Author: bacohido

As tragic as it is, we are in a space where video has become a crucial asset in wartime.

Related: Apple tool used as warfare weapon

Ukraine’s defense against Russian invaders has changed the role of video. Accessing video-based intelligence at the right time and place is a very effective method for gaining information about the constantly changing military landscape.

As we have seen since the early days of the Ukrainian invasion, video plays a crucial role in showing hostile troop movements and the general disposition of the arena. Beyond simply capturing video, strategic and tactical decision-makers also benefit from the ability to quickly and appropriately share video-based intelligence.

It has been critical in optimizing the efficacy of a smaller Ukrainian force by coordinating with coalition partners worldwide.

Value of protocols

Technological innovations have widely been credited for helping Ukraine even the odds against Russia’s military might. Internet protocol-based video solutions are increasingly important in getting the best insights to the right people at the right time, especially in the context of C4ISR.

C4ISR stands for Command, Control, Communications, Computers (C4) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). Advanced C4ISR capabilities offer players in active theatres of operation an opportunity to secure and maintain strategic and tactical advantage through enhanced situational awareness and knowledge of the adversary and environment by shortening the time between sensing and response.

Rushton

In the past, video applications have been governed by military specifications that were often unique to individual countries or coalitions, which made sharing sensitive intelligence difficult.

However, during the war in Ukraine, NATO has set a standard and has been able to communicate essential video intelligence with the Ukrainian military and first responders. It has enhanced the ability to attack a target while protecting — and recovering — from hostile actions.

Metadata’s role

As important as the video content itself is, there is an even more critical element: metadata. Metadata is the information embedded within video files that allow users to identify the file’s characteristics, making it easier to search, use and manage the video while confirming the accuracy, credibility and utility of the intelligence captured.

Video metadata includes the date the video was created, the creator’s name, location, date of upload, and even the camera ID. Based on these, and other critical data points, staff and leaders can validate data and ensure proper handling and dissemination of information based on policies designed to protect assets, sources and methods.

For this reason, it is important to ensure interoperability at this metadata level and enhanced commercial standards are boosting the effectiveness of Ukraine’s defence. Netflix and Amazon Prime, utilize video standards to compress data into formats that are streamed live or packaged up for efficient data downloads. Minimizing bandwidth while maintaining the best clarity and picture quality is a crucial business and economic factor.

Reliably reducing bandwidth usage  is also a critical issue in military theatres of operation. It is important for ISR video intelligence to be shared across a range of devices. Compression standards allow ISR infrastructures to be agnostic to the networking and endpoint environment.

As a result, while a wide variety of equipment is deployed in the field, the coalition partners supporting Ukraine can share data in a format that anybody can use. Utilizing the standardized codecs used for streaming video makes this manageable.

Stringent measures

In wartime situations, like the war in Ukraine, it is vital to implement the most stringent security measures to protect video intelligence by securing lines of communication through encryption and other strict security practices, including proper authentication and authorization. Thus metadata and standards play a vital role in sharing and controlling data?

IP video encryption is an essential layer of security that ensures data is safe — even if it is intercepted. There are many sources of video intelligence, including data that civilians provide. Citizens who are unable — or unwilling– to flee are making considerable contributions to intelligence efforts simply by utilizing their cell phones to post videos.

To ensure their safety and ongoing participation in the intelligence-gathering process, measures must be put in place to protect citizens — as well as intelligence operatives, drone operators and military positions. It is especially important now as Ukraine’s counter insurgence and offensive gathers steam.

About the essayist: Mark Rushton is the Global Defence and Security Lead at VITEC, a global technology leader in the IP video space. VITEC technologies take raw video and convert and compress feeds into data formats that can be encrypted and streamed across the data networks that support military defence efforts.

Uncategorized

Atlanta, GA, Oct. 9, 2023 —  Jonathan Shihao Ji, a computer science professor at Georgia State University, has received a $10 million grant from the Department of Defense (DoD) to address critical problems in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics with a focus on human-robot interaction, 3D virtual environment reconstruction, edge computing and trustworthy AI

In recent years, AI has become more and more prevalent in our world, powering search engines, voice assistants and self-driving cars. But Ji thinks it can do more.

“It has been claimed recently that AI is the new electricity,” Ji said. “It can empower and will transform almost every industry in the next several years.”

The research team at Georgia State includes co-principal investigators Professor Anu Bourgeois and Assistant Professor Yi Ding in the Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts & Sciences and Professor Balasubramaniam Ramesh, chair of the Department of Computer Information Systems in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business. The grant will allow them to establish the Center of Excellence in Advanced Computing and Software (CoE-ACS) and foster collaborations with researchers from Duke’s Athena NSF AI Institute and partners from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to work with students and professors at GSU.

“AI research is a rapidly-developing field, but the advancements we are seeing are typically years in the making,” said Sara Rosen, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. “The award of the CoE-ACS represents the culmination of years of boundary-pushing research, which has spanned Dr. Ji’s time at Georgia State and in industry. I am excited to see this research taken to the next level, and am thrilled that Georgia State is a player in advancing the frontiers of AI and robotics.”

One major area of research for the center will involve Boston Dynamics’ Spot — a four-legged, dog-like robot — which was acquired by Ji with another DoD grant last year.

Using Spot, Ji hopes he and his fellow researchers will be able to advance AI technology by developing a natural language interface for the robot, which could increase the number of useful tasks that it can perform.

“We’ll be able to tell Spot, ‘Please go to the kitchen and see if the fridge door is closed properly. If not, please close it,’ and Spot should be able to understand it and go do that on its own,” he said.

