Hello World!

Well, I've officially set up a blog...

And, I figured I'd start it off with a little introductions. My name is Blake R. Waud, I am a Certified Public Accountant working through my third year in the field. About a year ago, I began to move into the IT Audit group of my firm (specifically the IT Assurance and Security group). I am so far extremely happy with this move, IT auditing is so much more rewarding to me than financial statement auditing (where you basically tick and tie the numbers out).

Don't get me wrong, financial statement audits are important and serve a very specific public function that needs to be fulfilled, I just don't like doing it that much. I am not sure what it is, but I always get exhausted when I perform financial statement audit stuff.

Now, IT Audit, that's where things get interesting. This field is changing non-stop, I've been in it almost 2 years now and it's already radically different than when I first started. I love the challenge all the information poses and I further love the people. Maybe they are just the kind of people I've always got along with the best, but IT professionals just click with me.

I love to go into their areas, see how they work, see where I can help, and see where I can learn from them (yes I learn something from every client I visit - it is imperative to me actually that I do).

But, now that I've been doing this awhile, it is time to dig into my real passion - IT Security. I love security, and I am even more passionate about white hat side of it all. My goal is to become a respected ethical hacker/penetration tester in the field with a strong business background so that I can bring unique perspective.

To that end, I have begun to develop my personal brand, and this blog is part of that effort.

This blog will be a collection of information that I have learned and synthesized. I will post helpful recommendations and basic info that I have picked up along the way. Not only will this be available to everyone who reads this blog (and I do hope it helps some people), but it will help me know where I have come from and help me remember and find things I have researched.

So, without further ado...