As part of a broader “Cybersecurity Call to Action” outlined in the Cisco 2015 Midyear Security Report, Cisco has called for the development of a cohesive, multi-stakeholder, global cybergovernance framework. Investing in the development of such a framework is essential to supporting innovation and economic growth in business on the global stage.
While there has been an increasing awareness that managing cyber risks is essential to the operation of any networked system, current mechanisms are not effective to protect businesses from cyberattacks. The lack of effective global cybergovernance can prevent collaboration in the security industry, which is needed to create adaptive technologies that can detect and prevent new threats.
Without question, the Internet is only becoming more essential to organizations around the globe. They rely on it not only for everyday operations, but also for supporting new business models that provide them competitive advantage and benefit consumers. Adversaries, meanwhile, are deploying tactics that can undermine the success of any business operating in the digital economy. The Cisco 2015 Midyear Security Report makes clear that threat actors are only becoming more adept at innovating rapidly and enhancing their capacity to compromise systems and evade detection. Continue reading “A Global Cybergovernance Framework: The Real Infrastructure Needed to Support a More Secure Internet”
What better place to incorporate a Hackathon than at World Skills, an event already bursting with energy and excitement? This year, the organization introduced a Digital Challenge with the goal to help local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with real-world problems, and show that IT-related competitions can be fun and engaging.
As part of the Digital Challenge at World Skills, students will put their technical knowledge to the test while working with local organizations to solve social problems with technology.
Fifteen local Brazilian problem solvers will join 5 past WorldSkills champions to help 5 Brazilian NGOs move social projects forward. The 4-day challenge takes place parallel to the WorldSkills competition and will leave behind a legacy.
Update 2015-08-21: This post has been updated to reflect an additional advisory released on August 20.
Talos, in conjunction with Apple’s security advisories issued on August 13 and August 20, has released six advisories for vulnerabilities that Talos found in Apple Quicktime. In accordance with our Vendor Vulnerability Reporting and Disclosure policy, these vulnerabilities have been reported to Apple and CERT. This post serves as a summary for the advisories being released in coordination with Apple and CERT.
Last year was one of the biggest years for retail data breaches, with credit card data from well over 106 million shoppers stolen from two of America’s largest retailers alone. The attacks shook consumer confidence, eroded brand loyalty, and cost the industry millions of dollars.
Even though the retail and security industries have been talking about compliance and security for more than a decade, breaches continue. And while research shows that compliance with PCI DSS has improved in recent years, it also shows that staying in compliance as demonstrated by passing interim assessments is another matter. Furthermore, compliance doesn’t always equal security, as it tends to focus on blocking attacks at the perimeter. Stopping attacks in the first place certainly is important, but it isn’t sufficient in an era when attackers are innovating at a pace we’ve never faced before.
Tia Pope loves being a Cisco IT Engineering Intern, not only for the opportunity it gives her, but for the opportunity she has to share her story with young girls just like her to help excite them about technical fields. And boy, does she have a story!
Tia was raised in a single-parent family with seven siblings where they moved around a lot and were even homeless for a time. Often, her education was secondary to ensuring her younger siblings were taken care of after school which left her with very limited time to complete her own homework. There were very few encouraging figures in Tia’s life as a child and frequently she was left to learn by trial and error, yet she was determined not to let her circumstances define her and continued to persevere.
Tia excelled in IB and AP level programs that were, unbeknownst to her, putting her on the right track for a higher education. After graduation she thought she would simply join her siblings working on an assembly line – that’s where she was wrong. A high school guidance counselor called her into his office one day and showed her a list of colleges that wanted to give her scholarships and enable her to continue her education due to her incredible GPA and time on the track team. Prior to this moment, Tia wasn’t even aware of colleges beyond the technical school in her local community.
“I knew I wasn’t any of those things that others said I was – I wasn’t stupid, or lazy, or irresponsible. So even though they discouraged me with those words, I didn’t want to believe them. I had a dream and I knew not to ever give up on that dream,” Tia asserted.
Tia was living in a laundry room at the time she decided to attend the University of South Carolina for Civil Engineering, and took that acceptance letter to refuel her passion and ignite the direction of her future. She was going to do something with her life!
Even in college, as the seemingly lone-female in predominantly male courses, Tia was given grief with a professor who even proclaimed that he “didn’t have to teach her” as she was already behind her classmates. Again, Tia accepted the challenge and walked away with the second highest grade in the class. On the verge of dropping out due to lack of support and guidance, however, Tia was then encouraged by her Dean to change her major to IT after she had helped to fix his computer one day, not even realizing who he was. She took his advice and later, upon graduation, received 27 job offers in the midst of a tech boom.
Tia took the role that perhaps was not the shiniest, however it was where she knew she would learn and grow the most within the industry. She became a Process Control Engineer and though she had no academic or professional background in this position, she was promoted four times in two years and became a Lead Engineer and managed multi-billion dollar, continuous improvement projects. This lead to even more doors opening for Tia as she wanted to expand her knowledge even further. She applied for grad school at Georgia Tech and is now working on her masters in computer science, which landed her an internship with Cisco.
What drew Tia to wanting an internship with Cisco was seemingly simple, of course, she loved Cisco’s products, but beyond that she loved the culture and dedication in giving back to our community, “I haven’t met another company that compares, yet,” says Tia. “There are a lot of cool tech companies that computer science students can choose. I’m interested in security and networking, so that makes Cisco a prime candidate. But this is the place to be! Culture is what makes you want to stay with a company and build your entire career.”