Ji also hopes to teach Spot how to navigate a variety of environments on its own.

Ji

“We can build a 3D virtual environment and train Spot in that environment then transfer the knowledge learnt from the simulator into the real world,”  Ji said.

That could be helpful in situations such as search and rescue, facility maintenance and emergency response that may be dangerous for humans.

Research will also focus on developing machine learning algorithms to increase the ease of human-computer interaction. To do this, researchers at the center will try to teach AI to understand humans in new ways, for example by human voices or through virtual reality goggles. In the next research phase, the center will explore visual demonstrations.

“If you want to teach the robot how to pick up a water bottle, you can show the robot how to do it naturally by demonstration,” Ji said.

The center will also focus on increasing the security of AI devices and systems. In many cases, data that could be housed and processed on a device is instead uploaded to remote servers collectively referred to as the cloud, creating a risk that private information could be leaked, Ji said.

Edge computing could be a solution. This technology involves storing and processing data locally, rather than in the cloud. In some cases, such as with drones, this can be difficult because the devices can’t carry much weight, limiting the amount of processing power they can house. One of the projects will focus on creating smaller and more power-efficient models to process the data on devices to decrease the chances of data leaks from them. Duke’s Athena, a research institute dedicated to edge computing, will help the GSU center to address the privacy and security challenges in the context of AI and robotics.

The grant will enable Ji and his fellow researchers at Georgia State to fund 12 Ph.D. students, 100 undergraduate students and multiple post-doctoral researchers at the university over the initial five years. The team also plans to partner with local high schools, hoping to spark interest in AI and robotics in younger generations.

“This very significant grant presents an incredible opportunity to establish a national presence for the university in cutting-edge research areas such as Human-AI Collaboration and the development of Responsible AI systems that are also well aligned with the strategic priorities of the university,” Ramesh said. “We are also excited by the opportunity provided by the grant to prepare a diverse group of students to pursue research and careers in artificial intelligence.”

Professor Yiran Chen, director of Athena NSF AI Institute and the Duke PI of the project, noted the longstanding collaboration between his team and colleagues at Georgia State.

“We eagerly anticipate a more productive partnership within this new center of excellence,” Chen said.

Media contact: Anna Varela, Director of Communications and Public Relations, College of Arts & Sciences, 404-413-504, avarela@gsu.edu

Uncategorized

Clean Code’ is a simple concept rooted in common sense. This software writing principle cropped up some 50 years ago and might seem quaint in today’s era of speedy software development.

Related: Setting IoT security standards

At Black Hat 2023, I had the chance to visit with Olivier Gaudin, founder and co-CEO, and Johannes Dahse, head of R&D, at SonarSource, a Geneva, Switzerland-based supplier of systems to achieve Clean Code. Olivier outlined the characteristics all coding should have and Dahse explained how healthy code can be fostered. For a drill down, please give the accompanying podcast a listen.

Responsibility for Clean Code, Olivier told me, needs to be placed with the developer, whether he or she is creating a new app or an update. Caring for source code when developing and deploying applications at breakneck speed mitigates technical debt – the snowballing problems associated with fixing bugs.

Guest experts: Olivier Gaudin, co-CEO, Johannes Dahse, Head of R&D, SonarSource

“If you try to go faster but don’t take good care of the code, you are actually going slower,” Olivier argues. “Any change is going to cost you more than it should because your code is bad, dirty, junky or whatever you want to call it that’s the opposite of clean code.”

What’s more, Clean Code improves security —  by reinforcing “shift left,” the practice of testing as early as feasible in the software development lifecycle.

Olivier and Dahse make a persuasive argument that Clean Code can and should arise as the innermost layer of security. The transformation progresses. I’ll keep watch and keep reporting.

Acohido

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.)

 

Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 5, 2023 —  Kovrr, the leading global provider of cyber risk quantification (CRQ) solutions, announces the release of its new Fortune 1000 Cyber Risk Report, shedding light on the complex and ever-evolving cyber risk landscape across various industry sectors and the respective financial repercussions companies may consequently face.

“This financial awareness is especially crucial when searching for potentially material incidents and justifying cybersecurity initiatives to the board,” says Yakir Golan, Kovrr CEO. “It likewise empowers CISOs and security leaders when communicating risk with boardroom members who may not be well-versed in traditional cybersecurity terminology, enabling them to grasp overall business ramifications more tangibly.”

Kovrr’s report was published in response to the recent US SEC regulations mandating the disclosure of “material” cyber threats and incidents and offers companies objective benchmarks for determining incident materiality. The results of this report are based on an in-depth analysis of the top US Fortune 1000 companies. Kovrr’s models capture a detailed representation of each company’s technological profile and simulate yearly cyber event scenarios tailored to each company’s exposure to risk.

Harnessing industry insights from previously disclosed breaches, insurance claims data, and incidents that have not been publicly disclosed, Kovrr’s models assess the likely frequency and severity of cyber breaches experienced by the included companies.

Average Annual Loss

Golan

Central to the report is Average Annual Loss (AAL), a pivotal metric offering a bird’s-eye view of potential annual financial losses from cyber incidents. Notably, the Finance and Real Estate industry has the highest AAL at $34.3 million, highlighting its susceptibility to significant financial ramifications. Conversely, the Construction industry boasts the lowest AAL at $7.3 million, reflecting its comparatively lower exposure to cyber risk.

This inevitability of cyber loss serves as a stark reminder of the urgency for boardrooms to adopt a proactive stance in mitigating material cyber risks and tailor cybersecurity programs accordingly.

