Credit Union Information Security Podcast

We posed these questions to J. Trevor Hughes, Executive Director of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). In an exclusive interview, Hughes discusses:

Hughes is an attorney specializing in e-commerce, privacy and technology law. In his role as Executive Director of the IAPP, Hughes leads the world's largest association of privacy professionals.

Hughes has provided testimony before the U.S. Congress Commerce Committee, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the EU Parliament on issues of privacy and data protection, spam prevention and privacy-sensitive technologies. He is a member of the first class of Certified Information Privacy Professionals (CIPPs) and is co-author (with D. Reed Freeman, Jr.) of "Privacy Law in Marketing" (CCH Wolters Kluwer, 2007).

But do these changes also open the doors to potential fraudsters?

Kris VanBeek, SVP of Information Systems at Digital Federal Credit Union, discusses:

VanBeek is a banking/security leader with deep experience in banking and regulatory compliance. Prior to joining DCU five years ago, he spent time as a supervisory manager at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; data center manager at Fiserv; senior IT specialist and examiner with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Digital Federal Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by and operated for its members. DCU was chartered in October of 1979. DCU serves more than 350,000 members and their families in all 50 states. DCU is the largest credit union headquartered in New England as measured by assets and among the top 15 nationwide.

This is the message from John Rossi, professor of systems management/information assurance at National Defense University.

In an exclusive interview, Rossi discusses:

Why security professionals should practice outreach;

Rossi is a Professor of Systems Management/Information Assurance in the Information Operations and Assurance Department at the National Defense University (NDU) Information Resources Management College (IRMC). Prior to joining the NDU/IRMC faculty, he was a computer scientist for information security, research, and training with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Headquarters. He was Security Division Manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Weapons Production Security Assessments Program and National Program Manager for Computer Security Certification and Accreditation (C&A) with the U.S. Department of Defense during Desert Storm.

Asked, in an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com whether the idea forwarded by Sen. Susan Collins, R.-Maine, was a good one, Hathaway responded:

Among the topics Hathaway addresses in the second of a two-part interview with GovInfoSecurity.com's Eric Chabrow:

In Part 1 of the interview (click here to listen), Hathaway said government and business must think creatively to help safeguard America's digital assets. She also addressed the critical posture of cybersecurity in the United States, the importance of government and private-sector collaboration on cybersecurity and the need to use the government's massive purchasing power to require security-ready IT wares.

President Obama in February named Hathaway White House acting senior director of cybersecurity and assigned her to lead a wide-ranging, interagency review the government's cybersecurity plans and activities. Her review resulted in the administration's cybersecurity policy agenda the president unveiled in May.

She resigned her White House job in August, and shortly thereafter started the consultancy, Hathaway Global Strategies, and this fall joined the Belfer Center for Science and International Affair at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government as a senior adviser.

Hathaway is a protégé of retired Adm. Mike McConnell, who served until earlier this year as the National Intelligence director. Under McConnell, Hathaway served as a senior advisor and cyber coordination executive. She chaired the National Cyber Study Group, contributing to the development of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. That led to her appointment as director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force in January 2008. At the business consultancy Booz Allen, where she first worked with McConnell, Hathaway served as a cybersecurity strategist, leading the information operations and long-range strategy and policy support business units.

Hathaway holds a BA from American University and a special certificate in information operations at the U.S. Armed Force Staff College.

Hathaway, an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com, cited the innovative coupling of cell phone and global positioning technologies to authenticate a user withdrawing money from an ATM or making a credit card purchase. With the cell phone turned on, a GPS can verify that the consumer is where the transaction takes place.

"That's not what cell phones were originally designed for, but I thought it was a creative solution on how to defeat the fraud or at least make it much more complicated for the criminal or thieves to take our information or take our personal data," Hathaway said in a conversation with Eric Chabrow, GovInfoSecurity.com managing editor.

In the first of the two-part interview, Hathaway also discussed:

(Click here to listen to part 2 of the interview.)

President Obama in February assigned Hathaway to lead a wide-ranging, interagency review the government's cybersecurity plans and activities. Her review resulted in the administration's cybersecurity policy agenda the president unveiled in May.

