Get Smarter On ‘The Cyber’

The incoherent discussion of “the cyber” in the presidential debate on Monday is just the latest embarrassment in a long history of politicians not getting tech.

Time and again, our nation’s top political leaders demonstrate that they are not up to speed on technology and cybersecurity. While there are a million examples of this, here are a few from the recent past:

• During Monday’s presidential debate, Trump rambled nonsensically about “the cyber” in response to a question about cybersecurity.
• As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton discussed classified information over a private email server. An FBI investigation into the matter called this action “extremely careless” but recommended no charges against Clinton. Clinton admitted that her use of private email was a mistake during the debate on Monday.
• In the midst of the smartphone craze, President Obama was forced to rely on a BlackBerry into 2016 for security reasons.
• Remember when an aide said John McCain helped create the BlackBerry?
• Remember the parodies of George W. Bush’s “the Internets” quote?
• Remember when Al Gore “…took the initiative in creating the Internet?” and was roundly mocked for claiming to have invented it?

Yes, technology is an industry that is constantly changing as are the evolving challenges of cybersecurity.

However, one would hope that a presidential candidate would have at least the most basic definition of what cybersecurity is. Cybersecurity is an incredibly important issue for national security, business, and the economy.

Given recent events, both candidates may want to read up on the issue before the town hall style debate on Oct. 9. We have some recommended reading.

These articles will get you up to speed on recent developments in cybersecurity, from a business perspective.

• The threat landscape is changing quickly, and soon your Apple Watch could be used to take down a Fortune 50 bank’s user login portal. Brian Krebs (long may his site reign) discusses how DVRs can now bring down a website and why Bruce Schneier’s report that someone is trying to learn how to take down the internet is so troublesome.
• It seems like every year a cybersecurity report is published stating that insider threats are the number one cause of cyber attacks. Yet nothing has changed. Robert Rose dives into why companies and the US government struggle with insider threats and what needs to be done to correct it.
• We all want an AI like Jarvis to come and protect our corporate networks from the thousands of threats out there. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen. On the bright side, MIT and PatternEx are working to combine Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Analyst Intelligence (AI) in a new platform called AI Squared. (Haha, get it?)
• “As a product of the Dark Net, he has the power to invade China, and has done so before”. William Langewiesche examines how a secretive hacker of the dark net learned how to break into almost any computer and invade China.
• Five years ago, you would be hard pressed to find any board members who were cybersecurity experts. Today, companies are waking up to the fact that cybersecurity expertise is necessary.

This post is brought to you by Cascade Insights. We specialize in market research and competitive intelligence for B2B technology companies. Our focus allows us to deliver detailed insights that generalist firms simply can’t match. Got a B2B tech sector question? We can help.