The Victorians gave Oleander a fitting meaning: “Caution.”

For centuries, certain flowers and plants have been assigned meanings by different cultures; when a loved (or not-so-loved) one or acquaintance offered one of these blooms, they were sending a covert message, too. The Victorians were particularly enamored with “flower language” or floriography, and crafting floral arrangements to convey meanings was a rich element of that society’s cryptologic communications.

Roses? Depending on the shade, they could mean “desire”, “grace”, “friendship”... or a dozen other things. Daisies? “Innocence.” Tulips? “Passion.”

The Oleander plant (nerium oleander) is prized for its beautiful, fragrant, trumpet-shaped flowers that bloom all summer and fall. It can be planted in relatively inhospitable soils, including sand and clay, and still show quick and prolific growth. It even blooms in the shade.

Our digital universe has expanded by orders of magnitude we couldn’t have grasped just a few short years ago. Like the Oleander, this rapid growth and evolution has fostered much that attracts us... but not without introducing serious threats along the way.

Oleander Consulting specializes in recognizing and mitigating social threats in these complex times. We enable clients to benefit from and appreciate the most engaging aspects of the social media landscape, without losing sight of the inherent risk.

Let the Oleander remind you to proceed . . . with caution.

Davian Hoffman

Davian Hoffman, Founder, brings extensive investigative experience and deep expertise in the burgeoning field of social media threat intelligence to the Oleander Consulting team.

Her career as an investigator in private sector corporate environments has made her a trusted partner to security, legal, and human resources professionals navigating the vulnerabilities presented by our modern digital lives. Davian understands the risks and challenges inherent in the social media landscape, and enables her clients to set social media priorities and protocols based on data and practical analysis, rather than reaction or confusion.

Davian has worked extensively with myriad social media monitoring software platforms, including programs for threat monitoring, digital footprint mapping, and social media security and privacy training. Her social media threat intelligence expertise includes product analysis and recommendations, program design and customization, SaaS onboarding, and training.

Marilyn Paulis-Kneski

Marilyn Paulis-Kneski joins the Oleander Consulting Team after serving 20 years with the NYPD.  Marilyn retired as a detective from the Special Victims Queens Child Abuse Squad where she spent over half her career investigating cases. She is a trained forensic interviewer, and her experience as an investigator translates smoothly into understanding and evaluating threats in the online world of social media. Data mining and assessing the results in real time are also part of her skill set. 

Prior to joining the NYPD, Marilyn was a consultant for KPMG in their Forensic and Litigation Department. She investigated fraudulent business practices in a billion dollar class action lawsuit and compiled databases in regards to corruption within a major city’s largest municipal public employee union.