Podcast appearances and mentions of david mccandless

There has never been so much data floating around and accessible to the public, and with AI, the ability for anyone to analyse this data and make sense of it has never been easier.Along with the opportunity for organisations to use data as part of their own promotional activity, there's also the challenge of the data uncovering other stories which, perhaps organisations would prefer if the public didn't know about. To help us navigate all of this I'm joined by Alex Waddington, founder of Whetstone Communications, a consultancy that helps communicators do more with their data. In this episode, we discuss:What data journalism isWhere you can find useful sources of dataTools you can use to analyse the data and uncover storiesHow to pre-empt and defend against negative stories burried in your dataCONNECTAlex Waddington on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwaddingtoncommspr/ Alex's website: https://www.whetstonecomms.com/ David Richter on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-richter-clickpop/ or www.clickpop.co.uk BOOKAlex recommended a couple of books about information and data analysis, both authored by David McCandless. You can find out more about them here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/David-McCandless/author/B002HYXAUY?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1718966448&sr=8-1&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true LISTENSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2rZo9Z5laMfQ9OsY9OVyPq?si=652f6e969f9e42ec YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarketingFreedPodcast Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vbWFya2V0aW5nZnJlZWQv?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiYgMzw6ryEAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQNg Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/08eb4a0a-cdfd-4cf7-8801-20f983579715/marketing-freed PlayerFM: https://player.fm/series/series-3552796 Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/marketing-freed-5619008 Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/show/1000659902

Highlights from this week's conversation include:David's Background and Journey in Data (0:30)Transition to Time Series Forecasting (2:03)Working on Time Series Forecasting at Amazon (2:55)Challenges and Experience in Time Series Forecasting (4:32)Transitioning to a New Role at Amazon (5:52)Tools and Methods for Time Series Forecasting (8:17)Forecasting Impact and Accuracy (15:30)Explaining Variance and Lessons Learned (18:58)Understanding Downstream Consumers and Empathy for Business Leaders (20:36)Amazon's Culture and Decision-Making Process (24:27)Assimilating into Amazon's Culture (26:04)Interpreting Data for Business Stakeholders (28:34)Consulting for Small Businesses (30:28)Challenges in Automation and Maintenance (32:18)Analyzing Financial Metrics for Small Businesses (34:51)Tooling and Data Solutions for Small Businesses (39:52)Empowering Small Businesses with Data (46:02)The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, the CDP for developers. Each week we'll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.

The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, the CDP for developers. Each week we'll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.

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So why are visuals so important? A few years ago, our colleague Julia Joskey carried out the IMA's first best practice research on this topic, and she joins me in this 18-minute episode to share her learning.Please listen to find out more!Topics DiscussedWhy are visuals so important? (1.36)Thinking like an Insight designer (3.22)The designer and the editor (5.50)The barriers for most Insight teams (8.57)The best visual to choose (13.20)Highlights“We can train ourselves to think like an Insight designer and give some thought to how we can use pictures to help us to solve problems and to present ideas. It doesn't have to be complicated; we can have huge impact just by using simple shapes like triangles, squares and circles to communicate our ideas.” “We can marry the talents of the Insight designer to those of the Insight editor and produce charts that enable one key message to stand out. David McCandless, data journalist and author of Information is Beautiful, believes that all Insight professionals have a ‘dormant design literacy' that gives us the potential to produce effective infographics”“Moving images are even more compelling than still images, and we should look for ways to incorporate animations and video footage of consumers at every opportunity. The late Hans Rosling, author of Factfulness, was celebrated for his moving bubble charts (see examples on YouTube) and many progressive Insight teams from Unilever to CocaCola make great use of customer vox pops on their Insight portals”This is episode 26 of the Transforming Insight podcast. If you have the ambition to transform your Insight team and the role it plays in your organisation, please tune in to future episodes. Not only will we explore the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams as outlined in the Transforming Insight book, we will also talk to senior corporate Insight leaders, delve into books that have inspired us, and discuss new best practice research carried out with the IMA's corporate members.You won't want to miss this! So please subscribe - and thank you for listening. About James Wycherley, the author of Transforming InsightJames Wycherley was Director of Customer Insight and Analytics at Barclays from 2005 to 2015 when he became Chief Executive of the Insight Management Academy (IMA). A popular keynote speaker and acknowledged expert on Insight leadership, strategy, and communication, he is the author of the book Transforming Insight: the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams, and over 35 IMA publications. He has provided thought leadership in the UK, Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, India, and the Middle East, and regularly hosts the IMA's Insight forums - London, Manchester, UK Online and US Online.The Insight Management Academy is the world's leading authority on transforming Insight teams. Resources:If you would like more information on any of the ideas discussed in this episode of the Transforming Insight podcast, please visit www.insight-management.orgCopies of James Wycherley's book Transforming Insight: the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams can be purchased direct from www.transforming-insight.comDisclaimerThe Transforming Insight podcast is published by the Insight Management Academy and produced by Zorbiant.All rights reserved                                            

Dr. Casagranda is a Professor of Government at Austin Community College, where he teaches political science. He also focuses on public engagement - giving dozens of news interviews and speeches and writing opinion pieces on US and Middle East politics and history. He also runs the Austin School Lecture Series, which has over 3.75 million YouTube.David McCandless is a London-based author, data-journalist and information designer, working across print, advertising, TV and web. His blog and best-selling books Information Is Beautiful (2009), Knowledge is Beautiful (2014) and Beautiful News (2021) are dedicated to visualising ideas, issues, knowledge, data and novel patterns and stories.Erik Anderson a global innovation leader, investor and philanthropist. He is Founder and CEO of WestRiver Group, a thematically driven investment platform that manages funds and builds companies in the global innovation economy.

One of the most successful published data journalists in the world today, David McCandless has a new book out: Beautiful News. His work is innovative, newsy, current and incredibly popular with readers — but sometimes controversial with what he calls the "chart police". Alberto and Simon chat with David about why he gets such Marmite-type reactions to his work, how Hans Rosling opened our eyes to the power of data visualisation and the nature of beauty. The music for today's episode is world GDP, made with TwoTone, which turns numbers into tunes.

Books:  Knowledge is beautiful by David McCandless  長壽工程 “長壽關鍵排行榜” New YouTube video  Ep 29 關了一百多天跟著阿姐每天走每天一小時封城散步逛豪宅路線   https://youtu.be/ULC5WFXXkP8    有關雪梨台灣阿姐: https://linktr.ee/sydneytaiwansister

Time to pull it all together! In this episode, we wrap up our mini-series on data literacy by discussing how to communicate effectively using data. We cover important things to consider when preparing your talk (or write-up), knowing your audience, and effectively structuring your message. We also briefly talk about data visualization as a tool that can be used to augment your delivery.      Timestamps: 0:50: Why is storytelling important? 2:30: Putting data and stories together 4:38: Preparation: Deciding on your purpose 6:30: Preparation: Knowing the context 9:45: Knowing your audience 22:25: Structuring your presentation or message 28:55: The structure of a story 31:30: Data visualization 34:27: Data viz “commandments” (aka basic tips) 36:15: Effective delivery in presentations 39:40: Effective delivery in documents or manuscripts 41:40: Wrap-up   Mentioned This Episode: Cicero Public Speaking Cards Examples of great storytelling: The beauty of data visualization – David McCandless (chosen by Jose) Start with why – Simon Sinek (chosen by Nicholas) mindyourworkpodcast@gmail.com – Email us your ideas or suggestions here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here!   Credits: Our intro and outro music is “Ingenuity” by Lee Rosevere, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0). You can find more of Lee’s music at https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. Our transition music for this episode is “Bike ride with you” by Ryan Anderson. Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 4.0).   Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

Many decisions are binary: should we wear a face mask or not? We discuss how this might affect our thinking more broadly and whether it drives polarisation. This podcast investigates binary thinking, looking at why and in what situations we have a tendency to think in absolute terms. We debate the advantages and pitfalls associated with binary thinking, and consider whether some of us are better at handling ambiguity and uncertainty than others. Finally, we discuss ways of managing our own and others’ binary thinking. Does that sound interesting - yes, or no? A few things we mentioned in this podcast: - Cognitive Engineering Podcast: Polarisation https://soundcloud.com/aleph-insights/polarisation - Ambiguity intolerance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambiguity_tolerance%E2%80%93intolerance - What drives ambiguity intolerance: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/tolerance-of-ambiguity - Ambiguity intolerance and politics https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcpy.1176 - Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/ - Three types of Binary Thinking, Spenser Greenberg https://www.clearerthinking.org/single-post/2020/06/23/Learn-the-three-types-of-binary-thinking - Rhetological Fallacies, Information is Beautiful, David McCandless https://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/rhetological-fallacies/ Find more Cognitive Engineering episodes here https://link.chtbl.com/SQeIgc44

The buzz: “Data is the new oil? No: Data is the new soil” (David McCandless). Big data has officially crashed into the business world, taking competition to new levels. Can your organization benefit if you don't have qualified data-science resources like a data science lab or pedigreed experts to navigate and take advantage of AI, Machine Learning and other powerful technologies? Good news. Packaged application software has lowered the skills barrier to data mining. Our panel offers proof that anyone can successfully use data analytics tools. What did they wish they'd known when they began? The experts speak. Chris Carter, Approyo: “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take” (Wayne Gretzky). Jason Olsen, Kimberly-Clark: “When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time” (Creighton Abrams). Samantha Wong, SAP: “If you see it there, darling, then it's there” (Freddy Mercury). Join us for Business Analyst by Day, Data Science Hero by Night – Part 2.

The buzz: “Data is the new oil? No: Data is the new soil” (David McCandless). Big data has officially crashed into the business world, taking competition to new levels. Can your organization benefit if you don't have qualified data-science resources like a data science lab or pedigreed experts to navigate and take advantage of AI, Machine Learning and other powerful technologies? Good news. Packaged application software has lowered the skills barrier to data mining. Our panel offers proof that anyone can successfully use data analytics tools. What did they wish they'd known when they began? The experts speak. Chris Carter, Approyo: “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take” (Wayne Gretzky). Jason Olsen, Kimberly-Clark: “When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time” (Creighton Abrams). Samantha Wong, SAP: “If you see it there, darling, then it's there” (Freddy Mercury). Join us for Business Analyst by Day, Data Science Hero by Night – Part 2.

In this episode of the Savvy Business Leaders podcast series, host Bill Detwiler chats with renowned data journalist, David McCandless, and Stuart Stock, CIO of environmental resource management company, Veolia UK. In part one, McCandless shares simple strategies for leveraging data visualizations to reveal the meaningful insights organizations need to drive their business forward. Then, we’ll learn how Stock and his team at Veolia UK have used Microsoft Power BI to transform the way their employees and customers analyze data and make data-driven decisions.

This time, the gang talks about what they’ve been listening to as well as play through a few singles from The Woolen Men, The Sonder Bombs, and Rave Ami. Also, Ian had the pleasure of sitting down with David McCandless of Andalusia (you can hear his music every episode this season) and reviewing the new El Ten Eleven album “Bankers Hill." This episode has a lot of firsts for us and we really hope you dig it! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/no-static-at-all/support

David McCandless is the #1 data visualization expert. But what is that? "Data visualization?" Simply: it's a better way to tell stories. Show Notes:  "Visual Miscellaneum: The Bestselling Classic, Revised and Updated: A Colorful Guide to the World's Most Consequential Trivia" by David McCandless "Knowledge Is Beautiful: Impossible Ideas, Invisible Patterns, Hidden Connections--Visualized" David McCandless Visit David's website - informationisbeautiful.net Watch David's TED Talk - The Beauty of Data Visualization - which now has over 2.5 million views These are a few of David's infographics we talk about in the podcast (most have been updated) Snake Oil Supplements Left vs. Right (US) Which Fish are Okay to Eat? Top 500 Most Common Passwords Visualized International Number Ones The Billion Dollar-o-Gram 20th Century Death Based on a True True Story? Novels Everyone Should Read One of the first infographics from 1869 by Charles Minard depicting Napoleon's March in Russia in 1812. I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast. Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts Stitcher iHeart Radio Spotify   Follow me on Social Media: Twitter Facebook Linkedin Instagram ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn

David McCandless is the #1 data visualization expert. But what is that? “Data visualization?” Simply: it’s a better way to tell stories. Show Notes:  “Visual Miscellaneum: The Bestselling Classic, Revised and Updated: A Colorful Guide to the World's Most Consequential Trivia” by David McCandless “Knowledge Is Beautiful: Impossible Ideas, Invisible Patterns, Hidden Connections--Visualized” David McCandless Visit David’s website - informationisbeautiful.net Watch David’s TED Talk - The Beauty of Data Visualization - which now has over 2.5 million views These are a few of David’s infographics we talk about in the podcast (most have been updated) Snake Oil Supplements Left vs. Right (US) Which Fish are Okay to Eat? Top 500 Most Common Passwords Visualized International Number Ones The Billion Dollar-o-Gram 20th Century Death Based on a True True Story? Novels Everyone Should Read One of the first infographics from 1869 by Charles Minard depicting Napoleon’s March in Russia in 1812. I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast. Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts Stitcher iHeart Radio Spotify Follow me on Social Media: Twitter Facebook Linkedin Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is sponsored by the CIO Innovation Insider Offense and Defense Community. My guest this week is Scott Berinato, author of Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations, and Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review. In this interview we discuss bridging the world of data science and the art of data visualization. Scott and I focus on how we make good use of Data Visualization skills that I believe are critical for CIOs to have. Listen to the interview to learn more on how to be a better data visualization guy and methods of being a good data storyteller. Major Take-Aways From This Episode: Why to avoid “click+vis” The importance of incorporating prototyping, sketching, and charting your data visualizations The key to presenting data is not the data or the perfect design, it is the design thinking process Automatic output of data tools is not enough to convey your ideas How to overcome obstacles with conveying ideas + concepts; How to avoid being intimidated Tools Landscape: plot.ly and exploratory The idea of “the power of a beautiful constraint” What you barely need is data; you need to know what the data is telling you (@23:00) When are you putting yourself at a disadvantage with DOT plots It isn’t the slide quota that is important for your presentation, it is the amount of information on a slide that is important Best Methods for Visual Storytelling: Maximum one or two ideas per slide Wrong Metric: The number of slides Correct Metric: Ideas per visual field/ slide About Scott Berinato Scott Berinato is the author of Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations. Even though he's a writer, he's also a self-described "dataviz geek" who loves the challenge of finding visual solutions to communications and data challenges. He speaks frequently on the topic of data visualization and leads workshops to help others improve their chart skills. Scott is a Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review, where he created successful visual storytelling formats. He writes and edits regularly for HBR and HBR.org, focused mostly on stories about data, science, and technology. When HBR redesigned in 2010, Scott created the front section of the magazine, Idea Watch, launching successful features such as "Defend Your Research." He led a team that launched HBR's iPad app, and more recently led the creation of HBR's Big Idea, a bi-monthly digital longform event. Prior to joining HBR, Scott was executive editor at IDG where he wrote and edited for CIO magazine and helped create and launch CSO magazine. In addition to writing and editing feature articles, he was a columnist writing about security in a post-9/11 world. He is a six-time winner of the Jesse H. Neal award (the "Pulitzers of the business press") for best feature article of the year and two-time winner of the Grand Neal Award for the year's best overall contribution to the business press. Scott was awarded the McAllister Fellowship for his contributions to the business press and, through it, was able to return to his alma mater, Medill, to teach writing. Prior to IDG, Scott was a beat reporter at PC Week, where he covered the Microsoft anti-trust trial and the rise of the Internet, among other major tech events. Scott holds a Masters degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He's currently at work on his next project, The Good Charts Workbook. Read full transcript here. How to get in touch with Scott Berinato @ScottBerinato LinkedIn Website: HBR.org Key Resources: Plot.ly - prototyping tool Exploratory - Exploratory’s Simple UI allows the latest and the most advanced innovation in Data Science to discover deep insights The Power of Data Visualization - TedX Talk by David McCandless mentioning Tor Norretranders Tableau - business intelligence software that helps people see and understand their data Peanut butter price over decade – chart example (mentioned @ 30.00) Better Charts in a Couple of Hours: Sketching to Win – article by Scott Berinato for HBR.org Books: Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations, Scott Berinato This episode is sponsored by the CIO Innovation Insider Offense and Defense Community, dedicated to Business Digital Leaders who want to be a part of 20% of the planet and help their businesses win with innovation and transformation. Credits: * Outro music provided by Ben’s Sound Other Ways To Listen to the Podcast iTunes | Libsyn | Soundcloud | RSS | LinkedIn Leave a Review Feedback is my oxygen. I would appreciate your comments, so please leave an iTunes review here. Click here for instructions on how to leave an iTunes review if you’re doing this for the first time. About Bill Murphy Bill Murphy is a world renowned Innovation and Transformation (Offense and Defense) Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. Follow Bill on LinkedIn and Twitter.

https://www.pensamientovisual.es/david-mccandless-la-belleza-la-visualizacion-datos/ ¿te gustan las charlas TED y quieres sacarles el máximo partido? ¿quieres tener siempre presentes y a mano sus enseñanzas, reflexiones y visiones de nuestro mundo? Pero antes, recuerda visitar la web pensamientovisual.es para acceder gratis a la intranet formativa con el ABC del Pensamiento Visual, así como ver este episodio por escrito, un resumen visual e incluso un breve vídeo explicativo que denomino: “VisualTED”. Hoy te voy a presentar: David McCandless: La belleza de la visualización de datos Te presento la charla TED de David Mccandless, la cual está muy en sintonía con las ideas que se destacan en esta web. ¡La belleza de la visualización de datos! No recuerdo si lo descubrí por sus libros o por esta charla TED, pero en cualquier caso te recomiendo tener en cuenta las aportaciones de David Mccandless. El mismo que proviene del mundo de la programación y el periodismo, también está descubriendo todo esto de la visualización de datos. David Mccandless se presenta en su web como escritor, diseñador, director creativo y artístico residente en Londres. Si quieres saber más sobre él, e incluso ver su curriculum visual… pero sobre todo descubrir el poder de la visualización de datos no te pierdas su charla TED. Puedes ver en la web un video en el que muestro visualmente y de modo resumido los conceptos claves de la citada charla TED de Tim Brown. Te dejo con el extracto del audio del citado vídeo, el cual puedes ver en mi web o en mi canal de youtube.

The O’Reilly Security Podcast: Thinking like an epidemiologist, using data and patterns, and escaping reactive tendencies.In this episode, I talk with security architect Efrain Ortiz. We discuss how epidemiology can be applied to infosec, the parallels between using data and patterns to diagnose disease and find endpoint problems, and how to think like an epidemiologist in order to get out of reactive approaches to security at your own organization.Here are some highlights: Epidemiological thinking I started reading books about epidemiology, including one about Dr. John Snow (no relationship to Game of Thrones), who lived in London in the mid-1800s. Back then, everybody thought you got sick from bad smells (miasma theory). In 1854, there was a cholera outbreak in London, and Dr. Snow did something very different, something that hadn't been done before. He walked around and mapped out when and where somebody died. When he laid out the map, a pattern emerged: there was a water pump in the middle of the recorded deaths that seemed to indicate that drinking from that water pump made people sick. He went to the general board of health and told them they needed to close the pump. The response was basically, ‘No. Can't do that. There's no evidence for that.’ Evidence is what we're lacking in security today as well. We say things about how the boogieman is going to get our computers, but we don't have a lot of evidence that's explainable to the layperson or management. Snow went about finding outliers, finding evidence. The two outliers he found were amazing. Right next to the pump was a brewery, where no one got sick. Then there was a lady who lived about two kilometers away who got cholera. If miasma theory was true, and the bad smell traveled two kilometers to make one person sick, why wasn’t anyone at the brewery impacted? It turns out the brewery folks were drinking beer instead of water from the contaminated pump. Rather than blaming sickness on smells, people investigated the cause by visiting the families of those who died, collecting evidence, and connecting the dots. Mapping digital disease Inspired by this, a friend and I decided to build a tool based off the CDC Epi Info tool. These folks (at the CDC) are an epidemic intelligence service. These are the people we hear about in the news. When Ebola breaks out, or another infectious pathogen is spreading, they get deployed. My friend and I made a web-based app, and we started looking at production logs for a number of different clients and, well, our brains started to explode. We placed the endpoint names on the Y-axis. Then we placed the events, a timeline, on the X-axis and color coded the types of events (a firewall block, a USB getting plugged, auto run that's running, an update, an endpoint update of AV signatures, IPS signatures, and so on). Lo and behold, we saw patterns. Some of them took us a few weeks to figure out. We noticed that the antivirus updates—the gray dots—were these huge vertical lines with white spots in between. We figured out that they showed people turning their machines off at night. The machine was getting an infection in the middle of the night, but the machine was not getting updates. It happened every night for seven nights straight, and then it stopped getting updates. Essentially, this machine kept going to the same infected water source, coughing every time it drank from it, and then one day just dropped off, so no one saw it anymore. We had a host that was repeatedly infected, but cleaned because the antivirus detected it. What we later found out when we investigated the endpoint is that it had downloaded. It was going to the well and trying to download updates to its malware and the AV would detect the reused code, but the downloader wasn't detected. Finally, the machine just dropped off. That's when the attacker became successful. They had compromised the system, and it was totally off. Passive vs. active surveying Passive surveying in epidemiology is when you set up the emergency room and wait for people to come in. When I talk to clients, they're just basically looking at their endpoint consoles, and when they see the little red dot show up on their “map”, they investigate it, clean it up, or re-image the computer. They're waiting for the emergency room visits. Active surveying is when the epidemiologist goes out into the field, like Dr. Snow, to get to know the community. (Who lives where? Where do they eat? Where do they drink? Where do they play? How do they work?) Using active surveying, I've been able to see what tools are being used when there’s a security problem. Instead of waiting for a security vendor to offer a solution, let's be like John Snow. Let's actively look for and find that contaminated pump handle, and let's make a change. But instead of making a wholesale change, like implementing a policy across an entire environment, do what epidemiologists do: test it on a random small sample, do studies. Pick a few people at your organization and apply your desired policy in log-only mode. If management doesn't want to take action, collect some data. Then you'll have the evidence that the “board of health” wants and you can show that when you allow the USB to be used in a particular way just so someone can have their training videos work, there is a higher percentage of infection. But if you disabled that capability, there would be a 1% false positive, meaning 1% of the people trying to load their annual training video would not be able to do it correctly, but 60% of the other things—which would have become diseases—were prevented. Related links: Efrain’s series of posts on Epidigitalogy and Digital Disease Control David McCandless—Information is Beautiful

