How To Get Quotables From Cybersecurity Professors

egrizzly · February 2020

Hello all,

I'm preparing to write an article about security issues with IoT devices. A big part of the article is getting quotables from college professors who are highly credentialled and knowledgeable in cybersecurity. I basically wanted to get quotes like "That issue of non-compliance has been around since the 1970s. It is majorly due to xyz reason" or something like "The US experiences over 3000 breaches per year due to unpatched servers", etc. Then while writing the article I would then say "according to Professor John Doe of XYZ University....." the US experiences over 3000 breaches per year. That kind of thing.

Anyway, do you all have any tips or suggestions on how I should go about contacting these professors? As always thanks in advance for your tips, suggestions, and comments.

VictorVictor5 · February 2020

@egrizzly usually "quotables" are part of your literature search. If you're getting something published via peer review, as you indicate, you usually cite from papers since it's traceable and citable. You can cite directly from a source, but that's rare, because how can the peer-reviewer really validate it?

yoba222 · February 2020

I'm not certain that I agree that college professors who happen to teach cybersecurity classes are highly credentialed and knowledgeable. At some schools yes, but I suspect that at many others, they teach the class out of necessity because the college rushed to fill a void when cybersecurity suddenly became so popular.

As far as how to contact, email is free and the squeaky wheel gets the oil so they say. Just have to explore the college faculty parts of websites to get the email address. Might get better expertise reaching out on Twitter to security professionals I suspect.

TechGromit · February 2020

egrizzly said:

A big part of the article is getting quotable from college professors who are highly credentialed and knowledgeable in cyber-security. I

If it was me, i'd look at papers related to IOT from the SANS reading room. These guys are going to be way more knowledgeable than college professors that have been out of the professional working world for several years. Unless your referring to SANS instructors.

https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/internet/

JDMurray · February 2020

I would go with quotes from cybersecurity researchers who actually get their hands dirty in IoT security.

egrizzly · March 2020

TechGromit said:

egrizzly said:

A big part of the article is getting quotable from college professors who are highly credentialed and knowledgeable in cyber-security. I

If it was me, i'd look at papers related to IOT from the SANS reading room. These guys are going to be way more knowledgeable than college professors that have been out of the professional working world for several years. Unless your referring to SANS instructors.

https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/internet/

Thanks TG

egrizzly · March 2020

@egrizzly usually "quotables" are part of your literature search. If you're getting something published via peer review, as you indicate, you usually cite from papers since it's traceable and citable. You can cite directly from a source, but that's rare, because how can the peer-reviewer really validate it?

Wow. You actually have a solid point. The reason I wanted to contact the sources directly is so I can ask them the exact questions to get answers that support my point of view. For instance, I'm trying to assert that consumers buy more and more IoT devices to increase their safety and security, the exact opposite is actually happening as the increased number of internet connected IoT devices widen attack vectors from hackers decreasing their safety and security.

VictorVictor5 · March 2020

@egrizzly - fair point and interesting point of view that is surely going to cause debate! My suggestion then is to do both, literature search and direct source. You may not (surprisingly!) find anything in existing literature that goes along with your point of view. That's fine, but you have to state it in your literature review section (along with your direct sources) to the effect of, "Current literature does not hold a position similar to the views expressed in this paper." Also, you may have to state that to the editor of the journal just in case your peer-reviewers object. They are supposed to be neutral, but we all know how that is.

What journal are you planning on submitting to? If you have any particular journal questions, PM me.

How To Get Quotables From Cybersecurity Professors

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