Recently I have begun to think about the strengths that make a good CISO. Some of those include technical understanding, business acumen, strategic vision, collaborative mindset, risk management mindset, and probably many others that I missed. These are traits that are similar to ones found in very successful security entrepreneurs. As I look across the…
DetailsMost of you reading this are security practitioners, and I can safely assume that each of you has discussed this topic at conferences and airports for years: Is our role a thankless one, and one doomed for failure? A recent article in the New York Times on July 20, 20141 provided an objective look at…
DetailsThere is no task more difficult for a CISO than stepping into that role at a large organization that has never had a CISO and has recently experienced a devastating breach that is at least partly responsible for the departure of senior IT management and the CEO. securitycurrent polled its contributors to compile advice for…
DetailsOne of the most difficult decisions a CISO has to make is the one that says the organization suffered a data breach. A data breach starts a chain of events that could eventually result in loss of company reputation, financial expenditures for credit monitoring of affected individuals, and possible regulatory and legal fines. Not surprisingly, the…
DetailsLife as a Chief Information Security Officer can oftentimes be hard on the ego. It is surely one career in which it is easy to fall in to an identity crises (which is a different “identity management” than we are used to dealing with). How many times have we heard that the position of a…
DetailsYou almost have to be on some deserted island with no Internet access to have not heard about the OpenSSL Heartbleed vulnerability. This vulnerability is very serious and pervasive because of a few simple reasons: 1) it allows attackers to be able to dump a target’s memory which can include among other things, usernames/passwords, emails…
DetailsThursday, April 18 started out as a normal day (except for all of the Heartbleed hubbub), that was, until we realized that the University had been hit with about 32K of phishing emails. I have to hand it to the phishers, they did a really nice job. An email, signed by one of our help…
DetailsDoing security at a university is both interesting and scary. Because you have to provide both an open environment for research and instruction, and enterprise level security for the business of the university, you really need to think way outside of the boxes that are available on the market. It occurred to me that many…
DetailsThe number of breaches that have occurred in the past 12 months (Target, U of MD, etc.) serve as a warning that traditional defense mechanisms are not working. I ask audiences of security professionals that I address at conferences and other venues if they would let me ping machines inside their net from my site.…
DetailsThere are tellers of tales and debunkers of myths. An organization needs both. An example: the March of Dimes needed people to have the vision of eradicating Polio. Its very transition from being called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to becoming the popularly known March of Dimes needed the contributions of folks who could…
DetailsOne would think that working in a very prestigious university would simplify the job of the security department. All you would have to do is tell people what was required and those people, with very large IQs, would understand and follow these simple (or not so simple) rules: Don’t click on stuff Don’t open attachments…
DetailsYou know you’ve reached a point in your career when you get asked to give a talk on how IT has evolved over the past 10-15 years. I guess it’s a polite way of saying that you’ve been around for some time in the industry. Well, I was asked to do a talk on how IT Security…
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