JTS LTD // WELCOME

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Welcome to the Joshua Tree Security, my professional website. Subsections of this website are accessible from the table below. Or, you can click here to return to the Joshua Tree Ltd. welcome page.
Why "Joshua Tree Security"?
You may be asking yourself: "'Joshua Tree'? Isn't this guy from Oregon? What's all this business about the Joshua tree?" The answer to that question is three-fold. First: I've been a U2 fan since I was in high school, and "Joshua Tree Security" sounds more coherent than "Achtung Baby Security." Second, for a little over a year in my twenties, I lived in the Mojave Desert, which is defined by the geographic range in which the Joshua tree grows, so the iconic foliage became a sort of personal hallmark for me. Finally, the thing about the Joshua tree is that it only grows when the conditions are just right, all the way down to altitude: you'll dip down into a valley to find them everywhere, and climb back out of the valley to find that they've completely disappeared.

So, what does all of this have to do with my security philosophy? Well, it's actually pretty simple: security isn't a one-size-fits-all list of hard requirements that can be applied in every single situation. Instead, security is most effective when it takes actual conditions into account: asset traits and their value, vulnerabilities, threats, and such. Smart security practitioners determine the applicable circumstances, build a relevant understanding of the situation, and tailor security controls to meet the specific needs of the organization. Just as Joshua trees only thrive under specific conditions, specific conditions must be considered and accounted for in order for security efforts to succeed. So, what's here?

Specialties and Offerings	In this section, you can learn about some of my specialties, skills, and services on offer.
Curriculum Vitae	Bragging up my own specialties (above) is all well and good, but what have I actually done to develop those capabilities? To that end, I've HTML-ized my curriculum vitae.
The Morning Review	In years past, I was extremely diligent and organized about my morning news and general situational awareness review. Despite the availability of tools like Feedly, my life has lapsed in that regard. In order to get back into some degree of organization, I've built a new Morning Review page to streamline the process. Eventually, I also hope to organize more than fifteen years of accumulated news links, which have facilitated various writing projects in which I've engaged over the years.
Risk Management Resources	This section provides a security reading list, podcast and video recommendations, other web links, and some of my own resources.
Data Sets	In 2001, U2 lead singer Bono described his friend and guitarist, The Edge, as "the scientist of the family: a man who takes sexual pleasure in the collection of data." Over the years, I've collected a variety of data sets that I hope to someday use in a historiography lesson. They're provided here for general interest.
JTS, Ltd. Blog	Occasionally, I blog on security and risk management issues. You can read that commentary here.
Collected Writings	I've been writing stuff for a long time. This section, which will be an ongoing work in progress, will eventually consolidate all of my collected writings into a single repository.
Contact Me	How to contact me. Pretty self-explanatory.