Speech and book reviews, expert interviews and news you can use on cyber-security, U.S. national security and global security matters from Lisa Bernard, President of Lisa Bernard's SecuritySpeak, LLC - a private consulting firm and speakers bureau.
Heads up TV journalism fans and those concerned with
American and Russian politics and relations.I urge you to view two broadcasts
airing, ironically, in the same time slot on Sunday evening, June 4, 2017 at
7:00 p.m. ET. One is the venerable 60 Minutes (CBS) on which a story about the “mysterious attacks on
the lives of Russian activists” will lead.The other is Sunday Night with Megyn
Kelly, (NBC), the premier episode, featuring the stalwart Megyn Kelly’s interview
with Russian President Vladimir Putin.As
an American Independent (politically speaking) and a disciple of Realpolitik—particularly
where Soviet-turned -Russian rulers are concerned—I expect that the veneer of Vladimir
Putin’s carefully constructed image and well-orchestrated public persona will
be unglued before us on two fronts.We as a nation need clarity on him, his means
and his objectives in order to assess our own vulnerabilities and possibilities at this critical
time in our still very young democracy’s trajectory.
Ladies, its 2017 and time to get your cyber-safety on!Join us for a CyberSalon with Ami Soifer,
world-class engineer of IT designs and the CEO who bridges the cyber-security
and hardware worlds.This is a relaxed, “whine”
and cheese, end-of-the-day event to provide a safe space for the questions you
know you need to ask about passwords, servers and settings(oh my!) , but haven’t
made the time to … until now:
Wednesday,
January 11, 2017
55
Greens Farms Road, Westport, CT06880
5-minutes from Westport’s Saugatuck Metro
North Station (shuttle-service available) and 5-minutes off I-95 Exit 17 or 18
with free parking on-site
3:15
p.m.Charge-up your devices and wind-down with wine and cheese
3:30
p.m.Insights, Guidance and Remarks by Ami Soifer
4:00
p.m. – 5:00 p.m.Q&A and workshop-style exchange
$36
a lady.Completed registration required by
Monday, 1/9/17, as seating is limited.
Hit
reply or email LisaBernard@SecuritySpeak.net to start
your registration.We need to know
what’s on your mind and about your mobile phones, tablets and other devices.
Sign-up
with a colleague, mom, sister, daughter or pal!And remember:Share - or be
square!
I arrived in
Arlington, Virginia, at News Channel 8 Studios to meet Robert "Bob" Bigman before he
went on the air as Francis Rose’s guest on Government
Matters.From the get-go, I sensed
the “quiet celebrity” he enjoys among those in-the-know in Washington, D.C.He is the man who served for thirty years at
the Central Intelligence Agency – most of the latter years as Chief
Information Security Officer (CISO).Simply
put, he kept the CIA’s data secure.Now, at a time when most Americans – private citizens
and public officials – feel the threat or pain of being hacked, Bob's
insights seem particularly pertinent and his achievements especially notable.I was delighted that this down-to-earth professional – who
for so long was under the radar – was graciously coming into the
spotlight to share his sense of this with us. What he conveyed was as inspiring as it was stirring.His cheerful manner and serene demeanor bespoke
a guarded “could-be-done” attitude about recovering the upper hand in the cyber security challenges we face – “guarded”
being the operative word.My takeaway
was that we Americans can combat these
threats provided 1) our resolve comes with calm, candor and clarity about
the nature of the technologies and the humans who engage them and 2) that we
have devoted leadership at the organizational and national levels.
LISA BERNARD: On one thing all cyber-security experts agree: human behavior and psychology loom large as key factors. We are a nation of e-consumers, wed to convenience and beginning to integrate into the job force a generation raised on the efficiency of their smart phones. Bob, what will it take - new technology or a crisis - to shift the pendulum from user-myopia to individual vigilance?
LISA BERNARD: We are electing ourselves a new Commander-in-Chief next month and although it is now common knowledge that the software we use is outdated - even in our nuclear missile systems - we hear little about this from the candidates. Just how outdated is government software and why are antiquated systems still in use?
LISA BERNARD: Many of my followers are CISOs themselves or CEOs who rely on them. With the proliferation of mobile devices and the trend toward super-computing what advice can you give them?