Financial Impact

The report further underscores the financial implications of cyber events, particularly for industries like Finance and Real Estate, Retail Trade, Utilities, and Oil, Gas Extraction, and Mining, which all face a greater than 10% chance of experiencing cyber events costing $50 million or more in a single year and a more than 5% chance of incurring losses exceeding $100 million.

Event Drivers

The Fortune 1000 report also dissects the types of cyber events most likely to affect organizations, shedding light on the probability of high-impact incidents. For instance, the data reveals that the Retail Trade industry’s primary threat is data breaches, comprising 47% of all cyber events within the sector.

Conversely, the Services industry is less susceptible to data breaches and more vulnerable to interruptions such as DDoS attacks or data wiping, constituting 52% of total events.

Granular Insights

While the Fortune 1000 Cyber Risk Report offers invaluable industry comparisons, it should be seen as a foundational resource. Achieving a deeper understanding of an organization’s unique cyber risks requires a granular quantification assessment.

Kovrr’s Fortune 1000 Cyber Risk Report stands as a cornerstone for businesses seeking to navigate the complex cyber landscape. It provides the strategic insights organizations need to fortify defenses, make informed decisions about material cyber events, and ultimately safeguard their futures in an era defined by digital vulnerabilities.

The full report: For full access to Fortune 1000 Cyber Risk Report: Determining SEC Materiality With Marketplace Benchmarks, please visit https://www.kovrr.com/reports/fortune-1000-cyber-risk-report.

About Kovrr: Kovrr’s cyber risk quantification platform empowers enterprise decision-makers to manage cyber exposure more effectively by providing an in-depth risk analysis that drives actionable, financially justified decisions. For more information, please visit www.kovrr.com or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media contact: Kathy Berardi, 678-644-4122, kathyberardi@berardipr.com

Uncategorized

Editor’s note: I recently had the chance to participate in a discussion about the overall state of privacy and cybersecurity with Erin Kapczynski, OneRep’s senior vice president of B2B marketing. OneRep provides a consumer service that scrubs your personal information from Google and dozens of privacy-breaching websites. Here is Erin’s Q&A column, which originally went live on OneRep’s well-done blog.)

For the first expert interview on our blog, we welcomed Pulitzer-winning investigative reporter Byron V. Acohido to share his ideas about the current cyber threat landscape, the biggest threats for businesses today, the role of AI and machine learning in cyberattacks and cyberdefence, and the most effective methods for companies to protect themselves.

Byron is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Last Watchdog on Privacy & Security. He previously chronicled the emergence of cybercrime while covering Microsoft for USA TODAY. His news analysis columns, podcasts, and videos are crafted to foster a useful understanding of complex privacy and cybersecurity developments for company decision-makers and individual citizens — for the greater good.

Erin: So, let’s get started. How did you first get interested in cybersecurity as a career? What drew you to this field?

Byron: I was initially drawn to cybersecurity as a USA TODAY technology reporter assigned to cover Microsoft. I held this position from 2000 through 2014, during which time Windows emerged as a prime target for both precocious script kiddies and emerging criminal hacking rings. I began to research and write about the drivers behind what was happening to businesses and to individual consumers using Windows, both the evolving threats and the emerging business/home network defenses.

Erin: How has the cyber threat landscape evolved since you first got into cybersecurity?

Byron: Since I started, the cyber threat landscape has grown exponentially, with more sophisticated attacks and diverse attackers ranging from individual hackers to professional criminal rings to state-sponsored entities. We’ve arrived at a critical juncture: to enable the full potential of the Internet of Everything, attack surface expansion must be slowed and ultimately reversed. A shift from legacy, perimeter-focused network defenses to dynamic, interoperable defenses at the cloud edge, directed at ephemeral software connections, must fully play out.

Erin: What cybersecurity technologies are you most excited about right now?

Byron: On the software side of things, some exciting breakthroughs are about to gain meaningful traction in leveraging machine learning and automation to shape new security platforms and frameworks that are much better suited to helping companies implement cyber hygiene, as well as execute effective, ongoing threat detection and incident response. Adding to this will be very smart uses of generative AI – centered around wisely directing LLM capacities onto specific data lakes containing threat intelligence information. On the hardware side, major advances in semiconductors as well as rising deployment of optical-based networking hubs will make a huge difference in efficient management of vastly interconnected, highly interoperable systems; amazing new digital services will be the result — and also improved cybersecurity and robust digital resiliency. These emergent software and hardware advances will pave the way for factoring in quantum computers.

Erin: What are some of the biggest cyber threats that businesses face today?

Byron: The economic impact of phishing, ransomware, business logic hacking, Business Email Compromise (BEC) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks continues to be devastating. However, I’d argue that the fundamental cyber threat is within: in the lack of awareness and/or lack of due diligence on the part of company decision-makers who leave their organizations vulnerable; such leaders have been slow to embrace cyber hygiene practices and fail to grasp why they need to wisely select the security tools and services that can make their organization more resilient to cyber attacks.

Kapczynski

Erin: Could you share your thoughts on the role of artificial intelligence, machine learning and the growth of IoT devices in both cyber defense and cyberattacks?

Byron: Organizations are oriented toward leveraging these technologies to innovate and gain competitive advantage, without paying close enough attention to how they also expand their network attack surface. Their dual-edged nature demands careful implementation and management. The flip side (and the good news) is that we’re entering an era where advanced cloud configuration, threat detection and threat response capabilities that leverage machine learning and automation are more readily available than ever before. More good news: there’s a trend toward increasingly proficient MSSPs stepping forward to help SMBs, mid-market enterprises and large enterprises do this.

