SCTR7: Data Science and Analytics

OVERVIEW For those interested in the rapidly emerging field of cybersecurity data science (CSDS), below is a corpus of 33 book-length works. The list covers publications going back to 2001, although two-thirds of the works (22 out of 33) were published in the last five years (2016 to 2020). The works cover a broad range […]

An Uncomfortable Status Quo This month, barely eight weeks from the WannaCry ransomware outbreak, yet another destructive worm attack has disabled systems and compromised data globally: PetrWrap (AKA NotPetya, Nyetya, or GoldenEye). Beleaguered cybersecurity professionals have responded yet again with a flurry of patches and guidance to plug the holes. Based on trending events, there is […]

This week generated a meme which nearly melted the internet: the case of the gold or blue dress. A picture of dress worn at a wedding was seen by some people as being gold and white and others as blue and black. A riotous global argument that cast friends and lovers against one another ensued. While […]

As many traditional industrial age business functions become subject to disintermediation by automation and expert analytics systems, new industries and value propositions will need to be framed by an emerging generation of leaders.

As an analytics professional, it may perhaps be no surprise that I believe in a world which is susceptible to analysis – a world which yields to scientific inquiry. Further, I believe that if we invest effort, if we exert what Kahneman would call our System 2, we can improve decisions and overcome our tendency […]

A link to a good article proposing that our minds evolved to see patterns and significance, predisposing us to magical and superstitious beliefs: http://theconversation.com/caveman-instincts-may-explain-our-belief-in-gods-and-ghosts-26945 This supports the notion that a major challenge in data science is overcoming our inbuilt behavioral predispositions, for instance the tendency to overfit data samples or to conflate correlation with causation. […]

Recent lecture ‘Introduction to Analytics’ given to Erasmus Rotterdam School of Management MBA and MIS students: Summary overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmG7FJhms2Q Part 1 of 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYYDrEV4wI Part 2 of 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYYDrEV4wI Part 3 of 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPsJx427rKE Part 4 of 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1yxe0XjLWg

A TedX talk I gave November 18th 2013 in Rotterdam, Netherlands at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). This talk distills many of the thoughts discussed in this blog. If you like it, please forward! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4d1DArZKgo

Increasingly sophisticated analytics tools and methods are available to derive business insight from data.  However, as a discipline which drives insight from data, the crucial ‘last step’ in the analytics process is about organizational decision making.  A sophisticated, intensive analysis may all be for naught if the crucial last step, framing and committing to a decision, misses the […]

Recently I was chastised for being ‘unnecessarily obscure’ for reacting to a specious conclusion by suggesting that it risked ‘conflating correlation with causation’. Guilty as charged!  I apologize:  the expression is quite a mouthful and requires unraveling for those unfamiliar with the nuances of the applied experimental method.  However, I feel passionately that this concept […]