In this episode, Brian C. Adams interviews cybersecurity expert Roger Grimes about the current state of cyber threats, including social engineering, phishing, ransomware, AI, and quantum computing. Roger shares his insights on where organizations often misallocate resources when it comes to cybersecurity. He emphasizes the importance of training employees to recognize phishing attempts, patching vulnerable software, and using multi-factor authentication. Roger also discusses how AI can be used for both defense and attacks, and stresses the need to prepare now for the coming quantum computing revolution which will break much of today's encryption.

Roger is a 34-year computer security veteran, author of 13 books and over 1300 articles on computer security. He is often quoted in national media including WSJ, Newsweek, and is keynote speaker at national computer security conferences.

[00:00 - 07:51] - Biggest Cyber Threats Today

• Social engineering, phishing, and unpatched software cause most successful attacks
• AI allowing less sophisticated hackers to appear more professional
• Defining social engineering, phishing, and software vulnerability exploits

[07:52 - 10:25] - Cyber Threats Getting Worse

• No digital Geneva Convention and poor nation state relationships
• Blurred lines on what hacking is allowed between countries
• Need a digital Geneva Convention but hard to get global agreement
• Ransomware already very damaging without AI

[12:41 - 22:51] - Nation State Hacking and Critical Infrastructure

• Nation states often turn blind eye to hacking that benefits them
• Most US hacking focuses on traditional espionage but some gray areas exist
• Nearly all critical infrastructure is hackable but progress being made
• Organizations like CISA doing great work against threats

[22:52 - 33:11] - Security Spending and Defense

• Money often misallocated compared to actual threats
• Need focus on social engineering training and patching known vulnerabilities
• Use phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication
• Key questions to ask vendors about social engineering and patching

[33:12 - 44:42] - AI and Quantum Computing Security

• AI being used by attackers and defenders
• Unlikely to increase social engineering much from already high baseline
• AI driven tools will recognize criminal AI tools
• Quantum computing will break current encryption in next couple years
• Massive coordinated effort needed to upgrade systems and software

Connect with Roger Grimes!

Website: https://www.knowbe4.com/

Email: [email protected] 

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Connect with me:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-c-adams/ (LinkedIn)

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