Info Risk Today Podcast

Tuesday's news was mainly about Wall Street, with the U.S. government pledging to invest up to $125 billion in nine of the nation's largest banks.

But Main Street banking institutions and their customers will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this financial boost, says one industry analyst.

"It's all about restoring confidence in the banking system," says Guillermo Kopp, Executive Director and Global Research Fellow at TowerGroup, the Boston-based financial services research and advisory firm. "This is an interdependent system, and it's important to ensure that banks don't hurt, because they sustain the economy."

In an exclusive interview, Kopp discusses what this investment truly means to the banking industry, sharing insight on:

Application security is a key focus of regulatory agencies - ensuring that financial institutions pay as much attention to third-party applications as they do to those they develop and manage in-house. In a recent survey conducted by Information Security Media Group, respondents say they are more confident in their own applications vs. those developed by third-party service providers ... yet, they really don't demonstrate vulnerability assessment or remediation processes to justify any level of confidence.

In this exclusive interview, Roger Thornton, founder and CTO of Fortify Software, discusses the survey results and his own market perspective, discussing:

But did you realize that one of the ways BoA secures its electronic offerings is by providing its customers with abuse reporting capabilities?

Listen to this dispatch from editor Tom Field to hear more about BoA's online initiatives, as well as to hear insights from a Fifth Third Bank executive on forensics and e-discovery.

The annual RSA Conference is a showplace for the who's who of security solutions vendors. The event showroom is lined with scores of the industry's leading vendors - no one individual could hope to see them all.

So, the Information Security Media Group team did the job for you, visiting with more than 60 vendors of particular interest to banking and security leaders.

Click on the following links to listen to our exclusive interviews with these vendors.

Learn:

Also be sure to check out our articles and podcasts from the event's keynote speeches and conference sessions.

Information Security Media Group recently attended the RSA Conference 2008, the premier information security conference showcasing over 300 of the top vendors in the information security technology space. The following audio is a selection of recordings taken on the expo floor where industry-leading vendors addressing all aspects of information security presented their products and services to attendees. Vendor solutions ranged from application security, encryption, multi-factor authentication, biometrics, ID and access management, compliance management, database security, email and messaging security, and many, many other solution categories.

We hope you take the time to investigate all the vendors listed as they all have solutions, products, and services designed to help financial institutions deal with information security issues and regulatory compliance. Vendor interviews and recordings are presented in alphabetical order and please note, we are not endorsing any particular vendor or product, we are just reporting on their take on the finance industry.

Mark Lobel is a nationally known expert in information security who leads the PriceWaterhouseCoopers annual survey of Information Security trends. This podcast summarizes his latest findings regarding changing threats, convergence of security functions, and why despite a decrease in certain attacks many organizations are unable to know what is happening on their networks. He also discusses the importance of benchmarking and the components of effective metrics and benchmarking programs.

The importance of actionable information and use of Security Information Management systems

Changes in information security convergence and its return to an IT focus

What factors predict fewer breaches and lower downtime

Why many firms admit they really don't know what is occurring on their networks

· The TJX data breach - these kinds of problems are not going away

Prior to founding MacLean Risk Partners, she was leader of Bank of America's Corporate Global Information Security Group. For 10 years Rhonda was responsible for the Bank's security policies; information risk management; security and risk technology implementations; cyber investigations; computer forensics; and general information risk management awareness for the company's leadership, associate base, and outside suppliers. Immediately before joining Bank of America in 1996, she was responsible for information security at The Boeing Company, managing its proprietary and government programs.

Rhonda was appointed in 2002 by the U.S. Treasury Financial Services Sector Coordinator where she founded and served as the first chairperson of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security. In addition to serving as chairperson emeritus of the Council, she sits on the Global Council of CSOs-composed of computer security thought leaders from the public, private, and academic sectors. The Executive Women's Forum in 2003 named her one of five "Women of Vision" shaping the information security industry; she has twice been named one of the 50 most powerful people in computer networking by Network World.