Archives: Articles

From the Summer 2014 Issue

Cybersecurity Operations Strategy

Author(s):

B.B. Shariati, Cybersecurity faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (CSEE) UMBC, UMBC’s GPD Cybersecurity program at The Universities at Shady Grove

Don Bowers, Chief Scientist, National Security Operation, Leidos Corporation

Executive Summary  Cyber threat is pervasive, growing and real. Whether you are dealing with it professionally as a cyber-warrior or have been touched by cybercrime in your personal life. The “cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation” (Obama, 2009). Cyber-attacks such as Advanced Persistent … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

Thinking Ahead – Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to Protect from Potential Legal Liability

Author(s):

Markus Rauschecker, J.D., Cybersecurity Program Manager, University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security

Private sector organizations should be motivated to implement the NIST Cybersecurity Framework not only to enhance their cybersecurity and to benefit from added incentives to do so, they should also implement the Framework to lower their potential risk of legal liability.  Failure by the U.S. Congress to pass meaningful cybersecurity legislation led the President to … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

NERC Exercise Designed to Improve Grid Security

Author(s):

Brian Harrell, CPP, Director, Energy Security, Navigant

Cyber and physical threats are constantly evolving and require quick action and flexibility that comes from constant vigilance and collaboration with the government and industry.  The North American electrical grid is the largest machine on the planet and, as such, requires constant maintenance, monitoring and continuous learning. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) mission … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

Finding Clarity in Blurred Boundaries: From Activism to Cyberterrorism

Author(s):

Dr. Eric Yocam, CRISC, CISSP, Adjunct Professor, University of Fairfax

A meaningful boundary (or distinction) can be drawn among sometimes blurred descriptive terms including activism, hacktivism, cybervandalism and cyberterrorism.1 Are Hackers Really Ethical?  The term hacker’s ethic describes the moral values and philosophy that are standard in the hacker community. The hacker’s ethic also represents a form of unrestricted access, freedom of information, and improvement … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

Cyber Deals Deconstructed: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Cybersecurity Mergers & Acquisitions

Author(s):

Michael N. Mercurio, Esq., , Offit|Kurman

It’s the sales season in the cybersecurity industry.  Why? Just take a look at the headlines.  Edward Snowden leaked classified national security documents last year, prompting global interest in privacy matters. Retail chain Target suffered a devastating customer data breach months later. Then emerged the Heartbleed bug, which cyber-criminals exploited to obtain user passwords kept by … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

Cybersecurity in the Supply Chain

Author(s):

Taylor Wilkerson, Program Manager, Supply Chain Management Program, LMI

For most of us, cybersecurity means network and data protection. We think of intrusion detection, firewalls, secure network design, secure and trained workforce, social engineering, and other security activities. Essentially, we view cybersecurity as the tools and activities that keep our networks and the data that they handle secured. But what if one of the … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

Above the Noise Floor: Security Measures in Your Network

Author(s):

Marc Milligan, Cyber Threat Analyst, Visionist, Inc.

In network security, a noise floor is a baseline or an acceptable percentage of false positives (when the system cries wolf) and false negatives (when it misses an actual security event) from your security products. No monitoring solution is fool proof, so you will need to develop a method of sorting out the good, the … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

Implementing Continuous Monitoring to Combat the Nation’s Cyber Threat

Author(s):

Matt Brown, Vice President, Homeland Security and Cyber Solutions Knowledge Consulting Group (KCG)

Cyber attacks on federal government systems are increasing in volume, vigor and complexity. In fiscal 2012 alone, there were 48,562 cybersecurity incidents at federal agencies reported to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), a division of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC). That’s a 782 percent increase over … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

It’s What’s Inside That Counts – The War From Within

Author(s):

Jim Mazotas, Founder, OnGuard Systems LLC

Larry Letow, CEO, U.S., CyberCX

“Tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a church-door, but ‘tis enough, ‘twill suffice” — (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene 1)  It is no surprise that with the continuing advancements in data mobility, increasing demands of regulatory compliance, and sharing amongst the global community, that securing our nations … Read more

From the Summer 2014 Issue

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Author(s):

Karen Austin, CEO, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

Karen Austin

Greetings and Welcome!   In this 21st Century digital world we live in, the cold-calloused cybercriminals, yes, our enemies, continue to commit credit theft, identity theft, extortion. Right here in the United States of America. Through social media, the cybercriminal offenders are preying on our children and teens. Our children are being exploited. Human trafficking … Read more