ISC2 Blog

Top 10 (ISC)² Webcasts of 2017

(ISC)² webcasts are a great source for insight into all areas of security. From the Internet of Things to malware and compliance, the topics vary. Here are the top 10 (ISC)² webcasts for 2017 so far as ranked by cybersecurity professionals: Part 1: Future of SIEM - Why Static Correlation Fails Insider Threat Detection Hackers stealing credentials and operating in your corporate network…disgruntled employees collecting customer lists and design materials for a competitor...malware sending identity information back to random domains…these common threats have been with us for years and are only getting worse. Most organizations have invested large amounts in... Read more →

CCSP Spotlight: Adam Boulton

Name: Adam Boulton Title: Senior Vice President, Security Technology Employer: BlackBerry Location: United Kingdom Degree: Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Software Engineering Years in IT: 12 Years in cybersecurity: 12 Cybersecurity certifications: CCSP, CISSP, CSSLP, CSTM, QSTM, OCJA How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I’ve been really interested in technology for as long as I can remember. I was fortunate enough to know that since my early teens I wanted my career to be in software engineering. I am sure my story is very similar to many others, technology really captured my imagination from early on. I... Read more →

Security Headlines: Word Malware, Cloud Disasters and More

Malware through Word, hacked robots and cloud disasters? No wonder we have anxiety. These are the top security headlines for the week of August 21, 2017: Clippy never warned us about this! Attackers are exploiting a Microsoft Word feature that auto-updates links to install malware. The financial impact of a breach is always being reported on, but what about the mental and emotional cost? What’s its mission? Collaborative and industrial robots are under the “hacker microscope” according to Dark Reading and could be vulnerable. Cloud causing more damage than a hurricane? It’s possible. Further proving the “it’s not if, but... Read more →

What’s Your Favorite (ISC)² Member Benefit?

Attention (ISC)² members: We want to know, what’s your favorite member benefit? Here are some of the great benefits that we offer our members: Member pricing for (ISC)² local Secure Events and (ISC)² Security Congress taking place September 25-27, 2017 in Austin, TX Free subscription to our award-winning InfoSecurity Professional magazine Deep discounts on industry conferences The ability to join or start a local (ISC)² Chapter Volunteering opportunities such as the Center for Cyber Safety and Education’s Safe and Secure Online program to help keep kids cyber safe Professional recognition through (ISC)² awards programs Expert-led webinars on the latest security... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: Mark A. Singer

Name: Mark A. Singer Title: Principal Software Engineer Employer: DoD Sub-Contractor Location: Indianapolis, IN Education: Business Management Years in IT: 19 Years in cybersecurity: 12 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? Evolution. I stumbled into computers when I served in the U.S. Navy from 1985 to 1989 when PCs with 8086 processors were common. When I got out of the service, I was able to get a job working for Naval Avionics in Indianapolis and was placed in a role where I was doing local computer support on tempest computers (386, 486, & 486DX... Read more →

Gartner Expects $93 Billion in Security Spend, But What’s Missing?

Gartner recently released its global information security spending forecast and concluded that security products and services investment will reach $83.4 billion by the end of 2017 (a 7% increase over 2016). The firm also is predicting spending to reach $93 billion in 2018, a 12% increase over this year’s record investment. According to Gartner: “Security services will continue to be the fastest growing segment, especially IT outsourcing, consulting and implementation services… hardware support services will see growth slowing, due to the adoption of virtual appliances, public cloud and software as a service (SaaS) editions of security solutions, which reduces the... Read more →

Security Headlines: Pseudo-ransomware and security budgets

Pseudo-ransomware and struggling security budgets. Here are the top security headlines for the week of August 14, 2017: Who would have thought we would long for the days when ransomware was ransomware. Now it’s all too complicated. Bitcoin is going mainstream, but does that mean it’s a bad investment? In a case of the cobbler’s children have no shoes, data brokers seem to be lacking basic security. Raise the roof! It looks like cybersecurity might be hitting a ceiling when it comes to spending. No spoilers, but HBO has been hacked again and OurMine is taking over their social accounts.... Read more →

The real solution to youth cyber-crime

By Adrian Davis, CISSP, Managing Director EMEA, (ISC)² The National Crime Agency recently revealed a fascinating intelligence assessment, uncovering the ‘pathways into cyber crime’. The key finding was that most young hackers are motivated, not by financial reward, but by idealism. The NCA added that many of those involved in cyber-crime had “highly marketable” skill sets, and evidence showed that positive role models could help steer ex-offenders towards productive technology careers. Many people feel that re-training young cyber offenders as cyber security professionals offers a chance to kill two birds with one stone; reducing cyber-crime and simultaneously helping to reduce... Read more →

What Does 125,000 (ISC)² Members Mean to You?

(ISC)² is proud to announce that our membership has surpassed 125,000 certified cybersecurity professionals globally. As demand for skilled security professionals continues to grow exponentially, (ISC)² certification and continuing education programs enable cybersecurity and IT security practitioners to prove their expertise, advance their careers and contribute to a more secure society. Here’s what some members are saying about the milestone: "125,000 members is a very large number for a community of dedicated people continuously raising the bar by learning, researching, teaching and sharing their knowledge and skills to make our cyber world safer,” said Emmanuel Nicaise, CISSP, president, (ISC)² Belux... Read more →

Security Headlines: Payouts and Panic

WannaCry and NotPetya aftermath means payouts and panic. Here are the top security headlines for the week of August 7, 2017: Big money, no whammies! It seems like the hackers behind WannaCry have cashed out their bitcoin into Monero, a harder to track cryptocurrency. Mo money means mo malware. The success – can we call it that? – of WannaCry and NotPetya means ransomware is not going away any time soon, because… well, people and businesses pay the ransom. What’s that definition of insanity? Oh yeah, doing the same thing and expecting a different result… Tripwire research indicates that two-thirds... Read more →

SIEM: Understanding, Parsing and Correlating Logs

Building an effective SIEM requires ingesting log messages and parsing them into useful information. While it might be easy to stream, push and pull logs from every system, device and application in your environment, that doesn’t necessarily improve your security detection capabilities. What you do with your logs – correlation, alerting and automated response – are the strength of a SIEM. Real-time security starts with understanding, parsing and developing actionable information and events from your log messages. With the launch of a new site, (ISC)² was presented an opportunity to refine our security monitoring services. Linked below is an example... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: Rob Turner

Name: Rob Turner Title: Senior Cyber Network Defense Analyst Employer: DXC Technology (formerly Hewlett-Packard Enterprise) Title: Computer Technology Program Coordinator Employer: Ball State University Location: Indiana, U.S.A. Education: BS in Computer Technology, Graduate Certificate in Information System Security Management, MS in Information and Communication Sciences Years in IT: 10 Years in Cybersecurity: 7 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP-ISSAP, CISSP, CCNA-Security, CEH, CHFI, ECSA How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? Cybersecurity had always been an aspect of my career as a systems analyst/administrator. The more proactive I became at securing systems and networks, the more research and interest I developed... Read more →

Security Headlines: Hacking ATMs, HBO and more

ATMs, HBO, democracy … what can’t be hacked? Here are the top security headlines for the week of July 31, 2017: IOActive hacked at ATM at Black Hat. I guess drinks are on them? Espionage was just a red herring. Apparently hackers in North Korea are looking for cash, not secrets. DefCon attendees shredded voting machines – some still being used in U.S. elections. Don’t worry, it’s for research. “If all your friends were downloading torrents, then would you too?” It seems like everyone is doing it, but even downloading just the BitTorrent clients (the software needed to run them)... Read more →