Meeting Details:

The February meeting has reached capacity. Unfortunately we are unable to register additional attendees or take walk-in's at the door..

DATE: Wednesday February 10th

TIME: 11:30 - 1:30pm.

LOCATION: Maggiano's (11800 W Broad St # 2204, Richmond, VA 23233)

COST: ISSA members: $10 & Non-Members: $20

After Feb. 3rd

COST: ISSA members: $15 & Non-Members: $25

2010 Cyber Threats and Trends

Presentation Synopsis:

This presentation is a description of the current cyber security landscape from the iDefense perspective. It discusses emerging trends that occurred in 2009 from a technical and a geopolitical perspective, makes some predictions about what may occur in 2010 and then looks over the horizon to the next 5 to 10 years to outline emerging technological and cultural trends that will impact the defense of the enterprise in the future. This white paper represents a snapshot of everything that iDefense understands about the cyber security landscape to date. Throughout 2009, two major themes emerged in terms of cyber security: a steady evolution of malicious tools of the trade (tactics) and a shift in the center of gravity from typical network defenders and commercial security companies to government policy makers in terms of security thought leadership and spending (strategy). In terms of ongoing and new tactics, this presentation covers increased speed in exploit code development, alternative hosting and command infrastructure for malware, manipulating search engine results to distribute malware, and new business practices in the carding underground.

After a series of well-publicized breaches in corporate and governmental networks during the past two years, governments from around the world have begun to understand that counter-tactics alone will not solve the problem. Many geo-strategically powerful governments have taken steps to implement or refine official cyber warfare policies and capabilities. They have begun forming the nexus for strategic thinking and dedicating large sums of money to the problem. This is a shift. Heretofore, financial institutions, information technology (IT) departments and global security companies provided thought leadership for the security industry and the impetus to spend money. As more and more governments wade into the fray, the center of gravity for these activities is shifting away from private enterprise and into the government sector.

Speaker:

Kristen Dennesen is an intelligence analyst and deputy of the International Cyber Intelligence team at iDefense and a US Fulbright Scholar.