacker, who currently serves as senior editor for Wired;
Tim Wilson is a 25-year veteran of computer-industry journalism and a founding editor of Dark Reading;
Kim Zetter is a freelance journalist, who has written for publications across the world on topics varying from cryptography to electronic voting;
Byron Acohido writes for USA Today and won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting;
Keith Epstein is an award-winning writer and investigative journalist currently working for the Huffington Post’s Investigative Fund;
Dan Goodin has covered legal affairs, Internet governance and financial markets for publications such as CNET News.com, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News;
Siobhan Gorman covers intelligence terrorism and national security in the Washington, D.C., bureau of The Wall Street Journal;
Robert Lemos is an award-winning technology journalist, who spent eight years as a staff writer at ZDNet News and as a senior staff writer at CNET News.com.
Related posts:
