Many security professionals find themselves saddled with the job of ridding their companies of spam. Regardless of whether spam is a security issue, tackling the problem is a good way for security pros to wow management. "There are very few . . .
Many security professionals find themselves saddled with the job of ridding their companies of spam. Regardless of whether spam is a security issue, tackling the problem is a good way for security pros to wow management. "There are very few things [security professionals can do] that get such visible results," said Jim Reavis, president of Reavis Consulting Group. Making it so that users get only a few junk e-mail messages each day rather than 200 is something you "can pat yourself on the back for," he said.

A spam-smashing security pro can then perhaps leverage that success to get money and management support for security issues that are more traditional, Reavis said. Taking care of spam has a tangible result that security pros can point to when asked what they have done for the company lately. Professionals lament that security often goes unappreciated by management. Since the nature of security is to keep things from happening, if nothing happens then it's a good thing. Less-enlightened executives may not recognize what an accomplishment that is.

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