The story about China hacking into politicians systems has been in the news the today (
Network World coverage). Maybe it's actually a good thing in the long run, because this kind of activity has the chance to actually stimulate our politicians in the US to think about how to address security issues.
I have been reading
Geekonomics, and the further along I get in it the more I think that the systemic problems we face in IT security need to be solved at a lot higher level than throwing security te
chnologies at each new problem that emerges. (BTW- it is an excellent must read for those in the security industry, and particularly for those who aren't but who need to understand where we are at, and how we got here)
I was also reading an interview in the most recent issue of IEEE Security & Privacy with Jon Swartz, who has covered IT security for USA Today, and who has a new book out called Zero Day Threat. There was a line in it about sabre rattling in Washington DC after some Senators identity information was stolen, but then losing interest when a Supreme Court appointment came up.
Maybe this latest set of hacking incidents will stir our elected representatives to actually look at and do something about security.
Jim
Jim Hietala
Jim Hietala, GSEC, GCFW and CISSP, is the principal of Compliance Research Group, providing research, analysis, and consulting services in the areas of compliance, risk management, and IT security. Jim has provided consulting services to organizations such as SANS, The Open Group Security Forum, Logical Security, and a number of IT security and compliance vendors. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, and he recently authored a comprehensive course on IT risk management. He participates in the SANS Analyst/Expert program, having written several whitepapers and participated in several webcasts for SANS. He has also published numerous articles on information security, risk management, and compliance topics in publications including The ISSA Journal, Bank Accounting & Finance, Risk Factor, and others. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from Southern Illinois University.
Editorial focus: Compliance, Risk Management, IT Security, IT-GRC software, HIPAA, GLBA, Privacy
Jim can be reached at: jim@compliancefocus.com