Live from Santiago, Chile

"Buenos dias! Me llamo Senor Axford. ¿Habla usted inglés?"

So far, this seems to sum up my travel adventure to Santiago, Chile (as well as the extent of my Spanish language skills). As many of you know, this is pretty much what I do: Fly to faraway places, talk to execs and IT Pros about information security. Lather, rinse, repeat. I'm in town this week to speak to meet some of the local Microsoft security people, talk to customers, and do some press interviews, and deliver the really fun session "Identifying Computer Attacks: Tips, Tricks, and Tools" to the local IT Pros in Santiago on March 13th. I wish I was staying to see some of the sites (aka snowboarding), but as the Bob Seger song goes "There I go, on the road again...here I am, up on the stage....."

I do love my job. I love seeing the "light bulb" come on when I explain to them that security isn't about expensive products and fancy consultants. I especially love seeing what it is you guys are doing. You're the ones who are reducing risk and changing the threat landscape. As I told some guys down in Houston last week, the problems we face as security pros is global. Wicked Rose and his gang from NCPH (great webcast BTW!) isn't just attacking one U.S. business. Data Leakage isn't just a concern in Berlin, and Bot infections aren't just happening in Santiago. I love hearing how you guys are beating back the Horde. We don't always tell you this....but you are doing a great job!

...and just so you don't think that your speakers at Microsoft are sitting back....check out the work Keith Combs and U.S. TechNet Team has going on for Longhorn Server starting on April 1st. He's trying to juggle everything. Steve Riley is also out in Asia this week doing more security events. We work hard, so you guys get the latest info!

OK, it's time for a siesta. I'll try and post a little bit each day as I enjoy the hospitality of Chile!