(ISC)² Blog

CISSP Spotlight: Samana Haider

Name: Samana Haider Title: Manager, Forcepoint Security Labs Employer: Forcepoint Location: Dublin, Ireland Education: MSc Computer Science Years in IT: 15 Years in cybersecurity: 7 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I started my career in IT in the education sector where I was a lecturer at a university back home in Pakistan. I started working in HP managing SAP administration. I got the opportunity to work with one of the leading Irish banks where I was responsible for implementing security controls for SAP administration and ensuring SOX compliance. The security aspect of that... Read more →

Five reasons to nominate someone for the first (ISC)² EMEA ISLAs

What are the EMEA ISLAs? After eleven consecutive years of success in the Americas and Asia-Pacific, the Information Security Leadership Awards (ISLA) program is finally coming to EMEA! The (ISC)² EMEA ISLAs are a unique opportunity for you to nominate fellow information security and management professionals who go the extra mile to enhance security throughout the private and public sectors across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. There are four nomination categories: Senior Information Security Professional, Information Security Practitioner, Up-and-Coming Information Security and Woman Information Security Professional. It’s not long now until the nominations will be open (between the 12th... Read more →

CCSP Spotlight: Frederico Hakamine

Name: Frederico Hakamine Title: Principal Curriculum Developer Employer: Okta Inc. Location: San Francisco, CA, U.S.A. Degree: Bachelor in System Analysis Years in IT: 10 years Years in cybersecurity: 9 years Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP, CCSP, ISFS, ITIL, CobIT, Oracle Certified Architecture Specialist, Okta Certified Professional How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I started working for Oracle as consultant 10 years ago, with a challenge: develop a portal with independent web applications, that should require a single login and display restricted information depending on where you were located (intranet or internet). Developing the application was a straightforward task. The... Read more →

Weekly Security Headlines: WannaCry Spillover, Mickey Mouse Hacked, DocuSign Phishing and 560 Million Passwords

Not surprisingly, WannaCry remained top of mind last week. We’re sure you’re doing everything you can to patch your environment and prevent similar ransomware attacks in the future. Here are some WannaCry headlines (and other security news) that caught our eye last week. WannaCry Rolls On According to the Dark Reading article WannaCry's 'Kill Switch' May Have Been a Sandbox-Evasion Tool, researchers early last week were looking into the “kill switch” and consensus seemed to be building that it was a poorly constructed VM analysis/sandbox evasion technique. WIRED went a bit deeper with their assessment The WannaCry Ransomware Hackers Made... Read more →

How to Stop and Remediate WannaCry

The effects of WannaCry, the ransomware dominating international headlines, continue to be felt by organizations and individuals alike. If you or anyone you know has had a device infected, (ISC)2 has advice for stopping and remediating the attack. View the video below to see how you can respond to WannaCry: Read more →

SSCP Spotlight: George McPherson

Name: George McPherson Title: Information Security Analyst Employer: Duke Energy Location: Charlotte, North Carolina Degree: Currently working towards Associates Degree in "Cyber Security" Years in IT: 4 Years Years in information security: 3 Years Cybersecurity certifications: SSCP, Security+, MTA Security How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? When I first entered IT and started sitting for IT certifications I noticed that when I received my score report, I would always score the highest on security-related questions. When reflecting on this revelation, I realized that I also got excited about security and investigating security-related issues. Why did you get... Read more →

Weekly Security Headlines: WannaCry, NSA, Pen Testing and more...

Top security news from the week of May 8, 2017 ... Kazuar, Windows Defender and Worst-Case Scenarios The WannaCry Ransomware attack continues to dominate the news cycle, and we’re sure you’re closely watching developments and taking appropriate US-CERT precautions. But from Microsoft issuing an emergency patch for Windows Defender to the NSA director sharing his cyber fears to Gizmodo phishing for Trump administration officials, last week didn’t disappoint in delivering a rich trove of other security news. In case you missed it, here are some other stories that got our attention. Meet Kazuar From the pages of “Oh great, they’re... Read more →