The O’Reilly Security Podcast: Thinking like an epidemiologist, using data and patterns, and escaping reactive tendencies.In this episode, I talk with security architect Efrain Ortiz. We discuss how epidemiology can be applied to infosec, the parallels between using data and patterns to diagnose disease and find endpoint problems, and how to think like an epidemiologist in order to get out of reactive approaches to security at your own organization.Here are some highlights: Epidemiological thinking I started reading books about epidemiology, including one about Dr. John Snow (no relationship to Game of Thrones), who lived in London in the mid-1800s. Back then, everybody thought you got sick from bad smells (miasma theory). In 1854, there was a cholera outbreak in London, and Dr. Snow did something very different, something that hadn't been done before. He walked around and mapped out when and where somebody died. When he laid out the map, a pattern emerged: there was a water pump in the middle of the recorded deaths that seemed to indicate that drinking from that water pump made people sick. He went to the general board of health and told them they needed to close the pump. The response was basically, ‘No. Can't do that. There's no evidence for that.’ Evidence is what we're lacking in security today as well. We say things about how the boogieman is going to get our computers, but we don't have a lot of evidence that's explainable to the layperson or management. Snow went about finding outliers, finding evidence. The two outliers he found were amazing. Right next to the pump was a brewery, where no one got sick. Then there was a lady who lived about two kilometers away who got cholera. If miasma theory was true, and the bad smell traveled two kilometers to make one person sick, why wasn’t anyone at the brewery impacted? It turns out the brewery folks were drinking beer instead of water from the contaminated pump. Rather than blaming sickness on smells, people investigated the cause by visiting the families of those who died, collecting evidence, and connecting the dots. Mapping digital disease Inspired by this, a friend and I decided to build a tool based off the CDC Epi Info tool. These folks (at the CDC) are an epidemic intelligence service. These are the people we hear about in the news. When Ebola breaks out, or another infectious pathogen is spreading, they get deployed. My friend and I made a web-based app, and we started looking at production logs for a number of different clients and, well, our brains started to explode. We placed the endpoint names on the Y-axis. Then we placed the events, a timeline, on the X-axis and color coded the types of events (a firewall block, a USB getting plugged, auto run that's running, an update, an endpoint update of AV signatures, IPS signatures, and so on). Lo and behold, we saw patterns. Some of them took us a few weeks to figure out. We noticed that the antivirus updates—the gray dots—were these huge vertical lines with white spots in between. We figured out that they showed people turning their machines off at night. The machine was getting an infection in the middle of the night, but the machine was not getting updates. It happened every night for seven nights straight, and then it stopped getting updates. Essentially, this machine kept going to the same infected water source, coughing every time it drank from it, and then one day just dropped off, so no one saw it anymore. We had a host that was repeatedly infected, but cleaned because the antivirus detected it. What we later found out when we investigated the endpoint is that it had downloaded. It was going to the well and trying to download updates to its malware and the AV would detect the reused code, but the downloader wasn't detected. Finally, the machine just dropped off. That's when the attacker became successful. They had compromised the system, and it was totally off. Passive vs. active surveying Passive surveying in epidemiology is when you set up the emergency room and wait for people to come in. When I talk to clients, they're just basically looking at their endpoint consoles, and when they see the little red dot show up on their “map”, they investigate it, clean it up, or re-image the computer. They're waiting for the emergency room visits. Active surveying is when the epidemiologist goes out into the field, like Dr. Snow, to get to know the community. (Who lives where? Where do they eat? Where do they drink? Where do they play? How do they work?) Using active surveying, I've been able to see what tools are being used when there’s a security problem. Instead of waiting for a security vendor to offer a solution, let's be like John Snow. Let's actively look for and find that contaminated pump handle, and let's make a change. But instead of making a wholesale change, like implementing a policy across an entire environment, do what epidemiologists do: test it on a random small sample, do studies. Pick a few people at your organization and apply your desired policy in log-only mode. If management doesn't want to take action, collect some data. Then you'll have the evidence that the “board of health” wants and you can show that when you allow the USB to be used in a particular way just so someone can have their training videos work, there is a higher percentage of infection. But if you disabled that capability, there would be a 1% false positive, meaning 1% of the people trying to load their annual training video would not be able to do it correctly, but 60% of the other things—which would have become diseases—were prevented. Related links: Efrain’s series of posts on Epidigitalogy and Digital Disease Control David McCandless—Information is Beautiful

