The security community has curious norms for social status, when viewed from the outside. This is true of many communities. (A brief sampling: karma on HN loo

The security community has curious norms for social status, when viewed from the outside. This is true of many communities. (A brief sampling: karma on HN looks crazy to Japanese salarymen. An open-floorplan desk closest to the window looks crazy to an American academic. "Your name, in small print, first among three names in a dead-tree publication that no one reads." sounds pretty crazy to most HNers.) There's very curious mating rituals for selling security consulting. Ask Thomas for the specifics -- he's far better versed in them than I am. Suffice it to say that "I owned X -- here's proof" is very much not of zero value while you're doing that dance.