Liz Fraumann, Securiing our eCity

SAN DIEGO — Liz Fraumann, Director of Cybersecurity Awareness & Education for Securing Our eCity (SOeC), will join an expert panel discussion on Feb. 25, 2012, focusing on issues that face women in today’s society.  The panel will take place at the 7th Annual Women’s Conference at Pt. Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.

“The purpose of the event is to provide hope and inspiration to women in Southern California,” Fraumann said. In keeping with that aim, Fraumann plans to discuss some of the challenges involved in online communications and social network, and in particular, she intends to provide information and tips to help women and families to stay safer while using the Internet.

The conference is a production of Media 4 Women founders Bobbye Brooks and Tonilee Adamson, hosts of the national Internet TV program, “Real Issues, Real Answers” on the WaZillo Media network.

WHEN: Saturday, 25 February 2012 — 9AM – 5PM

WHERE: Point Loma Nazarene University, Brown Chapel

ENTRANCE FEE: $25 (Early Registration)

DETAILS:  http://www.realissues-realanswers.com/index.html

For further information, contact Media 4 Women at (800)  992-0369, or  info@media4women.com.

Securing Our eCity is pleased to offer free downloads of the new 2012 edition of A Parents’ Guide to Facebook, written by Anne Collier and Larry Magid. Collier and Magid, who is well known as a journalist and commentator covering high technology for the Los Angeles Times, CBS Radio and other media outlets, are also co-founders of ConnectSafely, which has sponsored the publication along with iKeepSafe.org.

The 35-page guide provides answers to some of the most perplexing issues surrounding Facebook and the social media craze the site represents. This includes numerous questions that many parents may not have even asked, such as what risks do social networking sites carry for minor children?

Here is an excerpt:

Specific social networking risks include…

• Harassment or online bullying (“cyberbullying”) on the part of your children or others’
• Posting information about themselves that: a) could be used to embarrass or manipulate them; b) could cause psychological harm; c) could be used by criminals to steal their identity or property or – though very rare – determine their physical location to cause physical harm
• Damage to reputation or future prospects because of young people’s own behavior or that of their peers – unkind or angry posts, compromising photos or videos, or group conflict depicted in text and imagery
• Spending too much time online, losing a sense of balance in their activities (“too much” is subjective, which is why parents need to be engaged)
• Exposure to inappropriate content (this too is subjective) – although, typically, worse content can be found out on the Web at large than on Facebook or other responsible social networking sites

 

Download your copy here.

Securing Our eCity’s Mike Davis, CISSP, Co-Chair of the organization’s Security Metrics Workgroup, will be featured as a panelist in a live webcast focusing on “The Impact of Cloud Services On Enterprise Security: An Expert Debate.” The webcast takes place from 10:00 AM PT to 10:45 AM PT on Thurs., Feb. 15.

In addition to his volunteer role with SOeC, Mike Davis is the Platform Chief Systems Engineer (CSE) Technical Authority for C4ISR in Navy large deck ships and aircraft/ship integration at the Navy’s SPAWAR (Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command) Headquarters in San Diego, where he also completed a tour as the senior Information Assurance (IA) Technical Authority.

Mike has held leadership roles in the IA and CND (computer network defense) fields for many years, and has played a key role in acquiring and installing information security systems for the Navy, as wel as initiating the Navy’s Crypto Modernization office and overall capstone strategy. Mike is a retired Navy Engineering Duty Officer (technical and acquisition manager), having served in submarines, destroyers and amphibious class ships. He holds graduate degrees in Management and Electrical Engineering.

Davis’ panel will address key questions facing IT executives and security professionals, such as whether the use of cloud services improves an organization’s security posture, or if reliance on cloud services can actually increase the organization’s risk. He will be joined in the discussion by Cliff Kettemborough, Ph.D., IT Director for Systems Architecture, PMO, and Technology R&D for The Walt Disney Company, and Jim Reavis, Executive Director of the Cloud Security Alliance. SOeC’s Steve Kovsky will moderate the panel.

To register for the free online event, visit the following page: https://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1003985&K=0OTH9C

As federal and White House officials increase their calls for  comprehensive cybersecurity legislation to protect critical infrastructure, Congress and the Senate have responded with progress on preparing and passing laws to address the issue.

Federal law enforcement officials have not minced word in their recent statements regarding the urgency of combating cyber-espionage, hacktivists and cyber-attacks, which according to Congressional testimony, are expected to soon surpass traditional terrorism as the No. 1 threat facing the United States .

“Stopping terrorists is the No. 1 priority,” FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week, “but down the road, the cyberthreat will be the No. 1 threat to the country. I do not think it is necessarily [the] No. 1 threat, but it will be tomorrow.”

According to a recent article in eWeek:

The U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper urged the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate to pass legislation to increase cyber-security in both the public and private sectors during a hearing of the House Select Intelligence Committee on worldwide threats on Feb. 2. Clapper discussed intrusions on public systems that control major defense weapon systems, electrical grids and banking infrastructure. The U.S. economy is losing upwards of $300 billion per year because of rampant cyber-espionage, Clapper said.

For full details on recent legislative response to the issue, see the eWeek report.

SAN DIEGO — Feb. 1, 2012, has been designated as the inaugural Digital Learning Day, with online and offline activities scheduled throughout the country to promote cyber awareness.

In that spirit, Securing Our eCity invites you to take an easy step toward protecting yourself, your coworkers and your family from online intruders: Replace your simple (and easy to break…) passwords with a “passphrase.”

“Typical passwords are no longer strong enough to protect,” advises Liz Fraumann, Director of Cybersecurity Awareness & Education for Securing Our eCity, a public service initiative based in San Diego. “However, a phrase allows us to easily remember it, without the need to write down on a yellow ‘post-it’ stuck to our computer screen — a typical cybersecurity mistake.”