Nora Young talks about Virool, a new online ad platform that, with your permission, will use your computer's camera to monitor your reactions to the ads you watch (via Springwise). It's an example, she says, of the increasing trend towards tech that monitors our moods and reactions. See, for example, this story or this one on her show Spark. Cathi Bond, talks about the DARPA Robotics Challenge coming up in June, and in particular, the Atlas robot (via Gizmodo). Nora mentions David McCandless' infographic about online music services and artists' compensation (via The Guardian)  

Information abounds in our burgeoning knowledge economy, but how much is useful - let alone essential? Martin Dawes from the University of British Colombia tells us about the hierachy of evidence. Also this week, data journalist and author of Information is Beautiful, David McCandless, talks to us about the power and the pitfalls of graphically representing data.

Sixth Anniversary Edition! Dr. Susan Weinschenk joins Tim Keirnan for a discussion of her latest book, 100 Things Every Designer Should Know About People. Not just a collection of opinons, 100 Things... presents up-to-date research on the fundamentals that uderpin our work as UX professionals, while exposing several popular myths and misconceptions along the way.Thanks for listening for six years! I'm proud of what Tom Brinck and I started back in the summer of 2005, and appreciate any and all feedback you send.Susan's blog is atwww.whatmakesthemclick.netHer Twitter is@thebrainladyCheck out the Colours In Cultures color wheel by David McCandless at http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/You can read Tim's article about usability testing for entrepreneurs at the Entrepreneurial America website athttp://www.entrepreneurial-america.com/2011/07/product-usability-testing-for.html

Showcase - David McCandless, Author, ‘Information is Beautiful’ Networked Nation editorial intelligence in association with Race Online 2012, Channel 4, Detica, Edleman, Mumsnet, Philharmonia Orchestra   14th December 2010 Channel 4 124 Horseferry Road London