Critical Infrastructure and SCADA Systems
The Cipher Brief’s Luke Penn-Hall spoke to Tom Parker, Chief Technology Officer for FusionX, at the annual Black Hat cybersecurity conference that took place in […] More
Tech
Is Russia Behind the Dumping of NSA Hacking Tools on the Web?
An anonymous group this week dumped a cache of hacking tools allegedly linked to the National Security Agency (NSA) on the Internet, claiming it has […] More
Black Hat Day 2: Trust No One
If my first day at Black Hat was all about insider threats and ransomware, my second was focused on attackers. I had the opportunity to […] More
Black Hat Day 1: Threats Big and Small
The Cipher Brief’s Luke Penn-Hall is currently attending Black Hat, a premiere information security conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here’s his update from Day 1: […] More
Trust but Verify: The United States, China & Economic Espionage
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack raised the threat of Chinese cyber-espionage in a way that the American people had never seen before. American […] More
The U.S.-China Cyber Agreement: A Good First Step
After years of the U.S. suffering losses valued in the billions of dollars due to economically-motivated cyber espionage from China, there are some signs that […] More
Global Internet Ecosystem – Urgent Action Required
Many metaphors have been applied to the Internet—information superhighway, World Wide Web, cyberspace, etc.—each evoking its different aspects. A more comprehensive view is that the […] More
Cybersecurity Talent Crisis Threatens Businesses, Governments
A global cybersecurity talent crisis is threatening both the public and private sectors, a new report released on Wednesday has found, leaving businesses and countries […] More
Implementing a Shared Services Strategy is No Simple Task
It should come as no surprise that the federal government, particularly those agencies that make up the security community, want to adopt a shared services […] More
DNC Hack: Russia, WikiLeaks, and Lessons for Government
The FBI on Monday said it is investigating the hack involving the Democratic National Committee (DNC) after a cache of emails was leaked in advance […] More
The Clash over Social Media Data
The clash between the tech industry and the federal government over data access has become an enduring part of the national narrative about countering violent […] More
Choose Your Battles Wisely
Social media is a potentially powerful source of information for the Intelligence Community, but the tensions between the government and the tech industry have made […] More
A Bad Decision
The issue of government access to privately held data about American citizens is an important one, and the debate about privacy has expanded into the […] More
The Problem with Proxies
When it comes to cyber attacks, one of the biggest problems is correctly determining who, exactly, is attacking you. This is called attribution, and it […] More
How Much Should We Fear Iranian Cyber Proxies?
Most analysts have been impressed, and increasingly concerned, with the rapid improvement of Iran’s cyber capabilities. Tehran undoubtedly focuses the bulk of its cyber investment […] More
How Federal Agencies Might Improve their Poor Cybersecurity Posture
Hillary Clinton may have dodged an indictment when the FBI announced it would not recommend criminal charges against her for using a private email server […] More
Federal Cybersecurity One Year After the OPM Breach
One year ago, on July 10, 2015, Katherine Archuleta resigned her position as Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the face of […] More
One If By Air, Two If By Sea: Unmanned Surface Vehicles
The speed at which drones went from classified military platforms to ubiquitous consumer products is staggering, and the next chapter in that proliferation is starting […] More