Fediverse Infosec Seed File

Did you just join an instance on the fediverse? Are you interested in Information Security and looking for some people on the fediverse to follow? This file will get you started. It lists a lot of folks who are well-known in the #infosec community who have public profiles. The goal of this file is to give you a way, in a handful of clicks, to follow a whole bunch of useful people and get your timeline flowing with some of that tasty infosec goodness. I call it a "seed" file because it gets your mastodon profile seeded. You still need to tend your follow list and make it grow.

How to use this file

This is a simple comma-separated values file (CSV) that lists users one per line.

1. Download the infosec-seedfile.csv file from this repository
2. Select to your Profile in the web browser. I.e., visit your Mastodon instance, click on yourself.
3. Select Preferences (see screenshot above ↑)
4. Select Import/Export and look for the Import option
5. Click on "Browse..." and select the infosec-fediverse.csv file that you downloaded
6. Make sure Merge is selected, unless you really want to get rid of everyone you're currently following.
7. Select 'Upload'

That's it. Your account will follow all the people in this file. You can obviously (a) edit the file before you do this, if there's someone in there you don't want to follow, or (b) visit your followers list later and unfollow someone.

FAQ

Who is on this list?

It's just people that I happened to know of. I expect, over time, I will get more and more suggestions.

Why are they on this list?

They're just people I know of. People on this list are not being endorsed in any way. People who are not on this list are not being denigrated in any way. To demonstrate sincerity, I have left myself off the list. Using this list doesn't get me additional followers. If you want to follow me, visit my profile and follow me.

I am on the list and I want to get off the list!

I'm really sorry. I definitely didn't intend any harm. Just send me a message via Mastodon and I'll remove you from the list.

I am not on the list and I want to get on the list!

You left out so-and-so and they should totally be on this list!

Tell me about them! I want to include them. You can DM me on Mastodon or cut a pull request to the repo. I currently have 2 rules for inclusion on this list:

• The person should be established in InfoSec. This is how people who are new to the #fediverse find established infosec voices on it.
• I don't accept self-nominations. If this is a person who others should follow, then someone other than the person should nominate them
  • Check to make sure they're OK with being included
  • In the spirit of #sharethemic I would love to help infosec voices from underrepresented groups get some amplification. If we need additional seed files for those sorts of people, I'm happy to host it in this repo, or someone can fork/own that separately.

Who made you king of Infosec? Why do you get to make the list and the rules?

Nobody made me king and I don't make rules for anyone but myself. This list exists to the extent that it helps people. And if it doesn't help people, we can trash it and put it away. Don't like how I do this? Fork it and do your own. Don't even want to fork it? Fine, use the knowledge you've gained here and go on to do bigger better things your own way.

I want lots of followers! How do I do that if I can't get on this list!?

Toot some good infosec content. The followers will come. Join a good Infosec-oriented Mastodon instance like infosec.exchange or ioc.exchange and watch the local timelines. If you join one of those and toot valuable content, people will see it.

Followers don't work on the fediverse like they did in other places. Don't get too fixated on how many you have. It's different here.