Agencies fall short of White House targets for cybersecurity

The White House continues to see an upward trend in new cybersecurity practices governmentwide, but the Obama administration is finding that not all agencies are living up to the cyber standards it set forth in last year’s cross-agency priority goals.

Published with the 2015 budget, the cross-agency priority (CAP) goals focus on longstanding and critical issues affecting agencies across the federal government. Cybersecurity — one of the first mentioned of the White House’s 15 CAP goals — is a mission-based goal to “[i]mprove awareness of security practices, vulnerabilities, and threats to the operating environment, by limiting access to only authorized users and implementing technologies and processes that reduce the risk from malicious activity,” according to a goal statement. It says the president views cybersecurity as “one of the most serious national security, public safety, and economic challenges we face as a nation.”

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Columbia looking into ways to increase cyber-security

Columbia is looking to bolster its cyber-security after a Christmas Eve attack shut down its website for nearly three days.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that the city website, gocolumbiamo.com, experienced a distributed denial of service attack beginning around 11 p.m. Dec. 24. The website was flooded with requests from multiple computers, and remained offline until around noon Dec. 27.

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Cybersecurity Cooperation between China and United States to be Analyzed by The Speed Traders and Knightmare on Wall Street’s Edgar Perez at Golden Networking’s Cyber Security World Conference 2015 New York City

Cyber Security World Conference 2015 New York City

Cybersecurity has historically been a contentious issue between China and the United States, yet both countries would benefit from strategic cooperation in this area, according to the Capstone Report by the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. The two global powers are vested stakeholders in an interconnected international system of trade, finance, and other globalized institutional systems. Cyber networks underpin the critical infrastructures of such systems, and cyber protection necessitates the information exchange of threats as well as coordinated efforts in managing defensive capabilities.

Because of the subtlety surrounding cultural values, it is necessary to pay attention to some distinct facets of Chinese culture, especially bureaucratic culture, which Chinese counterparts may reflect. To build productive dialogue, the report suggests, it is essential to understand the differences in culture and communications between the two countries. Unlike the U.S., Chinese strategic culture is characterized by ambiguity, disinformation and secrecy. Through this approach, China aims to achieve its strategic objectives, thereby “winning without fighting.” The way in which an entity shares information reflects its strategic culture, which in China is traditionally dominated by the state. Differences in cultural values and assumptions are usually invisible, often subconscious, and difficult to discern by an outside observer.

Amidst this critical differences, Edgar Perez (http://mredgarperez.com), author of Knightmare on Wall Street, will discuss the state of the cybersecurity dialogue between the United States and China at Cyber Security World Conference 2015 New York City (http://www.CyberSecurityWorldConference.com). The forum will provide a platform for information security authorities and innovative service providers to distil their latest research for hundreds of senior executives focused on protecting enterprise and government valuable assets. Cyber security experts will discuss subjects such as protecting individuals and companies against cyber-attacks, biometrics as the future of security, risks brought by mobile computing, and protecting corporate and national infrastructure against foreign attacks.

Mr. Perez has been engaged to present at the Council on Foreign Relations, Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University (Kiev), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Washington DC), Quant Investment & HFT Summit APAC 2012 (Shanghai), CFA Singapore, Hong Kong Securities Institute, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, University of International Business and Economics (Beijing), Hult International Business School (London and Shanghai) and Pace University (New York), among other public and private institutions.

Mr. Perez is widely regarded as the preeminent global expert in technology and investing. He is the author of Knightmare on Wall Street and The Speed Traders and has been interviewed on CNN, CNBC, FOX BUSINESS, Bloomberg TV, CNN en Español, CCTV China, BNN, Bankier.pl, Leaderonomics, TheStreet.com, GPW Media, Channel NewsAsia’s Business Tonight and Cents & Sensibilities. Mr. Perez has been globally featured on FXFactor, Columbia Business, OpenMarkets, Sohu, News.Sina.com, Yicai, eastmoney, Caijing, ETF88.com, 360doc, AH Radio, CNFOL.com, CITICS Futures, Tongxin Securities, ZhiCheng.com, CBNweek.com, Caixin, Futures Daily, Xinhua, CBN Newswire, Chinese Financial News, ifeng.com, International Finance News, hexun.com, Finance.QQ.com, Finance.Sina.com, The Korea Times, The Korea Herald, The Star, The Malaysian Insider, BMF 89.9, iMoney Hong Kong, CNBC, Bloomberg Hedge Fund Brief, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dallas Morning News, Valor Econômico, FIXGlobal Trading, TODAY Online, Oriental Daily News and Business Times.

