Government Information Security Podcast

"I wouldn't say it's easy, but we have attracted some very bright professionals to our organization," Powell said.

In an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com, Powell discusses the

Skills sets DoD seeks in infosec professionals.

Competition among agencies and the private sector for a limited supply of cybersecurity experts.

Benefits of working as an IT security professional for DISA.

Powell was interviewed by Eric Chabrow, managing editor of GovInfoSecurity.com

Financial scams and incidents of medical identity theft are on the rise - and they're among the main threats to business and consumers in 2010.

This is the warning from Jay Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center. In an exclusive interview, Foley discusses:

Responding to an explosive rise in identity theft crimes, Jay and Linda Foley established the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) in 1999 in order to provide education and victim assistance to consumers and businesses. As Executive Director of the ITRC, Jay is today recognized nationally as an expert on identity theft issues.

Frequently addressing national, state and community organizations, Jay travels throughout the United States providing training for businesses, consumers and law enforcement. He has appeared before state legislatures and in Congress recommending new laws to protect against the crime of identity theft and he is a regular on San Diego news programs.

Earlier this year, Verizon Business unveiled its much-heralded 2009 Data Breach Investigations Report.

Now, the company has just released its 2009 Supplemental Data Breach Report, which reveals the 15 most common attacks against organizations.

In an exclusive interview, Wade Baker and Alex Hutton of Verizon Business discuss:

Barbara Massa, VP of Global Talent Acquisition at McAfee, Inc. speaks to the results of the new Information Security Today Career Trends Survey, discussing:

Massa joined McAfee in June, 2009. For the 10 years prior to joining McAfee, Barbara led the Talent Acquisition function at EMC and Documentum respectively (Documentum was acquired by EMC in December of 2003.) Barbara's prior work includes leadership positions in the recruiting organization at Cadence Design Systems and at an external recruiting firm.

"My top goal (for 2010), and nothing else even comes close, is to continue to add to the great core of human capital I've already got," Philip Reitinger, DHS deputy undersecretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate and director of the National Cybersecurity Center, says in an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com. "There are no silver-bullet solutions here; we need people, we need process, we need technology. But of those, people are by far, the most important."

Reitinger, in the first of a two-part interview, concedes the challenge will be tough because of a dearth of qualified information security experts, but explains steps the government is taking to eventually eliminate that skills gap. Also, Reitinger addresses:

In the second part of the interview, which will be posted shortly, Reitinger discusses the evolution of Einstein, the government's intrusion detection and prevention system as well as the right balance between incentives and regulation to get the private-sector operators of the nation's critical IT infrastructure to adopt best cybersecurity practices.

Before his appointment in March, Reitinger served as chief trustworthy infrastructure strategist at Microsoft, where he was responsible for helping improve the protection and security of the nation's critical IT infrastructure. This role allowed him to coordinate closely with government agencies and private partners on cybersecurity protection programs to build trustworthy computing systems worldwide.

Reitinger also served as a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency National Advisory Council, where he advised the FEMA administrator on aspects of cybersecurity related to emergency management. FEMA is part of DHS. He is an expert on computer crime and policy, and previously served as the executive director of the Defense Department's Cybercrime Center, charged with providing electronic forensic services and supporting cyber investigative functions department-wide. Before joining DoD, Reitinger served as deputy chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property division at the Justice Department.

Reitinger holds a law degree from Yale Law School and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Vanderbilt University.

James Pajakowski, EVP of Global Risk Solutions with Protiviti, shares his insight on:

Pajakowski oversees the delivery of Protiviti's services in the areas of finance and transactions, operations, technology, litigation, governance, risk, and compliance. He previously served as managing director and head of the Business Risk practice. He also was one of five founding members of the Protiviti Operating Committee, which was responsible for establishing Protiviti's vision and strategy and overseeing financial and administrative matters during the company's first five years. Prior to Protiviti, Pajakowski was a partner with Arthur Andersen, where he started his career in 1982. He has more than 25 years of professional services experience working with both public and private companies in manufacturing, public utilities, professional services and other industries.

