CISO MAG recently hosted its second Fireside Chat with hacker, security researcher and CISO, Chris Roberts; the audience comprised of CISOs, security professionals and other C-Suite executives from the U.S., UK, EU, UAE, and Asia. The topic for the webinar was “The Superhero CISO,” who is instrumental in empowering the workforce, optimizing processes, and leveraging technology to secure business operations in a distributed ecosystem. The Fireside Chat, held on April 30, 2020, was moderated by Brian Pereira, Principal Editor of CISO MAG.
For the uninitiated, Roberts possesses a rich experience within the domain of information security and is globally recognized as one of the pioneering wizards on vulnerability research and counter threat intelligence. He has worked on a multiplicity of projects specializing in intelligence gathering, DarkNet research, deception technologies and cryptography with several organizations and has been credited by many of the top Information Technology and Security disciplines. Roberts’ hacking exploits have also been widely reported in the media and, in some cases, attracted the attention of certain three letter government institutions.
Roberts started the webinar by drawing parallels between computer viruses and biological viruses and how the situation of COVID-19 has affected countries, globally. According to him, the similarities between computer viruses and biological viruses are uncanny and the preventive measures adopted by healthcare experts and cybersecurity experts are also similar.
“While we encounter malware and viruses, the step that even we adopt are identification, isolation and analysis which is not very different from the methods adopted by healthcare professionals,” he added.
He also shed light on the attacks targeted at the healthcare systems during the onset of COVID-19 in several counties. “Even though, for the sake of humanity, several bad actors and malware groups came out stating that they will not target the healthcare sector during this dire situation, several groups continued their nefarious activities. The attacks were one of the reasons why several collaborations between cybersecurity experts, organizations and governments occurred. It all comes to the modus operandi of these attacker group — make money and exploiting a situation.”
Roberts said there needs to be a more collaborative approach to counter cyberattacks.
The discussion then shifted to businesses connected to a network of supply chains, and the need for companies to secure its own infrastructure as well as their partner networks, third-party vendors, dealers, sub-contractors, and customers involved.
Responding to this Roberts stated, “For businesses, it is important to understand where the risks are. It is impossible to secure everything. And several times, small companies do not take security seriously while big companies, which have partnered with them forget that they should secure the smaller companies.” He highlighted the need for better communication and collaboration between small and big companies. “In fact, in a post COVID-19 world collaboration will be key. We need to understand that,” he stressed. He also spoke about the need for securing endpoints, understanding where the endpoints are, and the need for better awareness and education toward safeguarding the supply chain.
Towards the end, Roberts took questions from the audience on the need for contact-tracing apps surrounding the COVID-19 cases. He answered,
Toward the closing, Roberts teased the audience with a device in his background and how he has lately been exploring methods of hacking the human through nanotechnology, and that is where his research is headed, for now.
Listen to excerpts from the Fireside chat here.
The next Fireside Chat on ‘Reinventing the Cybersecurity Strategy to Overcome the Business Implications of a Pandemic’ will be held on May 14, 2020, with Thomas Tschersich, CISO, Deutsche Telekom AG.
Through the Fireside Chat series, CISO MAG will be partnering with industry experts and solution providers from across the world to host similar webinars thrice a month to discuss some of the pressing issues and trends in cybersecurity. Stay tuned.
About CISO MAG
CISO MAG is a publication from EC-Council, which provides unbiased and useful information to the professionals working to secure critical sectors. The information security magazine includes news, comprehensive analysis, cutting-edge features, and contributions from thought leaders, that are nothing like the ordinary. Within the first year of launch, the magazine reached a global readership of over 50,000 readers. The magazine also has an Editorial Advisory Board that comprises some of the foremost innovators and thought leaders in the cybersecurity space. Apart from this, CISO MAG also presents a platform that reach out to the cybersecurity professionals across the globe through its Summits and Awards and Power List surveys.
About EC-Council
EC-Council, officially incorporated as the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants, was formed to create information security training and certification programs to help the very community our connected economy would rely on to save them from a devastating Cyber Attack. EC-Council rapidly gained the support of top researchers and subject matter experts around the world and launched its first Information Security Program, the Certified Ethical Hacker. With this ever-growing team of subject matter experts and InfoSec researchers, EC-Council continued to build various standards, certifications and training programs in the electronic commerce and information security space, becoming the largest cybersecurity certification body in the world. For more information, visit https://www.eccouncil.org/.
