Articles

Virtual security conferences fill void left by canceled face-to-face…

lead centered=”no”Notable members of the infosec community are creating impromptu but highly popular virtual events using cheap, off-the-shelf tools./lead

Following the swift emergence of the COVID-19 crisis, organizers of cybersecurity and hacking conferences of all sizes have been faced with three choices: Cancel their events altogether, postpone them to the presumably better future, or find some way to hold them in a virtual manner on the internet. Wild West Hacking Fest, originally slated for March 10 to March 13 in San Diego, quickly converted itself into a virtual conference and was soon followed by dozens of conferences that modified their plans to accommodate the need for the social distancing.

A new form of non-traditional information security conference has emerged over the past two weeks. These conferences are organized by leading information security professionals who are leveraging existing, off-the-shelf online video conferencing and collaboration tools such as GotToWebinar or Zoom to rapidly mount internet-based alternatives to in-the-flesh confabs.

This article appeared in CSO Online. To read the rest of the article please visit here.

Articles

Congress steers clear of industrial control systems cybersecurity

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Industry resistance to regulation, complexity of securing ICS systems are roadblocks to passage of critical infrastructure cybersecurity legislation.
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Rule number one about legislation affecting the cybersecurity of industrial control systems (ICS) is that no one talks about legislation affecting the cybersecurity of ICS. At least it seems that way based on a number of attempts to get industry stakeholders to talk on the record about the prospects in the 116th Congress for any legislation that affects critical infrastructure, specifically as it relates to industrial control systems.

Although a number of cybersecurity-related bills have been introduced in the new Congress, only a handful of relatively non-controversial pieces of legislation, most reintroduced from the last Congress, deal primarily with critical infrastructure industrial control systems, a surprise given the stepped-up concerns over threats to the nation’s electric grids, gas and oil pipelines, transportation systems and dams and the rise of industrial supply chain issues that have grabbed headlines over the past few years.

This article appeared in CSO Online. To read the rest of the article please visit here.