2017 Americas ISLA – nominations are open!

(ISC)² has had the honor of celebrating leaders in cyber, information, software and infrastructure security since 2004. The 2017 Americas Information Security Leadership Awards (AM-ISLA®) are now open for nominations. We can’t wait to hear about your latest achievements, so please tell us about a cybersecurity leader whose work deserves recognition by the industry and by their peers. The categories for nomination are: Information Security Practitioner Senior Information Security Professional Up-and-Coming Information Security Professional Community Awareness The deadline to submit is June 7, 2017 at 11:59pm EST. Nominations and awards are open to (ISC)² members and non-members alike. Winners will... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: George Romas

Name: George Romas Title: Chief Engineer Employer: DXC Technology Location: Washington, D.C., U.S.A. Education: Bachelor of Science, Computer Science and Economics, Union College, Schenectady, NY Years in IT: 34 Years in cybersecurity: 34 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? Cybersecurity came as part of the job. I’ve spent most of my career supporting the intelligence community, where every system or solution that you develop has a cybersecurity component. As I gained more knowledge and expertise, that security frame of mind becomes a way of life. Why did you get your CISSP®? The main reason... Read more →

2017 F. Lynn McNulty Tribute Award Winner - Brig. Gen. (ret.) Touhill

(ISC)² is proud to present the 2017 F. Lynn McNulty Tribute Award to Brigadier general (ret.) Gregory Touhill, CISSP, former Federal Chief Information Security Officer. Serving active duty for the Air Force from 1983 to 2013, retired Brig. Gen. Touhill’s distinguished military career culminated as the Chief Information Officer and Director of Command, Control, Communications and Cyber Systems at U.S. Transportation Command – one of the nation’s 10 combatant commands. As the Senior Cyberspace Operations Officer, he led the command’s cyberspace defense mission and oversaw a $500 million information technology portfolio. Greg transitioned to civilian service at the Department of... Read more →

Three Reasons Why Cybersecurity Certifications are Essential

Other than a college degree, how can you validate your knowledge and skills? Certifications represent a way for professionals to validate their knowledge and expertise, as well as a path for continued education and professional development. But what about value? Why are cybersecurity certifications essential today? What is the value of a cybersecurity certification? Proves Your Worth According to the 2017 (ISC)² Global Information Security Workforce Study (GISWS), when respondents were asked for the reasons why their organization requires staff to have information security certifications, employee competence was the most common answer. You can spend years working to prove your... Read more →

The Great Divide: Women in Cybersecurity Infographic

According to the latest research from the Center for Cyber Safety and Education™ and the Executive Women’s Forum on Information Security, Risk Management & Privacy (EWF), conducted by Frost & Sullivan, women continue to comprise only 11 percent of the information security workforce. That number, despite women making up approximately half of the global population, has remained stagnant since 2013. This information is detailed in the latest infographic created using data from the 2017 Women in Cybersecurity report, which was part of the Global Information Security Workforce Study (GISWS), sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton. The study found that women in... Read more →

What To See in Austin – Security Congress Sessions Announced

With less than 150 days until Security Congress, the full agenda has been released. Keynote speakers include Ben Makuch, national security reporter for VICE News, Donald W. Freese, deputy assistant director at the FBI, and Juliette Kayyem, founder of Kayyem Solutions. The seventh annual conference will be hosted at the JW Marriott Austin, September 25-27, 2017. There will be 11 tracks at this year’s event, including: Cloud Security Cyber Crime Critical Infrastructure Incident Response & Forensics Governance, Regulation & Compliance Identity Access Management People & Security Professional Development Software Assurance/Application Security Swiss Army Knife Threats We listened to the feedback... Read more →

SSCP Spotlight: Ajet Ibraimoski

Name: Ajet Ibraimoski Title: System/Network Administrator Employer: PBS Systems Inc. Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Degree: MSc. in Computer Networks and e-Technologies; B.Sc. in Informatics and computer engineering Years in IT: 9 Years in information security: 5 Cybersecurity certifications: SSCP, CEH, Security+, Cybersecurity: Technology, Application and Policy – MIT, Information Security Foundation based on ISO/IEC 27002 How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? Security has always been my passion. Information security blogs and magazines kept me awake at night during my university years. After graduation, I had the chance to work in various positions and industries that presented unique... Read more →