Tia also loves that she’s been able to go to several schools and talk to young children about Cisco and what we do here. It’s brought back memories of where she has been, and continued her passion into where she is going. She says many of the children aren’t quite sure about the tech industry but when they finally learn a little more about it and can understand how they can make an impact it truly opens their eyes. Tia loves teaching the community about tech, but also how to gain further knowledge and opportunities in connecting and applying that knowledge.
She began a Google community called Nerdy Bones just for this very reason. What started as a way for women in tech to connect has now become a group with over 100 members that was recently designated as an official Georgia Tech campus organization that inspires both men and women to chase their dreams in the tech industry.
As Tia finishes her internship here at Cisco and heads back to complete her masters at Georgia Tech she is looking towards the future, and while she hopes to return to Cisco someday as an employee, she knows she will take forth the skills and attributes she has learned here. She will continue to give back to her community, and empower and encourage women in computing and technology and the passions they possess. Her advice to future interns? “Don’t give up. There is nothing that you cannot do, and you are capable of learning it all. It is not impossible to learn. Search out opportunities to grow – don’t just ask for help, go out there and find your own answers.”
Over the past few years, Cisco and Intel’s collaboration has extended into the realm of Internet of Things, allowing the strength of each organization to bring the industry as a whole, forward. In the Internet of Things, devices need applications, analytics, network connectivity, security, storage, and computing power. The partnership of Cisco and Intel offers comprehensive solutions working alongside several ecosystem partners.
A smart city demonstration, featuring Legos and Fog Computing, was on display in the Intel booth showing how easy it is for cities to implement IoT solutions
Carlos Morales presented a captivating “Pre-Zen-tation” on Fog Computing, elaborating on how companies can extend the cloud to the edge
A highlight during the show was partaking in a #CiscoChat with Brad Haczynski, Intel’s Global Account Director, Sales and Marketing Group, encompassed around making IoT and IoE tangible with the power of collaboration.
Last week, 60 middle and high school students gathered at Cisco campuses in Research Triangle Park (RTP), NC and Richardson, TX for a special cybersecurity camp being offered for the first time by CyberPatriot, the Air Force Association’s national youth cyber education program.
Cisco volunteers worked hands-on with students at last week’s CyberPatriot summer camp, inspiring the young men and women to pursue careers in the cybersecurity field.
The camp gave students who had little to no cybersecurity experience an opportunity to learn more about cybersecurity and how to safely use the Internet. The students completed the 20-hour curriculum over four days, and on the fifth day, took part in a mock competition similar to the one held at the CyberPatriot National Finals each year in Washington, D.C. It is our hope that this experience will inspire these students to join the CyberPatriot program and ultimately pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and careers. A total of 24 CyberPatriot Camps were offered across the country.
Last year was one of the biggest years for retail data breaches, with credit card data from well over 106 million shoppers stolen from two of America’s largest retailers alone. The attacks shook consumer confidence, eroded brand loyalty, and cost the industry millions of dollars.
Even though the retail and security industries have been talking about compliance and security for more than a decade, breaches continue. And while research shows that compliance with PCI DSS has improved in recent years, it also shows that staying in compliance as demonstrated by passing interim assessments is another matter. Furthermore, compliance doesn’t always equal security, as it tends to focus on blocking attacks at the perimeter. Stopping attacks in the first place certainly is important, but it isn’t sufficient in an era when attackers are innovating at a pace we’ve never faced before.
Compounding the challenge is that retailers are in the midst of game-changing trends that can make or break them: creating a hyper-relevant experience for shoppers, adopting mobile Point-of-Sale (mPOS) systems, and realizing security is now a driver for consumers’ trust. Retailers who create successful strategies to innovate and embrace these trends will retain and gain more customers. But it requires a fresh approach to security.
Whenever I hear about a serious train accident, mugging or shootout on the streets of a city, my thoughts often turn to Fog Computing. The same is true when I too am stuck idling in a traffic jam or at home and there’s a power outage during a winter storm or a summer heat wave.
Why do I think about Fog Computing? Well, my job at Cisco is to not only identify the latest disruptive Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, but also to validate where they might be applied to improve overall quality of life.. Whether it’s drones, artificial intelligence or robotics, my passion is to accelerate the art of the possible.
Consider Fog Computing. Fog extends cloud computing to the edge of the network. This provides a virtualized platform for compute, storage and network services between devices and data storage centers in the cloud. Because of its low latency, location awareness, real-time interactions and wide geo distribution, Fog Computing can sense and respond to situations in the real physical world almost instantly.
The speed and power of Fog to connect people, data, processes and things opens up a new world of practical solutions. For example, Fog Computing, when combined with sensors and wireless networks, can immediately alert the train operator as soon as there is trouble on the tracks, such as a slow-walking pedestrian or a stalled vehicle. With Fog, energy loads can be automatically re-balanced or re-routed to alternative sources during spikes in demand or low availability.
In a Smart+Connected Community, acoustic sensors deployed around streets that are connected to Fog Computing infrastructure can identify gunshots, perpetrators, victims, accidents, or even cries for help with high accuracy while also alerting appropriate authorities.