Mr. Perez was a vice president at Citigroup, a senior consultant at IBM, and a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York City. Mr. Perez has an undergraduate degree from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería in Lima, Peru (1994), a Master of Administration from Universidad ESAN in Lima, Peru (1997) and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School in New York, with a dual major in Finance and Management (2002). He belongs to the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. Mr. Perez resides in the New York City area and is an accomplished salsa and hustle dancer.

About Cyber Security World Conference 2015

Renowned information security experts and innovative service providers will present at Cyber Security World Conference 2015 their latest thinking to hundreds of senior executives focused on protecting enterprises and governmental agencies.

The Most Important Cybersecurity Story That No One Is Talking About

There’s no doubt what the most discussed cybersecurity story of the month is—withbelligerent attackers, sophisticated counterhacks, corporate lawyers threatening journalists, speculation about the potential involvement of a rogue nation state,entertaining sniping about movie stars, and even real-world threats, the Sony data breach has all the excitement of one of the action-packed films pilfered from the studio’s networks.

At the far other end of the computer security sexiness spectrum—lacking every single one of those elements, and garnering maybe 0.1 percent of the media attention devoted to Sony—was another incident. Security researcher Brian Krebs reported last week that thousands of devices used to process credit card payments in the United States stopped working on Dec. 7.

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“The last time Australian authorities looked at cybersecurity was 2008… six years is a very, very long time in this fast changing technology landscape.”

“The last time Australian authorities looked at cybersecurity was 2008… six years is a very, very long time in this fast changing technology landscape.”

At a time when public discussion about the role of our security services has never been greater, it makes sense that the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott should order a review of the nation’s cybersecurity strategy.

The last time Australian authorities looked at cybersecurity was 2008, and anyone who works in the security sector will tell you that six years is a very, very long time in this fast changing technology landscape.

It is a reality that the global cybersecurity environment has changed dramatically in this time. The sophistication of cyber-attacks has grown with the technology, just as it has grown with the financial rewards that these nefarious attacks can bring.

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5 Challenges To Cybersecurity In The New Year

It’s been a tough year for those battling cybersecurity threats and data breaches. From Target and Home Depot to JP Morgan Chase and Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2014 reminded business executives and consumers that nobody is invincible when it comes to cybercrimes. So, as 2015 approaches, one thing is certain: cybercriminals are becoming more elite, and a defensive approach is going to lose every time.

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Cybersecurity spending: Here’s where the money goes

The government has provided some more detail of how it spends its £200m annual cybersecurity budget, with defending against sophisticated and state-sponsored attacks on critical national infrastructure and the defence supply chain taking the majority of the funding.

The government published its National Cyber Security Strategy in 2011. Among its objectives is to make the UK more resilient to online attacks and “better able to protect [its] interests in cyberspace”.

The strategy is backed up by the National Cyber Security Programme which – with £860m in funding over five years – aims to improve the UK’s capability “to detect and defeat high-end threats”, as well as boosts the police’s capacity to deal with online crime and improve cyber awareness and risk management across UK businesses.

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Angelina Jolie hired cyber security experts to protect her kids’ Internet usage

Angelina Jolie is one protective parent.

The “Unbroken” director hired a team of cyber security experts to protect her kids when they use the Internet.

“We have someone who monitors that,” Jolie told People.

The 39-year-old is old fashioned when it comes to her own use of technology. The mom-of-six stays away from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram altogether.

Jolie admitted that when she was growing up, she “got in enough trouble” and if social media were around back then “it just would have been very documented.”

Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt hired the security team because they “wouldn’t even know what to look for.”

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Congress sends Obama several bills designed to strengthen cybersecurity

Congress has sent President Obama several cybersecurity bills for his signature, including one designed to bolster the security of federal information systems and another to help the Homeland Security Department hire and keep cybersecurity experts.

The House Dec. 10 passed a Senate version of the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (S. 2521) that requires agencies to automatically continuously monitor the security of their systems rather than file annual checklists.

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Iran’s Growing Cybersecurity Threat

Iranian hackers may be planning a cyberattack on American energy and defense companies, according to the FBI.

Iran has improved its cybersecurity and hacker training since 2010 when the Stuxnet worm designed by the U.S. and Israel sabotaged its nuclear facilities. Iran’s hackers have also been sharpening their skills to the point that the FBI warns they may be aiming to damage U.S. energy and defense companies, perhaps even educational groups, according to reports.

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