Obama watch
Google-NSA collaboration draws alarm
February 5, 2010
Wanted: Inside sales rep to hawk online services to U.S. spy agencies.
Perks: Employer has search monopoly — and warm leads at top spy organizations.
That’s one takeaway of reports that Google has asked the secretive National Security Agency to help track down the cyberattackers who recently breached its network. More on this below.
Reporter Ellen Nakashima’s front page story in the Washington Post yesterday, 04Feb2010, has …More
China’s cyberspies aren’t the only ones prowling Internet
January 15, 2010
Google’s taking umbrage over Chinese cyberattacks has security experts talking about just how vast and rich the world of cyber espionage has quietly become.
“It isn’t just China,” says Matt Moynahan CEO of applications security firm Veracode. “They are the most aggressive. But all large governments are doing this, as are organized non-government actors.”
Indeed, China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Israel, France, the United States and the …More
How federal tax incentives could help stem rampant data breaches
October 13, 2009
One idea for motivating organizations to do a better job stemming rampant databreaches: give them tax incentives to do so. Patricia Titus, the former CISO at the Transportation Security Administration within the Department of Homeland Security, and current CISO at Unisys Federal Systems, makes the case in this exclusive LastWatchdog guest blog post. Comments are encouraged.
By Patricia Titus
CISO, Unisys Federal Systems
How do we as a nation address the abysmal …More
Finally — a solid measurement of the scale and scope of cyber attacks
September 16, 2009
Metrics precisely quantifying the scale and scope of cybercrime activity have historically been hard to pin down. But now comes a milestone survey, buttressed by another report, that defines the degree to which the Web is infested with malicious code.
The SANS Institute’s report on Top Cyber Risks is by far the most comprehensive accounting of ongoing cyber attacks ever made public. SANS is the well-respected Washington D.C.-based tech security …More
Three views on Pres. Obama’s delayed selection of cybersecurity czar
September 15, 2009
Since his historic May 29th speech calling for strong U.S. cybersecurity policy, Pres. Obama has been silent on the topic, as internal White House debate continues about the naming of a cybersecurity adviser reporting directly to Obama. Here are three perspectives on the delay:
Patricia Titus, Chief Information Security Officer, Unisys Federal Systems. LastWatchdog guest blog post. 15Sept2009
While the delay in appointing a national cyber security coordinator is cause for …More
White House cyber security adviser post remains unfilled
August 31, 2009
Expectations ran high after President Obama’s historic May 29th speech, in which the President outlined his framework for a national policy on cyber security, directed by a White House special adviser. But three months later the adviser has not yet been named.
Threat Post blogger Dennis Fisher does a good job analyzing the variables in play — and underscoring that stakes at risk — in this post. It’s …More
Melissa Hathaway steps down from consideration to be U.S. cyber czar
August 4, 2009
For Melissa Hathaway, the Mission, in the end, did prove to be Impossible.
Hathaway was widely hailed for completing a 60-day review of U.S. cybersecurity policy, setting up President Obama’s milestone May 29th speech, in which he became the first head of state to articulate the necessity for explicit national policies to make the Internet safer.
After her appearance last April as a keynote speaker at the RSA 2009 security conference …More