Hathaway is a protégé of retired Adm. Mike McConnell, who served until earlier this year as the National Intelligence director. Under McConnell, Hathaway served as a senior advisor and cyber coordination executive. She chaired the National Cyber Study Group, contributing to the development of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. That led to her appointment as director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force in January 2008. At the business consultancy Booz Allen, where she first worked with McConnell, Hathaway served as a cybersecurity strategist, leading the information operations and long-range strategy and policy support business units.

She resigned her White House job in August, and shortly thereafter started the consultancy, Hathaway Global Strategies, and this fall joined the Belfer Center for Science and International Affair at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government as a senior adviser.

Hathaway holds a BA from American University and a special certificate in information operations at the U.S. Armed Force Staff College.

Sen. Christopher Dodd has just released his draft version of a banking regulatory reform bill. How does it differ from other proposals that came before it, and how will banking regulation be reshaped - and when?

Christie Sciacca, formerly with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, now a director with LECG in Washington, D.C., discusses:

Sciacca spent 23 years at the FDIC, where he led examination, supervisory and bank rescue transaction projects in Detroit, New York, and Washington DC. From 1983-1986, Sciacca was Assistant to the Chairman, representing the Chairman on interagency matters, at bank trade association meetings and on all operational and policy matters. Sciacca served as the FDIC's representative on the Vice President's Task Group on the Regulation of Financial Services. In 1996, he returned to the FDIC to establish that agency's International Branch and from 1997-2002 served as the head of all supervisory policy, including domestic and international bank supervision, capital markets and accounting policy.

Patrick Grother is among the computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Information Technology Laboratory who are collaborating with their international colleagues to revise iris recognition standards and to advance iris images as the global interchange medium.

In an interview, Grother discusses:

Grother was interviewed by Eric Chabrow, GovInfoSecurity.com managing editor.

This is the perspective of careers coach Heidi Kraft, who says that today's senior leaders need to focus more on emotional intelligence and other "soft" qualities to be able to better recruit and retain quality employees.

In an exclusive interview, Kraft discusses:

Kraft is a Leadership and Career coach and founder of Kraft Your Success Coaching and Consulting.

Prior to launching her business, she spent 17 years on the agency side of the advertising industry, including a stint as SVP Media Director at Boston-based Hill Holliday, developing and implementing media strategies for high-profile clients such as Microsoft, Intel, Intuit, Siebel Systems, 24 Hour Fitness and Harley-Davidson.

She holds a CPCC (Certified Professional Coactive Coach) and is a graduate of the Coaches Training Institute's Leadership Program. She is also a member of the International Coaches Federation. Kraft serves on the BAARC board (Bay Area Advertising Relief Committee), a non-profit organization that helps individuals who face severe difficulty after job loss.

What does it take for an information security professional to make it into the United States Secret Service?

We asked Kevin Sanchez-Cherry, IT Security Specialist within the agency's Information Security Operations. In this exclusive interview, Sanchez-Cherry discusses:

Sanchez-Cherry is an IT Security Specialist for the United States Secret Service's Information Security Operations sub-division and is responsible for leading the Secret Service's Certification and Accreditation (C&A) Program and Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO) Program. He also assists in the management of the enterprise Information Assurance (IA) Program for the Secret Service.

Prior to joining the Secret Service in 2006, Mr. Sanchez-Cherry served two years as Principal Security Specialist with the Department of Commerce's Office of IT Security, Infrastructure and Technology (ITSIT), and was responsible for monitoring the agency's operating units' compliance with Federal and Department IT security requirements, laws and guidance.

Steven Elefant joined Heartland Payment Systems as a consultant in November 2008. Two months later, the company announced it had been the victim of the biggest reported data hack in history.

Now CIO of Heartland, Elefant appeared at the BAI Retail Delivery Conference & Expo in Boston and sat down with Tom Field to discuss:

Elefant was the founder of several successful Silicon Valley startup and venture capital firms. He is co-founder and former chief executive officer of ICVerify, Inc., a leader in payments processing integration of PC-based POS software. The company merged with CyberCash, Inc. in 1998 to form an Internet and physical service provider for electronic payments software.

He has been an active member of the US Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force for more than six years, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Infragard Electronic Crimes Task Force for the past five years.