Erin: Deep fakes are becoming more sophisticated. How can individuals and organizations detect and protect themselves against the misuse of deep fake technology?

Byron: To detect deep fakes, organizations can use digital watermarking, AI-driven detection tools, and media provenance tracking.

Erin: In your opinion, what are the most common cybersecurity mistakes that companies make?

Byron: Companies often underestimate threats, neglect basic cyber hygiene, and fail to educate employees on cybersecurity.

Erin: What are some of the most common social engineering tactics that cybercriminals use?

Byron: Phishing, pretexting, SMS toll fraud, baiting and tailgating are among the common tactics used by cybercriminals.

Erin: What role does human error play in cybersecurity incidents? How can companies minimize risks?

Byron: It’s a significant factor in many breaches. Regular training and simulations can help reduce risks associated with human errors.

Regular training and simulations can help reduce risks associated with human errors.

Erin: How has the ransomware threat evolved in recent years?

Byron: It’s gone from simple file encryption to multifaceted, multi-staged attacks that leverage Dark Web services, such as initial access brokers (IABs,) as well as make use of Living off the Land (LotL) embedded tools. To subvert improved network defenses, ransomware purveyors continually innovate to penetrate deeply, avoid detection, cause disruption and ultimately put the targeted company in a posture where paying the ransom is the least evil.

Erin: What are the cybersecurity implications of remote workforces?

Byron: Post-COVID-19, the shift to a remote workforce is here to stay. Zero trust — and more specifically, zero-trust network access, or ZTNA — thus has become a must-have capability. A user gets continually vetted, with only the necessary level of access granted, per device and per software application; and behaviors get continually analyzed to sniff out suspicious patterns. Remote access is granted based on granular policies that take the least-privilege approach.

Erin: What are some of the most effective methods for companies to protect themselves from cyberattacks?

Byron: Gaining accurate visibility of all cloud and on-premise digital assets; configuring cloud IT infrastructure wisely; adopting ZTNA principles; implementing robust cyber hygiene, based on NIST standards; conducting regular audits, including advanced penetration testing; conducting ongoing, effective threat detection and response; and implementing leading-edge software applications security practices for all software development and deployment, including software updates — these are the best practices of the moment.

Erin: What advice would you give to leaders to improve cybersecurity culture in their organizations? What is the role of cybersecurity awareness training for a company’s employees?

Byron: Leadership should prioritize cybersecurity at all levels. Regular awareness training for employees is indispensable.

Leadership should prioritize cybersecurity at all levels. Regular awareness training for employees is indispensable.

Erin: Do you think cyber insurance should play a bigger role in companies’ cybersecurity strategies? What factors should organizations consider when selecting a cyber insurance policy?

Byron: It’s an important risk management tool. Organizations should consider coverage limits, policy exclusions, and incident response assistance when selecting a policy.

Erin: What role should governments play in combating cybercrime?

Byron: Governments and industry standards bodies are, in fact, moving methodically to drive adoption of stricter privacy and data security standards in areas such as IoT home device safety, data privacy, software bill of materials, supply chain security. Organizations can and should get ahead of these compliance trends to gain competitive advantage and to assure long-term viability.

Erin: How do you see cyberwarfare between nation-states shaping up in the future?

Byron: It has been steadily intensifying and can be expected to continue to do so, with Russia, China and North Korea continuing to improve their respective positions to carry out attacks on critical infrastructure, while also continuing to manipulate social media and mainstream news outlets — to spread disinformation campaigns in order to gain strategic advantages. Russia, China and North Korea are setting an example; lesser nations with despot leaders are likely to play copycat – and develop and utilize their versions of asymmetrical warfare for self-serving reasons. Where this all leads is unknowable.

Erin: What advice would you give to someone looking to get started in a cybersecurity career?

Byron: Stay curious, keep learning and seek mentors. Experience in the field is as valuable as formal education.

Erin: What skills or certifications do you think are most important for cybersecurity professionals to have?

Byron: While certifications like CISSP and CISM are valuable, hands-on skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving are equally important.

Erin: What are the top three sources of information about cybersecurity you can recommend to people who want to stay up on developments in this area?

Byron: Stay updated with reports from cybersecurity firms, follow cybersecurity news portals, and join professional networks and forums.

Erin: What is your vision for the future of cybersecurity over the next decade? What trends do you expect to see? What gets you most excited?

Byron: Massive interconnectivity at the cloud edge is just getting started and will only intensify, going forward. This portends amazing advancements for humankind – but first a tectonic shift in network-centric security must fully play out. The stakes are sky-high, and the cybersecurity industry is at a critical juncture. A new tier of overlapping, interoperable tools, platforms and frameworks is direly needed. This new architecture must result in security getting baked deep inside the highly interconnected systems that will give us autonomous transportation, climate-rejuvenating buildings and spectacular medical breakthroughs.

The stakes are sky-high, and the cybersecurity industry is at a critical juncture. A new tier of overlapping, interoperable tools, platforms, and frameworks is direly needed.

Acohido

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

Worcester, Mass., Oct. 5, 2023 – Today, the Healey-Driscoll Administration kicked off Cybersecurity Month in Massachusetts with the announcement of $1,136,911 in funding to develop a new cybersecurity training center at MassBay Community College and support the existing center at Bridgewater State University.

The grants are part of the state’s SOC/Range Initiative, a program managed by MassTech’s MassCyberCenter that aims to help build a diverse generation of cybersecurity professionals through education, training, and workforce development.