To learn more about safe cyber practices, please visit www.securiingourecity.org.

To learn more about Digital Learning Day, and participate in digital learning activities, visit http://www.digitallearningday.org.

ABOUT SECURING OUR ECITY:

Securing Our eCity, a public service initiative of the nonprofit ESET Foundation, is dedicating to the creation of safe digital neighborhoods that are both resistant to cyber-threats and resilient to man-made or natural disasters — digital communities where our citizens, businesses, organizations and government can effectively and securely navigate, collaborate and conduct business to remain economically competitive in today’s fast‐changing technological environment. The secure cyber city model SOeC has established in San Diego is meant to empower its citizens, and to serve as a beacon for cities across North America and the world.

###

SOeC's Steve Kovsky shares cyber safety awareness tips with San Diego 6 TV's Marc Bailey. CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

Securing Our eCity took the National Data Privacy Day message to the local airwaves last week, appearing on San Diego 6 TV’s News in the Morning Show with Anchor Marc Bailey to discuss why there’s a need for such an observance, and how San Diegans should mark the day.

SOeC’s Director of Community Outreach Steve Kovsky shared his tips for cyber safety, which included joining up with “cyber-minded” organizations such as Securing Our eCity, and participating in activities such as San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders’ Cyber Cup Challenge, a city-wide competition open to all middle and high school students in the greater San Diego Area.

To view the video interview, please click here.

Calling All Southern California Middle & High School Students: Accept the Mayor’s Challenge to Become a Cyber Warrior

San Diego - The San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders’ Office has again partnered with Securing Our eCity, the ESET Foundation, SAIC, NDIA and UCSD to host the San Diego Mayor’s Cyber Cup Challenge, to take place at UCSD in late March 2012.  This event is a part of their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) outreach programs, and seeks to encourage middle and high school students to consider majors and careers in STEM disciplines.

The San Diego Mayor’s Cyber Cup invites all San Diego high schools to participate in a three-phase cyber defense competition. The first two rounds (qualification and preliminary) will use the distributed game mode, where they can train and then compete simultaneously via the Internet. The eight winners of the qualification round will then participate in a head-to-head comprehensive final round, where each team will have its own CyberNEXS environment.  (CyberNEXS provides a live exercise environment consisting of Windows and UNIX operating systems, network and security devices, as well as other information resources.)

During the final competition, teams will be scored on their ability to administer the following four essential skills:

1. maintenance of critical services;
2. removing vulnerabilities and hardening systems;
3. communicating status and resource requirements; and
4. thwarting and removing hacker activities.

Following the final round, the participating teams will be hosted to an awards banquet at UCSD.

When:  Kick-off on Jan. 30, 2012. Practice rounds to be conducted during a 48-hour window in Mid-February.  [The purpose of the practice round is to familiarize students with the competition environment and verify that their computer(s) are able to access the competition software and images.]  Qualification round will be held in early March.  [The purpose of the qualification round is to select the top 8 teams to compete in the final round.]  Final round will be held on March 10, 2012.

Where:  The practice and qualification rounds will be conducted at the participating teachers’ school sites.  The final round will be held at UCSD’s world-renowned Supercomputer Center.

Contact:  Interested teachers should contact Liz Fraumann at Securing Our eCity. Teams should consist of 6-8 interested middle and/or high school students and their coach.  Students should be enrolled in or have already taken AP Computer Science or Computer Science courses, though this is not a requirement.

Cost to Participate:  Nothing

For further details, download the flyer (PDF) here: SDMCC_Flyer_LF

Image by Arenamontanus

A recent study by an international team of researchers finds that highly technical approaches to protecting against cyberattacks and malware can’t succeed without also addressing “the human element” — in other words, teaching non-technical users to avoid common pitfalls and improve their ability to detect social engineering ploys.

The study, “Insights into User Behavior in Dealing with Internet Attacks,” was conducted by experts at Northeastern University in Boston, Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, and Institute Eurecom in Sophia Antipolis, France. After conducting experiments with 164 Internet users with diverse backgrounds, the team concluded  that” many non-technical users can exhibit performance comparable to security experts” when it comes to averting relatively simple threats. However, more sophisticated exploits — or those that are easily concealed from non-experts or which come cloaked in social engineering ploys — are likely to trip up uninformed Internet users.

In their conclusions, the researchers wrote the following:

Our findings suggest that many non-technical users can exhibit performance comparable to security experts at averting relatively simple threats that they are frequently exposed to in everyday life. They can do so solely by following their intuition, without actually perceiving the severity of the threat. However, when facing more sophisticated attacks, these non-technical users often rely on misleading cues such as the “size” and “length” of artifacts (e.g., URLs), and hence, fail to protect themselves.

We also show that trick banners that are common in file sharing websites and shortened URLs have high success rates of deceiving non-technical users, thus posing a severe security risk.

For full details, download a copy (PDF) of the study.

Global hacktivist group Anonymous has claimed credit for another wave of mass distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

The online takedown was an apparent retaliatory action prompted by the Department of Justice actions targeting online storage and file transfer site Megaupload. Affacted websites included those of the DoJ, Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and Universal Music.

For additional details, visit www.DarkReading.com.

SOeC's Steve Kovsky interviews Sheryl Bilbrey of the San Diego BBB

San Diego Better Business Bureau President Sheryl Bilbrey spoke with Securing Our eCity’s Steve Kovsky during the SOeC’s recent symposium and awards ceremony.

The 2011 fall symposium and awards ceremony took place on Tuesday, October 25, 2011, at the Sheraton Harbor Island Hotel in San Diego, drawing more than 250 security professionals, business executives and managers, IT Consultants, government and law enforcement officials.

Click here to watch the video.

Click here for additional video and photos from the event.