What I’ve learned in my first 7-ish years in cybersecurity

When I first interviewed with Joel Esler for my position at Cisco Talos, I remember when the time came for me to ask questions, one thing stood out. I asked what resources were available to me to learn about cybersecurity, because I was totally new to the space. His answer: The people. When I ask...

James Nutland studies what makes threat actors tick, growing our understanding of the current APT landscape

If state-sponsored actors are after one thing, its to spread fear and uncertainty across the internet. Theres always money to be made targeting individual businesses and organizations, but for James Nutlands work, its always about the bigger picture. And his background in studying counterterroris...

FBI Analyst Charged With Stealing Counterterrorism and Cyber Threat Info

The U.S. Department of Justice DoJ indicted an employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI for illegally removing numerous national security documents and willfully retaining them at her personal residence during a 13-year period from June 2004 to December 2017. The federal indictment...

Google’s Project Zero Finds a Nation-State Zero-Day Operation

Googles Project Zero discovered, and caused to be patched, eleven zero-day exploits against Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Windows, and iOS. This seems to have been exploited by "Western government operatives actively conducting a counterterrorism operation": The exploits, which went back to early 202...

Hackers Hosed by Google Were a Counterterrorism Operation

Plus: Fox News gets sued for its election coverage again, a record ransomware attack, and more of the week’s top security news...

Science Fiction Writers Helping Imagine Future Threats

The French army is going to put together a team of science fiction writers to help imagine future threats. Leaving aside the question of whether science fiction writers are better or worse at envisioning nonfictional futures, this isn't new. The US Department of Homeland Security did the same thi...

Excerpts from “5 Questions for Eric O’Neil—the FBI “ghost” who brought down a Russian Mole”

Eric O’Neill serves as Carbon Black’s national security strategist where he is a thought leader on a wide range of issues including counterterrorism and national security matters. Prior to this, he was as an operative for the FBI, where he conducted national security field operations against...

The PCLOB Needs a Director

The US Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is looking for a director. Among other things, this board has some oversight role over the NSA. More precisely, it can examine what any executive-branch agency is doing about counterterrorism. So it can examine the program of TSA watchlists, NSA...

What Happened to Cyber 9/11?

A recent article in the Atlantic asks why we haven't seen a"cyber 9/11" in the past fifteen or so years. I, too, remember the increasingly frantic and fearful warnings of a "cyber Peal Harbor," "cyber Katrina" -- when that was a thing -- or "cyber 9/11." I made fun of those warnings back then. Th...

January 12, 2017 – Morning Cyber Coffee Headlines – “Martin Luther King Jr.” Edition

Good morning! Sit with Carbon Black this morning over a cup of coffee or tea and browse a few industry headlines to get the day started. We’ve got just enough information below to get you through that first cup…enjoy! January 12, 2018 - Headlines Carbon Black in the News: Intel CEO releases...

Data vs. Analysis in Counterterrorism

This article argues that Britain's counterterrorism problem isn't lack of data, it's lack of analysis...

FBI and computer scientists team up to catch hackers

FBI's Cyber Division has a new and sharper focus on cyber-intrusion ,"You are one click from compromising your network" FBI said. Giving priority to the labeling of suspects follows claims by the Pentagon that the military now has the capability to single out and retaliate against hackers. FBI ov...

US Trolls Al-Qaida with Anti-Terror Ads on Yemeni Tribal Sites

The US State Department has launched a digital campaign against Al Qaida in which they are replacing the terror organization’s anti-American propaganda ads on Yemeni tribal sites with anti-terror propaganda of their own, according to an Associated Press report. The report indicates that the State...

President Obama release National Strategy for Counter terrorism

President Obama release National Strategy for Counter terrorism Today President Obama's release National Strategy for Counterterrorism, which was presented by John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism in a speech at SAIS named "Ensuring al-Qa'ida's Demise...

President Obama release National Strategy for Counter terrorism

President Obama release National Strategy for Counter terrorism Today President Obama's release National Strategy for Counterterrorism, which was presented by John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism in a speech at SAIS named "Ensuring al-Qa'ida's Demise...