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Who Is Mark Stone
Anyway?
When I began writing the book, my writing experience was primarily focused on the Information Security industry. After completing the novel, which has a strong Hollywood/celebrity component, I realized that I should explore my passion for the entertainment industry. It wasn't long before I was writing a daily Hollywood gossip column, Celebrity Soup, for Kelowna's most popular website. The success of Celebrity Soup lead to a regular gig writing entertainment articles for the Kelowna Daily Courier newspaper. Although I no longer write about information security, I still write about technology for the Okanagan Business Examiner, a local business magazine.
I've been in the Information Technology industry for over 20 years, the last 9 of which have been specifically in Information Security. I have been a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) since 2001, and a strong advocate for promoting computer security awareness and policy in organizations. I believe that security is not solved with technology, but with solid security awareness and knowledge from the company’s employees and management. I work with Human Resources departments and ensure they are the catalyst for promoting proper information security policies and procedures in their organizations.
Before moving to Kelowna, I was an information security analyst for a large government organization. What began as a job monitoring firewall and intrusion detection logs, morphed into a position in which the monitoring was more of the company’s employees and their online adventures. I’m sure everything I saw was nothing worse than you’d find at any given organization, but some of the issues were shocking, even for a guy who thought he’d seen it all. I would have loved to write a tell-all about everything I came acrosss, but didn’t want to get sued. Thus, Behind the Screen was born. I was able to fictionalize my experiences, and create a wild thriller of a plot all at once.
Writing the novel was a wonderful experience. It made me realize that writing is something I want to do for the rest of my life, and that it is my life’s passion. My wife Reena and I read a ton of books and watch a whole lot of movies. Nothing impresses us more than great writing, whether it’s for a book, TV, or film. The biggest thrill for me would be to see my novel turned into a major motion picture. I hope there's a studio exec reading this right now....