The feeling of isolation after you have just spent hours with friends.

The party has been “raging” now for almost 7 hours. Amongst the small group of friends we have assembled 30 or so of the smartest people I have ever met, and between the dueling games of Hackers against Humanity and Werewolf- there’s noone in the house who isn’t laughing and/or accusing a partner of absolute treachery.

The vilest of accusations spring forward from a game of Werewolf, you truly begin to discover who the skilled deceivers in the group are.

After the third game of HaH a smaller group of people break off and begin to discuss serious issues. These are the issues that are serious to this Giant, I typically don’t waste time with trivial issues, I enjoy getting to actually know people.During the discussion, which spanned two hours or so (which consequentially FLEW by), I found out several friends who I previously though I knew fairly well (socially, of course), struggled with depression and anxiety- which tends to be a fairly common combination of feelings within the community.

Far too often, we in the Information Security industry get wrapped up in the truly surface minutiae as a means to build “surface” relationships for means of information exchange or trust building. Social Engineering in our community has taken on a more insipid role, subverting even the basic communal structure of the group- even without those of us within it realizing that it’s taking place. The social engineering construct has basically taught people to get maximum yield from any given interaction with the minimum amount of effort. There are many situations in which socially engineering a group of people would be the best approach, but if there is one thing that this Giant has realized is valued over almost anything else in this community- it is honesty.

Now, honesty doesn’t necessarily mean having to bear your soul to every person that you meet in any given day at an event. Instead look at it as an opportunity to get to know the people around you, do you want to know the real person or the one that they created JUST for you? There are nearly 55,000 people in our industry right now, conservatively… Each of them has a story, and each one has something new to teach you about yourself and the industry in which you operate.

You can unlock a world of possibilities in learning and being able to help those around you, just by making the decision to be a little bit more honest each time you talk to someone. It’s not easy… but nothing worth doing ever is.