The funding demonstrates the Administration’s commitment to supporting cyber resiliency at the municipal level as the MassBay and Bridgewater State centers will feature security operations centers (SOCs) that provide active monitoring for municipalities and small businesses, as well as new training ranges that will allow students to practice detecting, intercepting, and defending against cyber attacks in controlled environments.

Healey

“Our administration is committed to supporting our municipalities in their efforts to expand the cybersecurity workforce,”said Governor Maura Healey. “Defending our technology against cyber threats is an increasingly important issue, and these grants will allow our cities and towns to train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.”

“As a former mayor, I know that cyber attacks are a constant threat to municipalities. I’m pleased these awards will both support cities and towns in building their cybersecurity operations and expand opportunities for Massachusetts students to enter the cyber workforce,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “During the month of October, I encourage communities across the state to learn more about these new resources. Preparation, communication, and active monitoring are key to defending against online attacks.”

“The grants announced today will help advance our state’s key cyber security priorities by educating municipalities on best practices, building partnerships between the public and private sector, and training a future cyber workforce that can drive economic growth in our state,” said Secretary Yvonne Hao of the Executive Office of Economic Development. “We’re proud that this funding will promote online safety while also ensuring Massachusetts stays competitive in the modern economic environment.”

The announcement took place at the third Massachusetts Municipal Cybersecurity Summit, which brought together over 175 Massachusetts municipal leaders and IT staff, utility providers, and first responders to hear from federal and state government and private sector cybersecurity experts on best practices, emerging cybersecurity threats and how to defend against them, and the critical need to build a cyber-aware workforce. The Summit echoed the theme for Massachusetts Cybersecurity Month, “Be a Cybersecurity Hero,” and the Lt. Governor advocated for officials statewide to build a strong culture of cybersecurity within their communities.

“This Summit serves as such a vital part of strengthening our relationships with the municipalities to ensure that we are all working together and sharing resources,” said Secretary of Technology Services and Security Jason Snyder. “No matter the level of government, we face the same risks and share the same goal – ensuring the secure delivery of government services and protecting the data of the residents we all serve. It’s important to the Healey-Driscoll administration that we foster and sustain that cross-government collaboration.”

Petrozzelli

“The Summit highlights the two-fold mission of our organization: to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem across Massachusetts through technology and talent, and to bring together resources that will help us protect our public assets statewide, including our municipalities,” said John Petrozzelli, Director of the MassCyberCenter. “By supporting the launch of the new SOCs and Ranges, we will help bring new students into the cyber workforce who can graduate with the skills they need to make an immediate impact either in the private-sector or in a government role.”

“In today’s ever-changing digital world, strengthening the Commonwealth’s cyber defenses is more important than ever. The Healey-Driscoll Administration’s investment in cyber training centers represents a meaningful step toward building a cyber workforce and empowering the future leaders of our digital ecosystem,” said Susan Terrey, Deputy Secretary and Homeland Security Undersecretary for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. “We commend the MassCyberCenter and the MassTech Collaborative for their continued leadership and reaffirm EOPSS’ commitment to working alongside our many federal, state, and local partners to safeguard against threats and protect Massachusetts residents from harm.”

The grants from the MassCyberCenter will invest in cutting-edge infrastructure at the two institutions, providing students access to similar facilities found in the private sector, allowing for real-world training opportunities, and enabling them to advance into roles as SOC staff. Students will work with program advisors and technical experts using 21st century software to offer affordable cyber monitoring to municipalities, nonprofits, and small businesses that might not be able to afford ongoing threat detection services.

Below are the summaries of the two grants:

MassBay Community College
Grant Amount: $804,162

Details: MassBay Community College (MassBay) will host a cyber range on its Wellesley campus to assist students in the cybersecurity associates degree program and other cyber-related training programs. MassBay’s cyber range will also be available to its program partners, which include Bunker Hill Community College, Framingham State University, Framingham High School, Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham, Roxbury Community College, and Waltham High School. The total award will include $498,162 to fund the infrastructure of the range and an additional $306,000 to support expenditures during its first year of operation.

Bridgewater State University
Total Amount: $332,749

Details: Bridgewater State University (BSU) is in process of building a cyber range on its main campus that was granted $1.2 million by the MassCyberCenter in 2022 to support existing undergraduate, graduate, and other educational cybersecurity programs. In addition to student training, BSU’s facility will also offer training and support for municipal partners, business partners, and nonprofits. The new award will fund the facility’s operations during its first year.

“MassBay Community College is extremely proud to be the recipient of a grant from the MassCyberCenter to fund a cyber range,” said President David Podell at MassBay Community College. “The cyber range will build on MassBay’s longstanding and outstanding programs in Cybersecurity.We look forward to engaging our partners in higher education, K-12, municipalities and school districts, and businesses in cybersecurity training at an even higher level, thanks to the new resources provided by the MassCyberCenter.”

“This initiative is not just about enhancing our capabilities; it’s about securing our digital future,” said Steve Zuromski, Vice President of Technology and Chief Information Officer at Bridgewater State University. “We are grateful to the MassCyberCenter for their unwavering support through the OpEX grant, a pivotal force behind the establishment of the Cyber Range at Bridgewater State University. Alongside our valued partners at Mass Tech Collaborative and CyberTrust MA, this initiative bolsters our mission to position Massachusetts as a national cybersecurity leader. With their generous assistance, we stride confidently into a future where we cultivate the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.”

“In recent years, the cyber threat environment has evolved, exposing vulnerabilities in our public institutions and municipalities,” said Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier, who chairs the Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity. “Today’s Summit is a great opportunity to come together and highlight the importance of cybersecurity for municipalities, and ensure that each city and town has the resources to adequately equip themselves for the cybersecurity challenges of today and the future.”

