Cybersecurity, big data top priorities for state’s IT chief

Dewand Neely is the chief information officer for the state of Indiana, overseeing a 300-plus employee operation that is the sole provider of IT services to about 100 state agencies. He’s been at the Indiana Office of Technology since its inception in 2005 (agencies previously had their own IT teams and resources), and he assumed the helm in October 2015 after Paul Baltzell stepped down.

Neely, 38, recently spoke with IBJ about cybersecurity, the innovation his office is driving, and being one of only a few African-American state government CIOs in the country. The following are edited excerpts from that conversation.

IBJ: You’ve been in your job for a little over a year now. How have you made your mark on this office?

NEELY: I came in [in 2005] as an infrastructure guy a few years out of school and was lucky enough to be one of the first folks to work with the newly created Office of Technology. One of the things I remember early on is the struggle we had with changing the culture when we started doing consolidated IT—how much we had to bend over backward to make sure we were being customer-service focused and delivering value to win over people who were against consolidation.

One of the things I did right away after [becoming CIO] was to really put another focus on that. We were doing some really cool things, but sometimes that work can get in the way of the customer service. For the full article click here 

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Trump Presidency: Where does cyber security go now?

Given the unexpected results of the US election, it is hard to predict the future, particularly in sorting out campaign rhetoric from policy intent. In general, Trump’s pro-jobs, pro-business resolve will likely loosen constraints on companies in terms of industry regulations and taxation while supporting employee expansion and capital investments.

Trump will need to reconcile his image as a populist Washington outsider who will champion the common man with the business leader that will ease burdens and restrictions.

Changes will be made to cyber security – this is nearly certain. The election itself was highly charged with security issues that created at the very least tension, and at its height, a kind of hysteria. A string of email attacks that ensnared DNC leaders and even Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager revealed the impact that cyber warfare can have on a national election. For the full article click here 

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Autistic People Can Solve Our Cybersecurity Crisis

ALAN TURING WAS the mastermind whose role in cracking the Nazi Enigma code helped the Allies win World War II. He built a machine to do the calculations necessary to decipher enemy messages and today is hailed as the father of the com­puter and artificial intelligence. He’s also widely believed to have been autistic.

Turing was not diagnosed in his lifetime, but his mathematical genius and social inelegance fit the profile for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). And his story illustrates how society benefits when it gives a voice to those who think different. Until he came along, no one perceived the need for a com­puter; they simply needed to crack the code. It took a different kind of mind to come up with that unexpected, profoundly consequential solution.

While Turing’s renown has arguably never been higher, today we are failing to recognize the potential in millions of other talented minds all around us. Like Turing, many of them are also capable of exceptional technological expertise that can help to safeguard our nation. For the full article click here

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Cyber security must go beyond the traditional

The world is engaged in an invisible war, with honest businesses at one end and cybercriminals at the other. Cyber security is no longer just a concern, but is inevitable, writes NITHEN NAIDOO, CIO of Snode

Cybersecurity is no longer just a pressing concern for the IT industry, it is a very real issue that every business has to contend with. Put plainly, a cyberattack is not just likely, it’s inevitable.

What’s more, many organisations’ security can already have been compromised, without them necessarily knowing even it. Today’s security landscape is no longer defined by the known and familiar attack vectors, responded to by the traditional defences of installing a firewall, antivirus solutions and constantly updated threat signatures. Rather, companies are being attacked in ways they cannot predict and often, don’t even detect using traditional approaches to cybersecurity.

Furthermore, companies are understandably reluctant to share details of how and when their security has been compromised, for fear of their reputations being damaged. This is exacerbated by the fact that they are facing advanced, highly motivated, and extremely well organised attackers, who are globally dispersed and often part of a much larger crime syndicate. This gives cybercriminals a structural advantage, making it all the more likely that they will continue to win the battles they wage. For the full article click here

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BLETCHLEY PARK CHOSEN SITE FOR CYBER SECURITY COLLEGE

Bletchley Park has been chosen as the site for the UK’s first National College of Cyber Security.

The plans were confirmed by the not-for-profit cyber security body QUFARO, with intentions to open the site by 2018. The new facility will be built at the site’s G-Block, which is one of the facility’s largest buildings. At present, a £5million restoration project is being conducted to convert the building to a security technology centre.

The college will be a free-to-attend boarding school for up to five hundred 16-to-19 year olds. Pupils are to be selected on talent regardless of background, and taught cyber skills as well as a range of related subjects. The programme is intended to help increase the UK’s potential for helping young people learn cyber security skills, in the face of the increased threat of cyber warfare.

