I don’t have any words to describe 2020. COVID-19, social justice events (George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, protests, riots, etc., etc.), economic issues, the election cycle, and on and on. This is going to be a helluva year to recap come December, and it’s a helluva year to remember (or forget).
One thing that struck me this morning is the fact that it’s already the last day of August. With everything going on this year, I might be grateful it’s flying by.
Despite all the craziness, there’s been good things too. The family time has been great, we’ve gotten a ton of work done around the house, Chris Roberts, Ryan Cloutier and I started the Security Shit Show, business is relatively good, and the optimist in me says the future looks bright.
Well, let’s get on with the show, shall we? I’m (Evan) leading the show this week, and these are my notes.
SHOW NOTES – Episode 95
Date: Tuesday, September 1st, 2020
Episode 95 Topics
- Opening
- Catching Up
- What has this crazy year done for information security?
- News
- Wrapping Up – Shout outs
Opening
[Evan] Good morning listeners! My name is Evan Francen, the date is August 31st, and this is episode 95 of the UNSECURITY Podcast. I’m your host today, and joining me is my good friend Brad Nigh. Good morning Brad!
[Brad] Brad’s a nice guy. He’ll say “hi” or something.
[Evan] For our listeners who were expecting our show to come out yesterday, we’ve switched things up. We are recording the shows on Tuesday mornings now due to crazy schedules with getting kids ready/off to school and other things. For the time being, we’ll be recording on Tuesday mornings and releasing the podcast around noon.
Catching Up
[Evan] Same thing each week man. We start by catching up. New listeners might not know that we originally started the UNSECURITY Podcast so that you and I could find an hour each week to catch up with each other. So, let’s catch up! What’s new with you?
Quick discussion about last week, the weekend, or whatever else comes to mind.
- How’s family?
- New stuff at home or at work?
- How’s work?
- Anything got you excited or ticked off?
[Brad] Things and such probably…
[Evan] Things and such probably too…
[Evan] Good to catch up with you man. Let’s hope this is a great week!
Transition
What has this crazy year done for information security?
[Evan] Obviously, there’s lots going on in the world this year. It was about six months ago (March) when our reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic flipped the world on it’s head, at least that’s what it was like around here. For many, COVID-19 is old news, and people are tired of talking about it. I don’t want to talk about COVID-19 as much as I want to discuss how our reaction to it has affected information security.
COVID-19 Information Security Effects
[Evan] I remember the day like it was yesterday, March 16th. This was the day we closed our physical office at FRSecure and SecurityStudio. Let’s talk about how information security has changed since then and what we think the future of information security will look like.
COVID-19 & Information Security Discussion
[Evan] May 25th and 26th are also days I remember well. May 25th was Memorial Day and it started off like any other Memorial Day. I was camping with my family, and being a military family, we were honoring those who gave their lives while serving our country. It wasn’t until May 26th that I heard the news about George Floyd. Things haven’t been the same since. I’m not going to use our time to discuss social justice issues, but I want to discuss how the events of May 25th have affected our profession (information security).
Social Justice Issues & Information Security Discussion
NOTE: We know that social justice and racism are very sensitive topics. We will discuss these issues only in how we think they relate to information security. This DOES NOT mean anything more, and please DO NOT read anything more into it.
[Evan] This is a year like no other, that’s for sure. I’m hoping and praying that love will prevail. Great discussion Brad! Let’s move on to some news topics.
News
[Evan] Yay! Newsy things. Here’s some news I thought was interesting:
- Elon Musk confirms that Russian hackers tried to recruit Tesla employee to plant a malware – https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/107636/cyber-crime/elon-musk-russian-hackers-tesla.html
- Russian Arrested After Offering $1 Million to U.S. Company Employee for Planting Malware (related to above) – https://thehackernews.com/2020/08/russian-extortion-malware.html
- Ex-Cisco staffer charged with deliberately deleting 400+ VMs – https://www.itproportal.com/amp/news/ex-cisco-staffer-charged-with-deliberately-deleting-400-vms/
- CenturyLink Outage Causing Internet Wide Problems – https://isc.sans.edu/diary/CenturyLink+Outage+Causing+Internet+Wide+Problems/26518
Wrapping Up – Shout outs