“Cybersecurity today is more important than ever, and municipal leaders are on the front lines of the battle against cyber criminals,” said Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury), who also chairs the Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity. “I am thrilled that Mass CyberCenter is hosting this event to bring our public servants up to date on the latest threats, and share how they can protect themselves and their constituents. I am proud to work hand in hand with these individuals as the Legislature considers bills that will make our systems more robust and resilient.”

The grant program has funded a network of four institutions statewide that are also supported by the work of CyberTrust Massachusetts, a nonprofit that aims to grow the cyber talent pipeline by increasing career pathways for underrepresented groups and supporting security operations at the new higher education centers.

An estimated 21 percent of ransomware attacks in 2023 targeted municipalities according to a report from Barracuda Networks, and the global IT company Sophos reported that six out of 10 state or local governments experienced a cyber attack during the same timeframe, highlighting the rise in threats to public organizations. The MassCyberCenter has focused on working with municipalities to protect their data and reduce the impact of these attacks and, in partnership with the Cyber Resilient Massachusetts Working Group, updated its “Minimum Baseline of Cybersecurity for Municipalities” to include the “Minimum Baseline of IT,” which specifically focuses on building an organization’s technical environment through enforcing multifactor authentication, creating a strong password policy, keeping computers and devices up-to-date with the latest patches or versions, and implementing a cybersecurity awareness training program for all employees to assist in identifying phishing and social engineering attacks.

About the MassCyberCenter at the MassTech Collaborative: The MassCyberCenter was launched in September 2017 to enhance opportunities for the Massachusetts cybersecurity ecosystem and strengthen the resiliency of the Commonwealth’s public and private communities. The MassCyberCenter works with cities, towns, universities, and the private sector to build cyber awareness, institute best practices, enhance future workforce talent, and create a more powerful cyber defense force to guard against future threats. Learn more at masscybercenter.org.

Media Contact: Jake Stern, MassTech, (781) 801 8845, stern@masstech.org.

Something simply must be done to slow, and ultimately reverse, attack surface expansion.

Related: What Cisco’s buyout of Splunk really signals

We’re in the midst of driving towards a dramatically scaled-up and increasingly connected digital ecosystem. Companies are obsessed with leveraging cloud-hosted IT infrastructure and the speedy software development and deployment that goes along with that.

And yet it remains all too easy for malicious hackers to get deep access, steal data, spread ransomware, disrupt infrastructure and attain long run unauthorized access.

I heard a cogent assessment of the shift that must take at the Omdia Analyst Summit at Black Hat USA 2023. In a keynote address, Omdia’s Eric Parizo, managing prinicipal analyst, and Andrew Braunberg, principal analyst, unveiled an approach they coined as “proactive security.”

What I came away with is that many of the new cloud-centric security frameworks and tools fit as components of proactive security, while familiar legacy solutions, like firewalls and SIEMs, can be categorized as either preventative or reactive security. This is a useful way to look at it.

Rising reliance on proactive tools seems inevitable, although legacy tools continue to advance and have their place. The Omdia analysts called out a handful of key proactive methodologies: Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (RBVM), Attack Surface Management (ASM), and Incident Simulation and Testing (IST).

RBVM solutions don’t merely identify vulnerabilities, it quantifies and prioritizes them, making risk management more strategic. Notably, some 79 percent of enterprises recently polled by Omdia consider this risk-ranking capability indispensable.

Last Watchdog followed up with Braunberg to ask him, among other things, what RBVM solutions signal about the ramping up of proactive security. Here’s what he had to say:

LW: What is ‘proactive security’ and why is it gaining traction?

Braunberg: Proactive solutions seek out and mitigate likely threats and threat conditions before they pose a danger to the environment. These tools provide visibility, assessment, and control of an organization’s attack surface and an understanding of viable attack paths based on asset exposures and the effectiveness of deployed security controls. Omdia believes it is gaining traction because, for too long, enterprises have been investing in security solutions that only help after an attack is already on their doorstep – or has broken down the door! Proactive Security finally helps get ahead of adversaries, finding and fixing the opportunities they seek to exploit, before they can exploit them.

LW: Legacy on-prem tools tend to be preventative, advanced on-prem tools are reactive and the shiny new cloud-centric solutions are proactive. Is that fair?

Braunberg: Well, it’s fair to say that modern software defined architectures, such as cloud, can introduce many more potential exposures and that a proactive approach is particularly effective in identifying and controlling configuration drift in these environments. But Omdia believes that a mix of preventative, reactive, and proactive tools are appropriate across all components of the digital landscape.

LW: Your ‘continuous security protection lifecycle’ argument suggests we’re in an early phase of what: co-mingling; consolidating; integration of these three categories?

Braunberg

Braunberg: Omdia sees several trends at work in the market today. There is a strong trend of consolidation in proactive security segments. We predict that proactive security functionality will roll up into comprehensive proactive security platforms over the next several years. But we also see traditional reactive security suites incorporating proactive features. So, we expect consolidation, co-mingling, and integration for the foreseeable future.

LW: How would you characterize where we are today?

Braunberg:  There is significant innovation and investment in many traditional segments of proactive security. This is driven primarily by a desire to support better risk-based analytics to prioritize risk and better inform remediations. But as noted, we are also in the early stages of market consolidation.

LW: What does Cisco’s $28 billion acquisition of Splunk signal about the trajectory that network security is on?

