Author: Sandeep Singh

I finished my work at 5:00 AM in the morning as usual and unfortunately was not feeling sleepy so what next? Yes! It’s the Ahaa Moment of the Day – Why not pen down the spirit that keeps us ticking! I decided to write about the spirit of null that keeps us ticking and keeps it running faster every day.

We just celebrated our fifth birthday. Although our birth certificate (certificate of incorporation as a not for profit society) says we are still only 3 years old because we got registered as a non-profit body in the year 2010 but we initially started our activities in the month of October in the year 2008 so that makes us 5 years old now. In our nation our birth certificate is the only thing that always makes us younger ;).

Initially started in Pune and now having nine active local chapters (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mysore, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Chandigarh) as a write this blog, with more than 30 moderators always engaged in keeping the activities in pace. Monthly meets, Humla and Bachaav workshops every month covering various advanced areas of Information Security and new additions like null Puliya short training programs are constantly helping us head towards our vision which is “Immunity from security”.

It’s the spirit of null which has made us reach to this level in contributing to the Information Security community in India. When I am already started talking about our activities how can I forget the most important part of our day to day activities which is our very own mailing list. We have more than 4000 active members in the mailing list always involved in some kind of conversations helping out someone or the other. Excellent piece of moderation by our mailing list mod (Kudos to w3bd3vil?), null mailing list provides null a unique identity and proves our genuine effort towards security.

Be it any domain I personally believe it’s the jobseekers in that domain who showcase the beauty of their domain so we cannot forget the jobseekers in the Information Security community and we have always been with the jobseekers with our null jobs portal (http://jobs.nullcon.net). Once again the credit goes to the moderator (C0rrupt) for consistently managing it so well and not to forget a special thanks to the employers and their reps who regularly post on null jobs

It’s always a topic of debate across the globe about what should be ones approach towards disclosing a bug if he/she has found one. In order to help young and seasoned professionals disclose responsibly a bug which they find in a particular system/software/network, etc. we invest our time and effort towards managing the Keeda project (http://keeda.null.co.in). Our bug submitter policy clearly states, “We provide a cover for bug submitter against any direct action by vendor in case vendor thinks that it’s a breach / violation” which shows our intention behind running this project.

When all around the year we get distressed with the same schedule and same workaholic stuffs, we gather at a heavenly place to achieve Nirvana in our life. Yes! I am talking about Goa. It’s like Diwali, Eid and Christmas all at the same time for us. NullCon has a place in our lives which is the same like any other festival. I wonder what is going to happen this year as we are celebrating our fifth year. Nullcon V on V Day (I have an intuition that my love for nullcon might break me up with my Girlfriend this year 😀 ). Hope to see you all as always at Goa this year on V Day

I am still trying to figure out as a chapter lead or a moderator as what keeps me/us ticking but no matter if I am running short of a deadline I have been given at work, no matter if I have not slept for two days but I would never forget to hunt for speakers for monthly meets, send them invites to talk, follow up with them, manage the venue and what not. Everything on time and either on the third Saturday and fourth Saturday of every month we are ready to meet, to talk, to chit chat, to discuss and to have b33r. This is the spirit of null

The moderators act as a blood for the community and constantly keep the activities running. It is somewhat not possible to write down the efforts done by chapter moderators to arrange each monthly meet and all because they all have a common love – love of sharing knowledge and meeting like-minded people without any self-interest. Thanks to Akash (aka) for serving as a wonderful bridge among all chapters and keeping all chapters focused and connected towards our common goal towards information and knowledge sharing. A big thank you to all chapter moderators/leads for their love towards the community and the constant efforts which makes us a distinguished platform in the information security arena

Thanks to Aseem and thanks to that specific moment when it clicked into his mind and he headed to towards starting this beautiful community. Thanks to all the members who drive this community and are moving ahead with us in our wonderful journey towards immunity from security. I cannot more than thank to all of you who are a part of this family and make us feel special. Looking at this community I can definitely say, “Security is a Beautiful Thing”

Please excuse any grammatical error or typos as I am a security professional just trying to be a blogger 😛