In mid-2009, after a flurry of Twitter activity on the subject, Craig Balding established Fudsec. He felt that, since Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt was permeating the world of information security, there should be a place where information security professionals could rebut it, could stake claims to intellectual honesty and begin conversations about issues of community interest.

"Fudsec," Craig wrote, "was created to showcase bad examples of Information Security marketing. Anytime the marketing message from an Information Security vendor or provider makes you feel Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD!)...or just plain dirty, let us know and we'll feature it here."

The Twitter effect was certainly responsible for the site's rapid growth, and by many measures the site has been a great success. Readership for each of the more than 30 posts to date has averaged several thousand, and the feedback generated has been highly positive. Each entry has a call to action. Not all posts draw comments on the site. All posts have sparked conversations - some highly charged, some in violent agreement, some in lively debate.

The list of contributors to date reads like a Who's Who of the information security world - in alphabetical order, posts have been contributed by Iftach Ian Amit, Paul Asadoorian, Balazs Attila-Mihaly, Richard Bejtlich, Carl Brooks, Anton Chuvakin, Justin Clarke, Joshua Corman, Rocky DeStefano, Drazen Drazic, David Etue, Will Gragido, Jeremiah Grossman, Brian Honan, Peter Kuper, Lori MacVittie, Haroon Meer, Ewout Meij, Chris Nickerson, Dale Pearson, Larry Pesce, George Reese, Wim Remes, Kevin Riggins, Chris John Riley, Mike Rothman, Nick Selby, Shrdlu, Jayson Street, Chris Swan, Vince Tuesday and Amrit Williams

Now Craig is passing the baton, curtailing his online activities to turn his attention to his growing family, and a new team will be running Fudsec - in Craig's words, "two of Fudsec's biggest fans and notable contributors." You can expect the same level of integrity as before, and the potential for some new debate, or even some new services. A podcast is not out of the question.

The Fudsec site will remain true to Craig's original and important vision: intellectual honesty, an open forum where the known and the not-so-well known can contribute to the conversation. Where voices from all continents and cultures will find an audience.

As he passed the torch, Craig passed on some thoughts about how the site should be continued. A small sample of what currently comprises our mission statement:

"We need to go beyond acknowledging the FUD elephant in the room. We need to exorcise the demon from within...or ultimately we will be "without". Fudsec is the place to initiate that. We don't claim sole rights on the FUD meme, but we built a launchpad and every week aim rockets at the collective infosec consciousness...A Fudsec piece without a call to action is an operating system without an application."

If you'd like to write for Fudsec, please let us know at fudsec[at] gmail [dot ] com.