Hello, Tell me the truth. Am I the only one, who, upon learning about the Solar Winds breach, was humming a Whitesnake song from 1982? As the song says: Here I go again on my own Goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known While the jury’s still out on whether I’m a drifter, if … Read more
Hello, This Fall 2020 issue brings us around to another National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) describes NCSAM’s goal as raising “awareness about the importance of cybersecurity across our Nation, ensuring that all Americans have the resources they need to be safer and more secure online.” That’s a … Read more
Hello, Albert Einstein is widely reputed to have said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. While Einstein never actually uttered these words, they are a useful illustration of much of what happens across the American cybersecurity community. Breached? Conventional wisdom says that the root cause is … Read more
Hello, As Cassius said to Brutus in Act I, Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves.” And so it is with the American cybersecurity community writ large. At the risk of igniting the fires of controversy, it’s time to draw a line in the … Read more
Hello, At the beginning of 2019, the American cybersecurity community finds itself at a crossroads. Perhaps it might be more appropriate to say that cybersecurity policymakers, technologists, and practitioners find themselves fighting a battle on two fronts. On one side, there’s the traditional hostile cyberspace. We expect this. We’ve trained for this. We’ve built for … Read more
Hello, 2018 marks the 15th anniversary of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), which is observed every October. NCSAM, a collaborative effort between government and industry, is intended to help ensure that every American has the resources needed to stay safer and more secure online. The 2018 NCSAM will focus on consumer cyber safety, recognizing … Read more
Hello, It is time to take off the polarized cyberglasses, America, because what we choose not to see can kill us. The language of cybersecurity is laced with modal verbs and their auxiliaries such as “should,” “must,” and “ought to.” These words and phrases are used to express ability, possibility, permission, or obligation. They enable … Read more
Hello, If you haven’t seen the Beatles’ 1968 animated masterpiece Yellow Submarine, you’re missing out on one of the great treasures of 20th-century cinema. There’s a scene in which Ringo and George are discussing George’s driving off in what Ringo says is his car: Ringo: Hey, that’s my car, lad. George: How do you know … Read more
Hello, It’s tempting to think of cybersecurity as an epic battle for control of global electronic resources, something waged between titans of technology, hidden armies of malicious actors and valiant defenders racing against the clock. That is the image portrayed on the big screen, and, not infrequently, at events like Black Hat, DEFCON and the … Read more
Hello, On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first man-made earth satellite, Sputnik 1. The American public was shocked by what appeared to be a triumph of Soviet engineering, and further dismayed by the televised, and spectacular, failure of the the American Vanguard Test Vehicle 3 launch vehicle two months later. Blame … Read more
