Lead SecurityInfoWatch news editor Joel Griffin blogs about the news of the day affecting the security industry in the Industry Surveillance blog.
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Time to take a stand against state-sponsored cyber attacks
By Joel Griffin - Friday May 10, 2013
Earlier this week, the Pentagon issued a report accusing the Chinese government and military of conducting cyber attacks against the U.S. in an effort to gather intelligence on diplomatic, economic and defense programs. This follows a report released earlier this year by cybersecurity firm Mandiant , which also accused the Chinese military of carrying out cyber attacks against more than 140 companies, the majority of them American. Neither of these reports, however, came as shock to those who have worked in or followed the information security industry for any length of time as China has frequently been accused, either directly or indirectly, of perpetrating such attacks for years. According to retired Navy Rear Adm. James Barnett, who... -
Keeping up with hackers
By Joel Griffin - Friday April 5, 2013
In February, President Barack Obama issued a cybersecurity executive order that directs U.S. intelligence agencies to share information on potential cyber threats with private businesses that are considered part of the nation’s critical infrastructure. The order also gives government agencies a year to devise a “baseline framework” for cybersecurity that incorporates peer-based standards and industry best practices. This week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is part of U.S. Department of Commerce, hosted the first in a series of cybersecurity workshops designed to help develop this framework in Washington, D.C. But while government officials and industry leaders meet to exchange ideas about how... -
Much ado about drones
By Joel Griffin - Thursday March 28, 2013
Ever since Congress approved the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which called for the agency to open up domestic airspace for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), there has been an outcry from privacy advocates, as well as federal and state lawmakers to regulate how drones can and cannot be used. In the last month alone, bills have been introduced in North Carolina and Maine that would restrict the use of drones by law enforcement officials in those states. Just last week, legal experts told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that current privacy laws need to be updated before UAVs take to the skies in mass over the next decade. Lost in all the hysteria over privacy concerns, however, is that very few people have considered... -
Filling the gaps in security information management
By Joel Griffin - Friday March 8, 2013
There has been a debate within the industry for some time now over what exactly constitutes a true security information management solution. Everyday, security personnel at organizations both big and small are bombarded with data from the security devices they use, be it alerts from video analytic software monitoring surveillance feeds or alarms triggered by intrusion detection sensors. While having more data to work with can be a good thing, the challenge comes in being able to aggregate all of this information into actionable intelligence. In a panel discussion entitled “Security Information Management Platform: The Death of the Closed System,” at this week’s ASG Security Summit/The Great Conversation event in Seattle, industry... -
The economics of security
By Joel Griffin - Friday February 15, 2013
Over the last five years, the American economy has been on a roller coaster ride – from the bust in the housing market that has slowly started to recover to the stalemate over the debt ceiling and Congress driving the country right to the edge of the fiscal cliff. However, temporary bargains among Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have only served to kick the proverbial can down the road. If lawmakers can’t come to an agreement by March 1, an automatic round of across the board spending cuts known as sequestration will take effect, with the Defense Department being the most heavily impacted. "In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion...