The site is to be built at the historic location where codebreakers including Alan Turing broke the Enigma code during World War Two. For the full article click here

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Internet Society: Change Cybersecurity Stance

“Once bitten, twice shy” is the sentiment among many consumers when it comes to companies that were the subject to a data breach. A new report from the Internet Society finds that 59 percent of Internet users said they would not likely do business with a company that fell victim to a data hack.

“One of the key questions raised by this report is, why are organizations doing so little to protect their customers’ data?” said Michael Kende, economist and Internet Society fellow who authored the report, in a press release. “Everyone knows that data security is a major issue for both consumers and businesses, yet companies are not doing everything they could to prevent breaches.”

According to the Internet Society, the average cost of a data breach is now about $4 million, up 29 percent since 2013. What’s more, in 2015 there were a reported 1,673 breaches and 707 million exposed records. With that in mind, the Internet Society said it is urging companies to change their stance on cybersecurity and follow some key recommendations. For the full article click here

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Cyber Security – Technologies & Global Markets – Key Vendors Are Palo Alto, Fireeye & Symantec Corp. – Research and Markets

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Cyber Security: Technologies and Global Markets” report to their offering.

The scope of the report encompasses various technologies used in cyber security applications. Additionally, the application industry for the market is segmented into banking and financial services institutions, defense and intelligence, healthcare, retail, IT and telecommunications, government, and others, which include education and manufacturing sectors. The present cyber security market offers an opportunity to the stakeholders, largely because of a surge in cloud-based services and the increased use of the internet for online financial transactions.

This report highlights different solutions in the cyber security market, which includes identity and access management (IAM), encryption, data loss protection (DLP), firewall, antivirus and antimalware, disaster recovery, risk and compliance management, and other solutions. Other types of solutions include unified threat management (UTM), distributed denial of service mitigation and web filtering. In addition, the report also offers major regional analysis of the Americas, Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific. The estimated and forecast market revenue considered in this report is the summation of prices for software, hardware and subscription services. For the full article click here 

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U.S. says cybersecurity skills shortage is a myth

The U.S. government has released what it claims is myth-busting data about the shortage of cybersecurity professionals. The data points to its own hiring experience.

In October 2015, the U.S. launched a plan to hire 6,500 people with cybersecurity skills by January 2017, according to White House officials. It had hired 3,000 by the first half of this year. As part the ongoing hiring effort, it held a job fair in July.

At the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), “We set out to dispel certain myths regarding cybersecurity hiring,” wrote Angela Bailey, chief human capital officer at DHS in a blog post Monday. For the full article click here 

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Why Insider Threats Are Hurting North American Businesses

A new report from Kaspersky Lab revealed that company employees are among the leading cyberthreats to North American companies.

According to the “Business Perception of IT Security: In the Face of an Inevitable Compromise” report, 20 percent of businesses worldwide experienced four or more data breaches in the last 12 months, while North American businesses suffered double the global amount at 44 percent.

Enterprises in North America said careless/uninformed employee actions (59 percent) and phishing/social engineering (56 percent) were the largest drivers of the serious data breaches they experienced.

“The survey results indicate the need for a different view on the growing complexity of cyberthreats,” Veniamin Levtsov, vice president of enterprise business at Kaspersky Lab, said in a press release. For the full article click here 

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McAuliffe announces new cybersecurity with Australia

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has announced a new partnership with the Australian state of Victoria to share resources and information related to cybersecurity.

McAuliffe’s office announced the memorandum of understanding Monday, as he continues a 10-day trade and marketing mission to Asia and Australia.

The governor’s office said the agreement would also allow both governments to share ideas on the best way to grow skilled workforce, promote entrepreneurship and other areas.

McAuliffe has made expanding Virginia’s cybersecurity industry a key priority. Virginia is home to the Pentagon, the CIA and various other defense-related agencies. For the full article click here 

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Soliton Enters Europe and Targets Enterprise Cyber Security Space With Rebrand of Excitor

Soliton Systems, a leading provider of IT security in Japan, today announced its expansion into Europe with the rebrand of Excitor, the mobile security specialist. Soliton recently acquired Excitor and will continue to offer Excitor’s secure mobile and remote access products alongside its range of enterprise-class network security solutions. Excitor will be rebranded as Soliton as the company ramps up its operations across Europe, expanding its channel partnership programme to target the cyber security market.

The enterprise mobility sector has matured over the course of the past two years with a subtle shift away from protecting and managing the device towards secure data management. Protecting access to that data is now a priority for the connected business. Sophisticated and veracious attacks and the imminent application of more stringent data regulation in the form of legislation such as the EU GDPR will increase the onus on the organisation to secure data.

