By Frank J. Cilluffo & Sharon L. Cardash
Given the flurry of recent cyber attacks and the significant attention these issues have generated of late, we had high expectations for a forward-leaning DoD Cyber Strategy. Unfortunately we were underwhelmed.
I love to be connected everywhere, and I use public WiFi a lot. But I have to be very careful when I use it. Why is that? Simply because there are lots of ways the bad guys can hurt you if you are not. Here are some of the tactics they use to steal your information and hack your computer.
“FEMA will not save you,” said Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The new DoD Cyber Policy, “DoD Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace,” released on July 14, turned out to be quite a good document in my opinion. It is not without fault, but in Washington, D.C., what is? The document outlines five Strategic Initiatives, all of which touch on where the Defense Cyber folks want to go in the future. The direction is correct and speaks well of the practicality of the Department on an issue that is fraught with way to little of anything grounded in reality. Let’s look at the five initiatives.
OK, I admit to being a Star Wars fan. One of the films’ story lines is the Empire’s attempt to strike back against the rebel forces and crush them. As in time honored tradition back here on Earth, the strategy never works. Watching the not-so-swift vengeance of governments against the Lulzs of the world after the recent spate of internet attacks – well, here we go again.
I have called many times for better cyber personal hygiene and still believe we need to seek it, teach it, and require it as at least a partial mitigation element. I have even said that “you cannot secure against stupid.” Yet, a colleague argued that technology design should do a better job of protecting users. Here is an article – followed by my colleague’s commentary – on this interesting question: who is to blame for our cyber problems?
The Associated Press: Supreme Court to review warrantless GPS tracking The Justice Department argued that warrantless use of GPS devices does not violate the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches. It also said prompt resolution of the divergent court opinions is critically important to law enforcement.
One of the more interesting parts of the rejuvenated Anarchist movement has been the adoption of Guy Fawkes as a hero. The Internet movements like Anonymous and a number of other Lulzs have been doing their level Guy Fawkes’ best to flex their muscles against the man. And so Uncle Sam, in the guise of the U.S. Government, is finding out the wild frontier of cyber space is not about to be intimidated by Washington laws or declarations. We focus on nation states. In the new frontier, all the Guy Fawkes are the same.
Superconductor: How useful is de-identification for protecting privacy? The claim that the de-identification of personal data has no value and does not protect privacy due to the ease of re-identification is a myth. If proper de-identification techniques and re-identification risk measurement procedures are used, re-identification remains a relatively difficult task. However, we recognize that this […]
The Bitcoin Heist: Not the First, Not the Last « Speaking of Security – The RSA Blog and Podcast With the ability to play completely anonymously with e-currency (thanks to the infrastructure that was established to support the underground trading) targeting e-currency services became a great way for making a quick buck. Fraudsters are already […]
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