“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He (she) does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his (her) actions and the integrity of his (her) intent.” – Douglas MacArthur … Read more
During the build-up to the illegal invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, there was consternation among information security professionals about what would happen on the cyber front. The prevailing groupthink at the time was that if countries in the West imposed sanctions, then they would suddenly be subjected to blistering Russian cyber-attacks that would … Read more
“Victory awaits him who has everything in order. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take all the necessary precautions in time.” Roald Amundsen, on the South Pole. Uncertainty, chaos, and luck – why some thrive despite them all. In the book Great by Choice, Jim Collins and Morten Hansen distill a decade’s … Read more
Not all that long ago, “Cyber” was a word that acted as a placeholder, standing in the place of super-specialized knowledge set and complex systems better left to experts. Cyber was too far removed from the day-to-day for the average person when personal records, bills, bank statements, health records and more were handled by paper. … Read more
Security is inherently binary, like being alive or being married. Just as you can’t be “almost married” or “almost alive” (Schrodinger’s cat notwithstanding), you can’t be “mostly secure.”. There’s no way to create a solution that will permit compromise only by certain entities under certain carefully delineated circumstances while defeating all other malicious access attempts. … Read more
Physical health and hygiene education in primary and secondary schools is taken as a given now, but it wasn’t always so. It was not until 1840 that Rhode Island legislation made health education mandatory.1 The 1850 publication by school teacher Lemuel Shattuck, of the Report of a General Plan for the Promotion of Public and … Read more
American information infrastructure is subject to continuous attack by malicious actors. The national security and economic consequences of these threats have motivated the national security community to develop a set of cybersecurity policies and supporting technologies. Many of these initiatives have been led by the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, the Defense Information Systems … Read more
This is the first part of a two-part article exploring the history of pre-computer cryptography. Part 1 will focus on the period from the birth of cryptography some 4,000 years ago to the development of early transposition and substitution ciphers. Part 2 looks at the emergence of cryptanalysis under the Abbasid Caliphate and goes through … Read more
Legal battles over compulsory data decryption are making headlines. The publicity will likely continue as encryption technology proliferates in both consumer and enterprise markets. The arguments on both sides of this issue merit careful consideration and discourse before any comprehensive policy decision is made or legal precedent is set. One side argues that alternate decryption … Read more
INTRODUCTION Graduating high school and attending college is a huge step for many students that grants new independence. Before starting the fall semester, many have already been briefed about the don’ts of living on campus: don’t do drugs, don’t fail classes and don’t do anything stupid. Unfortunately, there’s an important topic that’s often neglected: Internet … Read more
