The end-of-year notebook closing post. Following the convention I have established each December.
This is a substantive closing reflection. 2009 has been a transformative year — Hedgehog Security founded, the cumulative practitioner profile sustaining the practice, the cumulative archive continuing.
What 2009 produced
The cumulative 2009 trajectory:
- Founding Hedgehog Security — the dominant personal shift.
- Continued substantial threat-landscape evolution — Heartland, Conficker variants, Twitter DDoS, Windows 7.
- Continued cumulative practitioner engagement.
- Continued cumulative archive growth — approximately 50 posts at the established cadence.
The cumulative 2009 contribution is substantial. The Hedgehog founding represents a structural-level professional shift; the operational reality has been substantively rewarding.
The twelve-year cumulative state
Approaching twelve full years of weekly writing. Approximately 550 posts. The cumulative archive has substantial reference value.
The cumulative correspondence network, conference engagement, reading discipline continue. The professional trajectory has been varied; the cumulative experience supports specific subsequent decisions.
What is changing in 2010
Specific things visible at year-end.
Continued Hedgehog growth. Specific subsequent client engagement, specific subsequent decisions about scaling and specialisation, specific subsequent operational development.
Continued threat-landscape evolution. Specific subsequent Conficker variants, specific subsequent breach disclosures, specific subsequent political-cyber events, specific subsequent APT-style incidents.
Continued Windows 7 deployment. Specific subsequent enterprise migration trajectory will be operationally significant across 2010.
Continued cumulative writing discipline. The notebook continues regardless of operational shifts.
A request to readers
If you have been corresponding with me, thank you. The cumulative network continues to be the most rewarding aspect of the discipline.
Specific cumulative readers who have followed the trajectory through the founding period — thank you for the substantive engagement.
If you have not been corresponding, consider doing so. The cumulative substantive practitioner conversations matter.
The address is on the page. The signal-to-noise ratio of the inbox is good; I read everything.
What I am doing for Christmas
Family is gathering for Christmas Day. The notebook is closed for the rest of the week.
Specific cumulative thinking about 2010 — both Hedgehog development and cumulative writing direction — will continue across the break.
What 2010 looks like from here
The specific year ahead will include continued Hedgehog development, continued threat-landscape evolution, continued cumulative practitioner engagement, continued operational discipline.
The notebook will continue. The reading will continue. The community will continue.
A small final reflection on the discipline
I keep returning to the same core observation: the consistency is the thing. The cumulative value comes from sustaining the practice across years.
For practitioners considering similar discipline: the form follows the practitioner; the discipline is universal.
The Hedgehog founding has been substantially supported by the cumulative archive. Substantive client engagement benefits from cumulative practitioner profile that ad-hoc effort could not have produced.
Truly closing
Twelve years approaches. Thirteen years of writing complete. Fifteen years out of school. The trajectory continues; the cumulative archive grows; the discipline continues.
Thank you for reading. See you in 2010.
Happy new year.