Recognising this shift in demand, Soliton Systems will now focus not just on enterprise mobility but on data and access protection through a suite of cyber security products. The Mobicontrol MDM, DME mobile container, and G-On remote access device previously offered by Excitor will be complemented by cyber controls that protect, guard and actively defend data. The Soliton services For the full article click here 

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Cyberbit Launches Channel Program To Create A Profitable Opportunity To Solve Customers’ Most Critical Cyberthreats

AUSTIN, Texas — /PRNewswire/ –Cyberbit, whose cybersecurity solutions protect the world’s most sensitive systems, today announced the launch of its Channel Program for North American Partners: MSSPs, VARs, distributors and consultants, who play a critical role in helping companies defend themselves against evolving cyberthreats. The Cyberbit Channel Program will deliver enhanced margins to partners, by providing Cyberbit’s suite of solutions, addressing today’s most complex cyber security problems for customers.

Cyberbit partners will get access to the industry’s most advanced endpoint detection and response (EDR), SOC automation and orchestration, cyber range training and simulation platform, and industrial control systems security. The Cyberbit Channel Program is led by enterprise and IT security channel veteranStephen Thomas, former Vice President of Channel Sales at Symantec, who has more than 20 years of sales leadership and building channel programs for partners of all sizes. Now Vice President of Sales at Cyberbit, Thomas will position partners to address pressing challenges in cybersecurity as part of the company’s 100-percent-channel-focused strategy. For the full article click here 

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Cybersecurity Threats May Impact Your Digital Health

As the healthcare industry continues to embrace the Internet of Things, cybersecurity may present unprecedented health and privacy risks to patients. Wireless-enabled medical devices are increasingly common. For some patients, this means that their hearts are, quite literally, connected to the Internet of Things. For others, mobile medical apps and wearable products are collecting personal health data that may be inadequately protected.

The medical device industry came under fire this year when a Senator from California sent a letter to the top five U.S. medical device manufacturers expressing “serious concerns that the cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices are putting the health and safety of patients in California and across the country at risk.” Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) wrote her letter in response to findings from an independent security researcher who discovered certain vulnerabilities in drug infusion pumps used in hospitals. The researcher discovered that the device software was vulnerable to infiltration that had the potential to manipulate the pump’s drug dosage levels. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this risk has been demonstrated. For instance, similar studies have revealed the vulnerabilities of wireless-enabled pacemakers and defibrillators, which in some cases have led to embarrassing public disclosuresby companies seeking to profit from such vulnerabilities. For the full article click here 

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Cybersecurity experts offer advice for incoming Trump administration

WASHINGTON — The new Trump administration could better protect the nation from cyber attacks by teaming with Silicon Valley to boost the cyber workforce and creating an agency to find new ways to safeguard digital security, UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity said in recommendations unveiled Friday.

Those ideas were among five major cybersecurity suggestions that the center’s experts offered during a panel discussion at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The University of California, Berkeley center has reached out to Trump’s transition team to offer its advice. Trump has not yet named a cybersecurity adviser.

“The new administration has an important opportunity to change the way Americans think about cybersecurity,” the center said in a short report presented by Executive Director Betsy Cooper and Faculty Director Steven Weber. “We believe cybersecurity needs to be thought of as an existential risk to core American interests and values, rising close to the level of major armed conflict and climate change.” For the full article click here 

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Embracing cybersecurity remains a challenge for many firms: Expert

SINGAPORE: Awareness and investment in cybersecurity may have grown in recent years, but the longer-term strategy of embracing the issue remains a challenge for many, said Mr Low Chee Juee, chief technologist of the cybersecurity practice at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

Speaking at the tech risk conference during the Singapore Fintech Festival on Thursday (Nov 17), Mr Low said embracing cybersecurity remains a challenge even though organisations could reap the potential benefits of lower costs and improved organisational efficiency.

“In terms of action, we’re still a step behind in a lot of areas where we need to be ahead. If we’re looking at it from a scale of one to 10, with 10 being ‘ready’, I think we’re still at ‘four’ in terms of where we’ve engineered a change,” Mr Low said.  For the full article click here 

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NHS Cybersecurity: Breaches Up, Spending Low

A new Freedom of Information (FoI) request has uncovered a litany of cybersecurity failings by NHS trusts across the UK.

Sky News received responses from 97 trusts and found data breaches in the health service had risen from 3133 in 2014 to 4177 last year.

What’s more, the average annual amount spent on cybersecurity was just £23,000, although six trusts claimed to fork out over £100,000.

More worrying is the fact that 45 trusts were unable to put a figure on spending at all, while seven trusts serving more than two million people spent nothing at all in 2015, the report claimed.

