By Christopher Buse, Audit and Security Leader and Former CISO for the State of MinnesotaJune 18, 2020 We are living in unprecedented times; times when many people are stepping up to the plate to keep our businesses, government, and citizens safe. As a former government security leader, I saw firsthand the vital role that cyber security professionals play in protecting our critical infrastructure. Cyber security professionals often work long hours, collectively and creatively solving complex and dynamic problems. We are blessed to have these heroes in our midst. It bothered me that the important work of cyber security professionals went ...

By Andrew Borene, JD CISSPJune 16, 2020 Leaders with higher emotional quotient, or “EQ”, bring greater success to their organizations. We’ve been talking about emotional intelligence for years, but it has never been more important than it is in these very challenging times for ourselves, our teams, our Twin Cities community and our entire nation. We are all confronted daily with fear, disruptions to our lives and real uncertainty about issues related to public health, governance and the future of our economy. We also can reasonably expect a challenging period ahead for team unity and effort, as we know politics ...

By Chrysa Freeman, Security Program Manager, Code42June 18, 2020 There are many ways to lead people, some are more effective than others and there are lots of experts in the field of leadership. I don’t propose to be an expert, but as someone who has observed good leaders and bad leaders, there are some traits that I think are critical for success which translate perfectly in supporting a successful Security Awareness program. In my summation, the measuring stick of a visionary leader is whether or not you are getting positive results over time. Short term results are not hard to ...

By Dr. Massoud Amin, Professor - University of Minnesota and Cofounder/Past Chairman - Cyber Security SummitJune 18, 2020 The Why: Complexity, systems dynamics and interdependencies Around 1600, John Donne, an English poet and preacher, delivered a sermon that began: “No man is an island.” Today, a less poetic, but more politically and technologically correct, version of this sentiment might be: “All human beings are interconnected through complex interactive dynamic networks and systems.” As our society, enterprises and industries, and the world, grow more interconnected, we are becoming surrounded by complex networked systems. These systems consist of numerous components interlinked in ...

By Jennifer Czaplewski, Director of Product Security, Target May 21, 2020 Predicting the future is hard. I’m pretty sure at least 99% of us had no inclination 3 months ago that the entire world would be operating like it is today. I’ve seen people describe themselves as a “futurist” and that’s not a title I ever expect to be given (or give myself), but I do operate by one of my favorite quotes from Louis Pasteur which is “chance favors the prepared mind.” And for Cyber Security, and my specific field Application Security, I think that’s where the future is ...

By Tony Sager, CIS Senior Vice President and Chief Evangelist May 21, 2020 "The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet."William Gibson When we think about the future of cybersecurity, it’s only natural to focus on exciting new technology. However, it’s also important to consider the threats that might be associated with said new technology. For example, 5G brings the opportunity for vastly greater capacity and capability for businesses and consumers; it also induces profound changes in the nature of communications. And, like every hyper-hyped new technology, 5G is rolling out faster than we can make sense of ...

By Mary Frantz, Founder & Managing Partner, Enterprise Knowledge Partners, LLC May 21, 2020 The cybersecurity industry has continued on a steady migration from being reactive to proactive, enhanced by mobile and cloud, and moving from a known threat-based prevention model to an artificial intelligence (AI) predictive and resilience model. At the same time, the threat actors have become more sophisticated, better-funded, and have formed global collaborative specialized groups. They have the ability to mine stolen and legally scraped social intelligence, and store large, historically aggregated blobs of PII, resulting in sophisticated behavior-based and social engineering exploits. Technology continues to ...

By Tom Patterson, Chief Trust Officer, Unisys Corporation May 21, 2020 The U.S. is at a critical moment in time. We face a backdrop of ever-increasing cybersecurity threats coupled with an ever-increasing dependence on internet technologies critical to almost every facet of our day-to-day lives. And both the security risks we face and our reliance on internet technologies has been all the more magnified as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world over the past few months. Now more than ever, people are dependent on their home Wi-Fi networks, connecting with colleagues through platforms like Zoom, ...

Thank you to all critical infrastructure sectors for your continued focus and dedication during this challenging time. The Electric Sector continues working hard to “keep the lights on” and coordinate together on mitigation efforts related to COVID-19. One example is the joint work facilitated by the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council and their key message during the COVID-19 response as follows: “Protecting the energy grid and ensuring a safe and reliable supply of electricity are the top priorities of the electric power industry." One item of note that the ESCC provides is a COVID-19 Resource Guide that has been updated four ...