Careers Information Security Podcast

The International Spy Museum has just celebrated its 7th year and its 5 millionth visitor, says Executive Director Peter Earnest, a former CIA officer who's run the museum since its inception. In an exclusive interview, Earnest discusses:

Earnest is a 35-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He served 25 years as a case officer in its Clandestine Service, primarily in Europe and the Middle East. He ran intelligence collection and covert action operations against a range of targets including Soviet Bloc representatives and Communist front organizations.

As Museum director, he has played a leading role in its extraordinary success as a Washington attraction. He edits the Museum's book ventures and has frequently been interviewed by the major media in radio, TV, and the press on current intelligence issues.

In an exclusive interview, Davidson discusses:

Davidson is actively involved in new product development, curriculum design, alumni relations, online distance education, and marketing and strategic alliances with sponsoring organizations and business partners.

Prior to joining GSB, Kirby was VP of Marketing for a national trade association, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, in Washington, DC. He was recruited to develop and manage their new marketing department, overseeing nationwide marketing and membership campaigns, implementation of a new customer relationship database, and image-branding promotional activities for the organization and state banking industry.

He also worked for the Iowa Bankers Association for 10 years as their director of marketing, responsible for all marketing-related activities of a statewide trade association.

This is the key takeaway - and to some extent the surprise - of the new Top Cybersecurity Risks report released on Sept. 15 by TippingPoint, Qualys, the Internet Storm Center and SANS Institute.

In an exclusive interview about the report, Alan Paller, Director of Research at SANS, discusses:

Paller founded SANS in 1989 to provide graduate-level education to cybersecurity professionals. In the intervening years, more than 80,000 people have learned their technical security skills - from forensics to penetration testing to intrusion detection, in SANS courses.

Today he focuses on identifying the tipping points that can turn the tide against the growing wave of cyber crime and cyber espionage. He has testified several times before the US House and Senate, and the President named him to the National Infrastructure Assurance Council. His degrees are from Cornell and MIT.

Your organization has been breached - how should you immediately respond? How should you not respond?

Alysa Hutnik, attorney with Kelley Drye in Washington, D.C., specializes in information security and privacy, counseling clients on what to do after a security breach. In an exclusive interview, Hutnik discusses:

Hutnik is an Associate with Kelley Drye whose practice includes representing clients in all forms of consumer protection matters. In particular, she specializes in advertising, privacy, and data security law. She frequently conducts workshops and gives speeches on advertising, privacy, and data security compliance. She is often quoted on these issues in major business and law journals and newsletters, and has authored numerous advertising, privacy, and data security articles. Ms. Hutnik was recently nationally recognized as a leading practitioner in the area of Privacy & Data Security by Chambers USA.

When it comes to incident response, there's nothing for critical than first response. And first response skills are exactly what students are attaining in a unique information assurance program offered by New Mexico Tech.

In an exclusive interview, Srinivas Mukkamala of New Mexico Tech discusses:

Mukkamala, one of CAaNES' owners and its interim-Director of Operations, is a senior research scientist with ICASA (Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis, a statutory research division of New Mexico Tech performing work on information technology, information assurance, and analysis and protection of critical infrastructures as complex interdependent systems) and Adjunct Faculty of the Computer Science Department of New Mexico Tech. He leads a team of information assurance (IA) "first responders" who are deployed at the request of various government agencies and financial institutions around the state of New Mexico to perform vulnerability analysis, information system security audits, network analysis and forensic incident analysis. He has a patent pending on Intelligent Agents for Distributed Intrusion Detection System and Method of Practicing Same.

So, how should businesses and government agencies prepare for the expected widespread return of the H1N1 virus?

Regina Phelps, a noted expert in pandemic preparedness, updates us on H1N1, discussing:

Phelps is an internationally recognized expert in the field of emergency management and continuity planning. With over 26 years of experience, she has provided consultation and educational speaking services to clients in four continents. She is founder of Emergency Management & Safety Solutions, a consulting company specializing in emergency management, continuity planning and safety.

Rob Lee, a director with Mandiant and curriculum lead for digital forensic training at SANS Institute, discusses:

Lee has more than 13 years experience in computer forensics, vulnerability and exploit discovery, intrusion detection/prevention, and incident response. Rob graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and served in the U.S. Air Force as a founding member of the 609th Information Warfare Squadron, the first U.S. military operational unit focused on Information Operations. Later, he was a member of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations where he conducted computer crime investigations, incident response, and computer forensics. Prior to joining MANDIANT, he directly worked with a variety of government agencies in the law enforcement, Dept. of Defense, and intelligence communities where he was the technical lead for a vulnerability discovery and exploit development team, lead for a cyber forensics branch, and led a computer forensic and security software development team. Rob also coauthored the bestselling book, Know Your Enemy, 2nd Edition. Rob earned his MBA from Georgetown University. Finally, Rob was awarded the "Digital Forensic Examiner of the Year" from the Forensic 4Cast 2009 Awards.

Today, the ranks have swollen to over 100 CAE-designated schools, and information assurance professionals are much better prepared to tackle the cybersecurity challenges we face.

Dickie George, Information Assurance Technical Director within the NSA, discusses:

George began at the National Security Agency in August 1970 after graduating from Dartmouth College. He started in the Crypto-Math Intern Program, having tours in Research, the SIGINT Directorate, and the Information Assurance Directorate's (IAD) predecessor organization. Except for a tour in the Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID) and one at the Center for Communications Research in Princeton, he has worked in the IAD since 1973, and has served as the Technical Director of the IAD since 2003.

Mississippi State University's 'Wounded Warriors' program is all about providing digital forensics training for soldiers and sailors transitioning home from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world.

In an exclusive interview, Dr. David Dampier, associate professor in the university's department of computer science and engineering - and an Army veteran - discusses:

Dampier is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and serves as the Director of the National Forensics Training Center at Mississippi State University. The NFTC is a USDOJ-funded center that provides law enforcement officers free training in digital forensics. He is a retired Army officer with over 20 years of service. His research interests are in digital forensics and software engineering, and he has over 50 technical publications to his credit, including 5 book chapters and 11 journal papers. He has also given invited talks to both national and international audiences on software engineering, digital forensics and information assurance.

The economy has been down, but job opportunities are up for information security professionals with the right skills.

This is the posture of David Foote, CEO and chief research officer of Foote Partners, an IT workforce research firm.

In an exclusive interview, Foote discusses:

Foote has long been one of the nation's leading industry analysts tracking, analyzing and reporting on IT workforce management and compensation practices, trends and issues. His columns, articles and contributions appear regularly in dozens of publications.

As Foote Partners' CEO and Chief Research Officer since 1997, David leads a senior team of experienced former McKinsey & Company, Gartner, META Group, and Towers Perrin analysts and consultants, and former HR, IT, and business executives, in advising governments and corporations worldwide on increasing performance and managing IT's impact on their businesses and customers.

Prior to co-founding Foote Partners in 1997, David was an analyst and consultant with Gartner and META Group, co-founding and directing META's executive service for Chief Information Officers and leading the firm's IT Human Capital Management and Compensation research practices.