Gallagher, the new director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, praised Furlani, head of NIST's Information Technology Laboratory, for her ITL reorganization plan to encourage more multidisciplinary collaboration with other agency units in developing cybersecurity programs and guidance. The plan received mixed reviews from NIST stakeholders, and Furlani withdrew it for further review.

"Every manager should be striving to make sure their organization is as effective as possible," Gallagher, who the Senate confirmed last month as NIST director, said in an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com. "What Cita was doing was looking at one of the major tools that a manager has, which is your organizational structure optimized for being as effective as possible. It was a very thoughtful proposal. The reality is that many of the cybersecurity activities already spread across various division within ITL, and this was the chance to try to create some synergies to make the organization more effective."

In the interview, Gallagher also discussed:

Gallagher was interviewed by Eric Chabrow, managing editor of GovInfoSecurity.com.

President Obama nominated Gallagher, 46, to his new post on Sept. 10. The Senate confirmed Gallagher as NIST's 14th director on Nov. 5. Gallagher has worked at NIST, part of the Department of Commerce, since 1993 as a scientist, laboratory director and deputy director. He served as interim director from September 2008 until his confirmation.

Gallagher has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pittsburgh. He taught high school math and science for a year after receiving his B.A. in physics and philosophy from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. Gallagher came to the NIST Center for Neutron Research in 1993 to pursue research in neutron and X-ray instrumentation and accompanying studies of the properties of technologically important "soft' materials such as polymers, liquids and gels.

In 2000, Gallagher was a NIST agency representative for the White House National Science and Technology Council and became active in federal. policy for scientific user facilities. At the Office of Science and Technology Policy, he served as chair of the Interagency Working Group on neutron and light source facilities. In 2006, he was awarded a Department of Commerce Gold Medal, the department's highest award, in recognition of this work. In 2004, he became director of the Center for Neutron Research, a national user facility for neutron research that is one of the most heavily used facilities of its type in the nation.

A native of Albuquerque, N.M., Gallagher lives with his wife and three sons in Olney, Md.

In an exclusive interview, Mark Lobel of PricewaterhouseCoopers and ISACA, discusses:

Lobel, CISA, CISM, CISSP, is a member of ISACA's Security Management Committee. He

He is an internationally recognized security and controls professional with experience designing, benchmarking and assessing organizational security strategies and technologies.

He is experienced at designing, assessing, implementing and penetration testing enterprise security.

Lobel's work has primarily focused on the information communications, entertainment and media and financial services industries.

He is the global PricewaterhouseCoopers subject matter expert on security benchmarking and the PwC leader for PCI services in the USA.

"In today's cyber world, cyber is so much more complicated than a bomb that it's really hard for people to really understand the threat, and understand how to defend themselves against that threat," George, technical director at the National Security Agency's Information Assurance Directorate, said in an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com. "That education is what we have to achieve as a nation, so that we can all work together to make ourselves a much harder target."

In the second of a two-part interview, George discusses the:

In Part 1 of the interview, George discussed the technical challenges facing the NSA in securing its IT systems, including staging attacks on its IT.

GovInfoSecurity.com's Eric Chabrow interviewed George.

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 predecessor organization. Except for a tour in the Signals Intelligence Directorate and one at the Center for Communications Research in Princeton, he has worked in the Information Assurance Directorate's since 1973, and has served as its technical director since 2003.

Sue Kerr, President of Continuity First, a business continuity/disaster recovery consultancy, talks about how organizations have handled H1N1. She also discusses:

Kerr is also the president of the Old Dominion Association of Contingency Planners, Education Director for the National Association of Contingency Planners and a previous member of the Disaster Recovery Journal Editorial Advisory Board. She has been active in setting standards for the industry as well as training others. She has spoken at various conferences and has done training for corporations, governmental organizations as well as the community. She has been published in industry journals and has been interviewed multiple occasions as a subject matter expert.

She is a Certified Business Continuity Professional through the Disaster Recovery Institute. In addition to working as a consultant for 5 years, she spent 11 years at a Fortune 500 company developing and implementing its Business Continuity Program. She was the Crisis Manager for such events as September 11th, major hurricanes and tropical storms, wild fires, white powder incidents, as well as many others. She has first-hand knowledge on how to design and implement a Crisis Management and Business Continuity Program as well as respond to various incidents.