Happy Friday!

2019 is almost half-gone. The midpoint is coming next Monday/Tuesday, and that’s crazy to me. Hard to believe that half the year is already gone, but holy cow it’s been a good first half!

Hope yours was too!

Lots of things happening as usual, but I’ll spare you the details and get right into this week’s show. My (Evan) show this week, so my notes. 😊

---

SHOW NOTES – Episode 34

Date: Monday, July 1^st, 2019

Today’s Topics:

• “Let’s get real”
• News

[Evan] Hi everyone, this is Evan Francen, your host for episode 34 of the UNSECURITY Podcast. Joining me is my right-hand man, Brad Nigh. Good afternoon Brad!

[Brad] Spews wisdom, the kind you can’t find anywhere else…

[Evan] If you were paying attention to the opening, you might have heard me say “afternoon”. That’s because we’re recording on Friday afternoon for Monday’s release. Both Brad and I will be out of the office next week doing some vactiony things. Right Brad?

[Brad] Spews more wisdom. He’s a wisdom spewer.

[Evan] Should we share our vacation plans or should we keep ‘em confidential? We tell others to keep vacation stuff non-public for privacy and safety reasons, so maybe we should follow suit. Whatya think?

[Brad] Brad confirms because of he’s like a wisdom volcano. Hot wisdom.

[Evan] So the last few weeks, we’ve talked about ransomware attacks.

A couple of weeks ago we talked about ASCO, the Belgian aircraft parts maker that was hit with ransomware and lost production for some undisclosed amount of time (globally, so likely lacking proper network segmentation/isolation as well as proper response processes). That news has sort of died out.

Last week we discussed the City of Riviera Beach and how their city council voted unanimously to pay the $600,000+ ransom. This one ticked me off. So, I wrote a blog post about it; DON’T SUCK – STOP PAYING RANSOMS.

We also talked about the fact that we’re not powerless to stop these things, so that prompted another blog post; ASK QUESTIONS – GET ANSWERS (HOPEFULLY). We discussed in reaching out to our local government officials in episode 33, so I gave instructions on how to do so (including an email template). Some people reached out to their local governments and shared their responses! To those who did this, kudos and thank you for making a difference.

Next, we read about another Florida city (Lake City) that voted to pay the ransom. Sunnuva!

So, what did I do? I wrote yet another blog post; CALL TO ACTION – DO SOMETHING ABOUT CIVIC RANSOMWARE. I also reached out to one of our local news stations. The declined the story. No skin off my back, but when are we going to get serious?!

My reply:

“OK. I’d expect the next one to hit within a week. Cities are under siege right now. Have a great weekend and 4th of July!”

All of this leads us to now. The good: there are good people who want to help. The bad: most don’t seem to give a rat.

My question for our discussion is:

Do people even want to be secure?

Open discussion.

[Evan] Good talk. Jason Dance, one of our loyal listeners had some good advice to share:

1. The same things apply at schools. Reach out to schools and ask questions too.
2. If you don’t get answers:

• • Ask during a town/city meeting.
  • File a FOIL for the specific information.
  • Ask by Facebook/Twitter/Other social media.

Awesome advice! Thank you, Jason.

We must get our sh_t together, or the pain will only get worse. Now for some news.

News

Just two quick stories today.

• Ex-Equifax CIO Gets 4-Month Prison Term for Insider Trading – https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/ex-equifax-cio-gets-4-month-prison-term-for-insider-trading-a-12704
• Cybersecurity professionals are outgunned and burned out – https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/06/28/cybersecurity-burnout/

Closing

[Evan] That’s how it is! Thanks again to our listeners and thank you Brad (the wise)! Hope you have a wonderful week and a safe 4^th of July. God bless America for crying out loud! Don’t forget, you can follow me or Brad on Twitter; @evanfrancen is me, and Brad’s at @BradNigh. Email us on the show at unsecurity@protonmail.com if you want to be one of the cool kids.