Braunberg: It’s less about network security as much as it is filling a need for Cisco. The networking giant sees Splunk as a premium brand in a market segment, SIEM, that it had yet to enter, giving Cisco a strong opportunity to upsell existing Cisco Secure customers

LW: Won’t companies have to rethink and revamp long-engrained budgeting practices?

Braunberg: Absolutely. Omdia believes that over the coming years, enterprises should and will increase the percentage of their cybersecurity technology budgets allocated for proactive security solutions. Not only will this provide a forward-leaning approach to get ahead of threats and threat conditions before they can hurt the enterprise, but it will also reduce cybersecurity risk, in turn providing improved ROI for the security solution.

LW: How does ‘risk-based vulnerability management’ factor in?

Braunberg: RBVM will play a key role in proactive strategies. These products are already expanding into more comprehensive tools for addressing security hygiene issues across the entire digital domain for both production code and code in development.

LW: Can you characterize what’s happening in the field today with early adopters of this approach?

Braunberg: Omdia’s recent primary research, the 2023 Omdia Cybersecurity Decision Maker Survey, querying global security practitioners, found an overwhelming need to rank vulnerabilities and to prioritize next actions based on risk. Early adopters of proactive tools are primarily focused on this need.

LW: What are you hearing from these early adopters?

Braunberg: In addition to the obvious benefit of more efficient, effective security practices in the form of specific product categories like risk-based vulnerability management, which provides prioritization and remediation decision based on contextual risk to the organization, but also increased emphasis on the core tenants of Proactive Security: visibility and risk.

Proactive helps underscore the importance of being able to detect, define, categorize, and understand the risk of all assets in the extended enterprise environment. From there, it becomes possible to identify opportunities to address threat conditions, such as the need for software patches, vulnerable configurations, or even poor practices and policies.

Going forward, this will further the importance of maturation on security risk, leading to more dedicated risk teams and discerning ROI from security solutions based on their ability to reduce risk.

LW: Five years from now, will it be equal parts proactive, preventative and reactive — or some other mix?

Braunberg: It’s too early to say what the pie chart might look like, but for most organizations today, the priority is to increase the emphasis on and shift toward Proactive Security, from both a strategic and technical planning perspective. Omdia believes it’s time to shift the conversation to one of ROI based on risk reduction, and vendors offering Proactive Security solutions will be best positioned to make that case.

LW: Anything else?

Braunberg: We just published our new report on the Fundamentals of Proactive Security, which is a 6,000-word deep dive on the topic. It’s available to Omdia Cyber clients. Plus, we’ll have more on Proactive, on our sister site Dark Reading, and elsewhere in the near future.

Acohido

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

Surrounded by the invisible hum of electromagnetic energy, we’ve harnessed its power to fuel our technological marvels for decades.

Related: MSFT CEO calls for regulating facial recognition tech

Tesla’s visionary insights from 1900 hinted at the potential, and today, we bask in the glow of interconnected networks supporting our digital lives. Yet, as we embrace this wave of connectivity, we often overlook the pressing need for protection.

Since 1984, when Japan’s pioneering 1G network blanketed the nation, we’ve been swept up in the excitement of progress. But let’s pause and consider—how often do we truly contemplate safeguarding ourselves from the very forces that fuel our interconnected world?

Link to identities

Over the past decade, mobile data traffic has surged an astonishing 4,000-fold, while an additional 400 million users have joined the digital realm over the past 15 years. As we venture into the era of 5G and witness the rise of private networks, the surge of electromagnetic charge is palpable, raising questions about the potential consequences.

Beyond the realms of charge, there lies a pivotal concern—the intricate linkage between our data and identities. This burgeoning fusion necessitates a higher level of vigilance, given the expanding ambit of our digital footprints.

The concept of Mobile Phone Penetration concept mentioned in all Mobile economy forecasts unveils an intricate dance between usage and population. Often overlooked, the SIM card—short for Subscriber Identification Module—acts as the nexus between our identity and technology, illuminating the thin line between connection and surveillance.

Arns

Gazing toward the horizon of 2030, an ambitious vision looms—a vision of achieving a 90% average subscriber penetration and smartphone adoption across Europe, China, CIS, and the USA. Such ambition thrusts mobile devices into the hands of nearly everyone over the age of 12, inviting us to reconsider our interaction with these potent tools.

Yet, as we hold these devices close, we’re forced to ponder—why does our understanding of their inner workings remain so limited? How can we fortify ourselves against potential threats? The dichotomy is striking—our dependency on technology has deepened, but our comprehension of its nuances lags.

Paradox challenge

Beyond the realm of sensitivity, consider our data—the intrepid voyager navigating electromagnetic currents. Recent revelations, such as the TechCrunch exposé on “Spyhide stalkerware,” unmask the vulnerability of our devices. The exposé recounts the stealthy exfiltration of private phone data from a staggering 60,000 compromised Android devices dating back to 2016[6]

Herein lies the paradox—data centers, government strongholds, and even spacecraft are fortified with Faraday technology against electromagnetic threats, while individuals who champion this cause are often typecast as cinematic caricatures. Think Gene Hackman’s paranoia in “Enemy of the State,” or the intrigue-laden worlds of “Mr. Robot” and “Mission Impossible.” These portrayals obscure the reality that personal data protection is far from a fanciful notion.

This paradox further extends to our interaction with technology. Despite our daily reliance on devices, our grasp of their mechanics remains tenuous, mirroring our limited understanding of complex economic systems.