LISA BERNARD: If our next POTUS appointed you "Tsar of Cyber Security," with all the resources you would need to set our nation on a modern and safe course, what would be your first priority?
LISA BERNARD: Since leaving government service, as a consultant,you have been moving the dial, persuading firms to move toward more managed and isolated networks. In the private sector, where the internet is like oxygen, how are you doing this?
ROBERT BIGMAN: The really bad news is that even if you wanted to stay disconnected, increasingly, technology and the evolution of your world will connect you. The marketplace has already determined that you're going to stay connected to the internet. So what can you do? Start with your biggest risk - which is how you and your devices - computers, mobile devices, smart phones - how they actually connect to the internet. Know that to ameliorate this risk, you just can't simply any longer rely on commercial capabilities like firewalls, modems and router protection and control lists. There's a collection of simple things you can do. First, I recommend that you NOT use commercial applications like Windows or Adobe. Instead use alternative operating systems like Ubuntu and Opera as a browser.
LISA BERNARD: What products are now available to make this "shift" possible and attractive in a culture that is hyper-connected?
ROBERT BIGMAN:There are
probably very few products that I would recommend where you can say that if you
buy this product that you can secure your data completely and your don’t have
to worry any more.In fact, there are no
products like that despite what vendors will tell you.What I
find is the biggest problem is that organizations simply don’t understand the
risks to their systems, their networks, and their data and they too often – as
a result of attending the RSA conference, the Black Hat conference, the DefCon
conference – they too often fall into the trap of using technology to solve
very complex problems that require people issues, process issues, policy issues
and yes, some technology issues.But trying
to address them with just technology is the number one mistake. And I know the vendors don’t want you to hear
that message, but the fact is that unless you have a cyber-security program and that you have as the component
parts of governance, IT management, public policies and processes, no matter
how much technology you buy, you’ll still get beat.And every event, every incident I’ve been
involved where we’ve investigated – unauthorized access, penetration, hacking,
unauthorized use of data – all involve the process and policy issues violations
as ever as they involve misuse or improper technology.
###
Bob Bigman is available for briefings, talks and workshops via Lisa Bernard's SecuritySpeak, LLC. See his bio at www.SecuritySpeak.net. To discuss the particulars of hosting him, phone (203) 293-4741 or email LisaBernard@SecuritySpeak.net.
Like many of you, I ease back into the workweek on Sunday
evenings getting a jumpstart on things with 60 Minutes in the background giving
me a heads-up on developing matters here and abroad.This Sunday, Sharyn Alfonsi’s segment, Hacking Your Phone, jolted me back to
business.If you missed the program,
here’s the takeaway: your smart phone is
defenseless against hacking and executives are particularly targeted.Watching a U.S. Congressman’s mobile phone
hacked in seconds, I reacted childishly – hoping it just wasn’t so.But when I reached out to my speaker, Robert Bigman, former CISO of the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency – under whose watch the CIA was never hacked – I learned that, in fact,
that our mobile phones and their networks are, indeed, entirely vulnerable and for simple reasons. I asked him what my clients and readers need to know and what they can do to protect the privacy of their calls and their clients' information discussed in those conversations. He shared:
It has been recognized for some time now that while cell (smart) phone is a new technology, the protocols that it uses to maintain wireless sessions, collect and communicate caller/device meta data and interface with the "wired" world, is decades old software and replete with vulnerabilities. These "wired" world protocols (collectively known as Signals System 7), lack session authentication/integrity mechanisms and thus, are subject to call spoofing and redirection attacks. Cell phone users should also understand that while the "smart" devices contain incredible processing and communication capabilities, they are no more secure than your desktop/laptop computer running Windows or Linux operating systems. Smart phones, like other computers, lack trusted "boot" protection, are written in coding languages that facilitate vulnerabilities, and allow applications to run that also expose the computer's operating system to memory exploitation. Your best bet for securing cell phone conversations (although far from guaranteed) is to use a separate/dedicated phone device with only an encrypted Voice Over IP (VOIP) application that, hopefully, satisfies the Federal standard for system cryptography (NIST FIPS Pub. 140-2).