The news site engaged consultancy Hacker House to do some digging and claimed to have found that “security across the board was weak for many factors.” For the full article click here 

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Closing the Gender Gap in Cybersecurity: Its Time to Back Ourselves as an Industry

Whilst I spent most of my maternity leave in coffee shops and parks, I did manage to engage my brain for long enough to write a few industry reports, one on the reformation of the computer science GCSE, and one on closing the gender gap in cybersecurity. The lack of women in the industry is something that has always perplexed me, but this research allowed me to truly indulge my curiosity by spending time with representatives from across the industry; from government departments to recruiters to pen-testers to CISOs, and get to the bottom of why there is such a lack of women, and what can be done about it.

At the Big Bang Careers Fair earlier this year, CREST, in partnership with the government, ran a digital defenders stand to try and encourage schoolchildren to consider careers in cybersecurity. Interestingly – and encouragingly – they welcomed to the stand just as many schoolgirls as schoolboys expressing an interest in cybersecurity. That’s the good news. Yet, only 17% of computer science graduates are females, and according to the latest (ISC)2workforce study, only 10% of industry professionals are women. So what’s going wrong and why are we, as an industry, not converting those interested schoolgirls into graduates and then industry professionals?

Does it even matter? Many industries have gender imbalance, so is it something we should even be worrying about? The answer is unequivocally yes. There are arguments that a diverse workforce increases productivity; that research shows increased profitability in companies with more women; and recruiters even say that women bring a loyalty and stability to the industry that male counterparts, on the whole, don’t. Whilst these arguments are all valid, it’s actually simpler than that: cybersecurity is facing a frightening skills gap, with predictions that by 2020 there will be 1.5 million unfilled positions, so to put it simply, we need more people, so we need more women. It just makes sense. For the full article click here

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White House and Homeland Security Publish Cybersecurity Guidelines for IoT Devices

Two independent IoT (Internet of Things) cybersecurity publications were released yesterday by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, covering guidelines and principles for creating IoT devices with in-built security measures, as well as recommended protocols for implementing such measures.

The Obama administration ‘rushed’ the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) publication a month ahead of the planned release, primarily due to the escalated urgency surrounding cybersecurity for IoT devices following last month’s major Distributed Denial of Service attack that disabled parts of the United States’ internet infrastructure.

Cybersecurity has long been a concern since Internet connectivity started becoming more prolific in the 1990s. As connectivity came to mobile devices en masse in the 2000s, it became an even bigger issue. Today, the Internet of Things is next in line for in-depth scrutiny because it involves a large number of interconnected devices that are perpetually online. That increases the quantum of risk by a significant magnitude. For the full article click here

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Cybersecurity Law aims to ‘protect people’s interests’

New legislation set to be a hot topic among experts, officials at the annual internet meeting

Cybersecurity and related issues have been hot topics among internet and judicial experts since China’s first Cybersecurity Law was adopted earlier this month.

The law and its related topics, including how to put coordination of government departments into practice and how to review products and services before they are made available on the internet, will also be heated topics of discussion at the World Internet Conference, experts said.

Li Yuxiao, secretary-general of the Cybersecurity Association of China, said that he will go to Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, to participate in the third WIC, which runs from Wednesday to Friday, adding that one of his focuses will be legal issues.

“It’s good to see that our nation has finally drawn up and adopted its first Cybersecurity Law,” Li said.

“It’s the guide when we draft some other cybersecurity-related rules, and I think its adoption has brought more confidence to internet and judicial professionals,” he said. “I’d like to share the law with foreign guests and listen to their opinions at the conference.” For the full article click here 

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Cyber security expert to speak at 2016 State of the Region

There’s a war going on, and Dane Deutsch is on a mission to make sure companies and businesses don’t become collateral damage.

Deutsch, the president and CEO of Rice Lake information technology company DCS Netlink, will speak on the topic of cyber security at the sold-out second State of the Region event, sponsored by the 7 Rivers Alliance and to be held Wednesday at The Court Above Main. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Outreach Director Ron Wirtz also will provide some regional economic advice, the results of the 7 Rivers 2016 business survey will be presented, and Tribune Executive Editor Rusty Cunningham will present the 2016 Rising Stars Under 40 at the event.

“This will give a sense of the economic health of the region,” 7 Rivers CEO Lisa Herr said.

Herr started as executive director of the organization in 2014, and when she first arrived said there wasn’t a lot of detailed data on the region’s economy. Her staff tweaked the organization’s business survey to gather more information and worked with the Federal Reserve to create the State of the Region program.

“The intent of all of this is to help inform business and community leaders about what has gone on and what to anticipate for the coming year,” she said. For the full article click here 

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