In this unfolding narrative, education emerges as the harbinger of change. An evolution beckons—the “New Normal.” This new era demands selective signal blocking, conscious data guardianship, and a resolute commitment to digital privacy. In this paradigm, devices transform from mere instruments to instruments of empowerment, propelling human interaction to the forefront.

The clarion call is clear—craft new rituals, where data holds sacred value, shared purposefully. Let devices augment human connection, not replace it. Cultivate an awareness of their ability to listen, and use it as an impetus to seize control. Dance to the tune of empowerment, where trust is fortified.

Even in our material realm, simplicity prevails. The solution lies not in elaborate (and illegal)  jamming tech installations, but in the subtle elegance of Faraday Signal Blocking Products — guardians of privacy.

An imperative emerges—knowledge and data, potent instruments, should not rest in the hands of the few. For, as history has shown, the wielders of knowledge possess power. The moment to reclaim control over devices is now. Let’s create new Habits and embrace the New Normal.

About the essayist: Nikoline Arns creates projects that prioritize privacy and freedom of expression, particularly in the context of social impact. Since 2018, she has been aligned with Web3 values. In her latest venture, she has joined forces with SignalBlockerProducts.com to introduce privacy solutions for both office spaces and households.

Once again, politicians are playing political football, threatening a fourth partial government shutdown in a decade.

Related: Biden’s cybersecurity strategy

As this political theater runs its course one of the many things at risk is national security, particularly on the cyber warfare front. Given the divergent paths of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of representatives, federal agencies could see funding largely choked off on Sunday, resulting in the furloughing of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

A wide range of federal government services, once more, would slow to a crawl —  everything from economic data releases to nutrition benefits for poor children. And the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) may be forced to send home some 80 percent of its workforce, drastically shrinking its capabilities as a catalyst for public-private sharing of fresh threat intelligence.

Out of 3,117 employees, only 571 will remain active during a shutdown, based on the Department of Homeland Security’s updated plan for “lapse in appropriations.” This plan contrasts with most other DHS sectors, where employees like airport screeners and FEMA staff will continue their duties during the shutdown.

Last Watchdog caught up with Rep. Lou Correa, D – Calif., who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, and is the top Democrat on the Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee. Here’s Correa’s observation:

Correa

“Our national security will be put at risk because of the political stunts being pulled by my Republican colleagues right now. Whether it’s the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or the Department of Homeland Security, thousands of federal workers who serve on the front lines of our nation will be doing so with little-to-no agency support—and will be forced to work without pay.

“That takes a toll on morale, will cause staffing shortages, and will put American lives at risk. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle must put political gamesmanship aside and pass clean government spending bills—to prevent catastrophe, keep our constituents safe, and our government open for its citizens.”

Last Watchdog also sought commentary from cybersecurity thought leaders: here’s what they had to say:

Martin Jartelius, CISO, Outpost24

Jartelius

CISA ceasing to function will lead to organizations being less prepared to respond to the same threats we would see with or without them in operations. CISA is just one of several sources to turn to for information and support, many organizations start by finding a trusted provider and as they grow and mature tap into several sources to get a good insight. Backing this with solid inventory of your attack surface so you can prepare to defend . . . should replace those bits many rely on CISA for with something more tangible and hands-on.

Tim Helming, security evangelist, DomainTools

Helming

CISA’s ability to carry out the same level of intelligence gathering and analysis that they usually do may be affected. It may mean that the staff remaining available after the shutdown will be stretched thin and overtaxed. CISA has been quite prolific with advisories and it’s likely that the pace could slow during the shutdown. None of this means that we’re going to see an uptick in successful attacks . . . as always, we need to be highly vigilant; there have been several high-profile breaches in the last couple of weeks unrelated to the shutdown, and those certainly warrant tight operations.

Colin Little, security engineer, Centripetal

Little

A federal government shutdown can weaken the nation, leaving it more vulnerable to cyberattacks and potentially harming international cooperation in the realm of cybersecurity. Maintaining robust cybersecurity practices during a shutdown should be a top priority to mitigate these risks and ensure the continued protection of critical systems and sensitive data. Think of it in terms of an active warzone; if 80 percent of front-line units stopped receiving troop pay, reinforcements and supplies, the result would be disastrous especially over a protracted period of time.

 

 

 

 

APIs. The glue of hyper connectivity; yet also the wellspring of risk.

Related: The true scale of API breaches

I had an enlightening discussion at Black Hat USA 2023 with Traceable.ai Chief Security Officer Richard Bird about how these snippets of code have dramatically expanded the attack surface in ways that have largely been overlooked.

Please give the accompanying podcast a listen. Traceable supplies systems that treat APIs as delicate assets requiring robust protection. At the moment, Bird argues, that’s not how most companies view them.

All too many organizations, he told me, have no clue about how many APIs they have, where they reside and what they do. A good percentage of APIs, he says, lie dormant – low hanging fruit for hackers who are expert at ferreting them out to utilize in multi-stage breaches.

Companies have been obsessed with using APIs to unlock business value while turning a blind eye to API exposures.

Guest expert: Richard Bird, CSO, Traceable.ai

What’s more, APIs continue to  fuel speedy software development in an environment where standardization has been absent, Bird told me.

“There hasn’t been a lot of motion around the idea of developing boundaries and protocols from an industry standpoint,” he says.

The Biden-Harris Administration has stepped forward to stir the pot.

“Compliance is implied and inferred in the most recent executive orders and in other items coming out of NIST and the SEC,” Bird noted. “They’re basically saying, ‘Look, you have this data transport capability with APIs, so you need to include them in your security requirements.’ ”

The transformation progresses. I’ll keep watch and keep reporting.

Acohido

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.)