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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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By Kathy Washenberger, Director Information Security/GRC April 15, 2020 This current environment has many attackers targeting small businesses. Attackers want to exploit areas they perceive to be the weakest. As a way to combat these attackers and provide you with some practical ways to recognize issues early, here are some things you can be thinking about as you continue to run your small business as best as you can with limited resources. Know Your RiskOne of the biggest issues is simply understanding what potential attackers may want to gain from your business. Attackers are looking for financial gain, so any ...
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By Chris Veltos, Cyber Risk Strategist; Digital Trust Advisor; Dr. InfoSecApril 15, 2020 This past month has been one for the record books. IT and cybersecurity staff across the globe have managed to move tens or possibly hundreds of databases, applications, and services online so their organization could continue operating. That initial shift happened with a laser-like focus on continuity of operations, with everyone doing the best they could with the time and the information they had. It worked and got us this far, but the adrenaline is slowly wearing off, and with it so is our patience for poor ...
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By Eileen Manning, Executive Producer, Cyber Security Summit April 15, 2020 As the Summit enters its 10th year connecting cyber security leaders to drive change and protect our global infrastructure, we do so in precarious times. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the world as we know it, and as we collectively work to “flatten the curve,” this newsletter will embody the Summit’s driving mission of keeping the community connected during this time of unprecedented upheaval. Each month we will address a different critical issue, and what better way to kick it all off than with a collection of resources aimed ...
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