Mapping Security

It is rare to find an enterprise network these days that does not span or interact with servers and networks in other countries. Even small and medium businesses often have a need to traverse country borders in order to do business. Tom Patterson brings years of expertise and experience to the table in presenting how to do business in countries throughout the world.

The Book

The book opens with a rather lengthy discussion about Patterson's experience and credentials regarding this subject, why he felt that this book was necessary and detailing the layour and format of the book.

Section I is titled Charting a Course. This section lays out a groundwork regarding the global economy and the challenges of doing business around the world. Different laws and different customs combined with different cultural priorities make for entirely different points of view.

The second section, Reality, Illusion, and the Souk, provides a country by country assessment of the pros and cons of doing business in or establishing a network or server presence in various locations. The countries are blocked together by region such as Europe, the Middle East and Africa, etc.

The final section, Whose Law Do I Break?, provides a more in depth look at some of the legal and regulatory concerns around the world and gives some insight from Patterson into where the future of global networking may take us.

My Review

This book is not really a network security book. In reality, it is barely about computers or technology at all. This book is essentially a guide to doing business across cultural and physical borders.

Patterson does a pretty good job of explaining why a book like this is needed or how it can provide value to companies today. I have lived in different places throughout the world and I can attest to the fact that citizens of the United States look at the world through very 'USA-centric' glasses and this arrogance coupled with ignorance gives a bad impression to the citizens of other nations.

This is no secret or revelation per se, but Patterson helps bring it into the context of doing business and helping the reader understand how to cope with legal, ethical, cultural and societal differences while trying to do business in a global economy.

A good percentage of the book is dedicated to country-by-country breakdowns; providing pros and cons for doing business in each country and quantifying each with his MSI (Mapping Security Index) to enable a comparison of one country to the next.

Corporate executives and those responsible for negotiating international business should definitely read this book and keep it handy as a reference.