I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Cyberspace Law over the past three weeks exploring subject matter in ISP Liability for Speech, Anonymous Communications in Cyberspace, and Content Regulation in Cyberspace. A particular facet I have derived more amusement from than normal is concerned with the concept of anonymity. From a technical perspective, true anonymity does not actually exist.… Read More
We Eat Our Own
Our reasonable expectation of privacy is an illusion similar to the “job security” myth perpetuated by so many workers. The power to control your identity, privacy and security has less and less to do with the individual and more to do with corporate honor or criminal intent both of which sometimes have blurry demarcation. We… Read More
Juris Doctor 121-126 of 161
I’ve mentioned before that the focus of this doctoral program I am nearing completion with is focused on cyberspace law in the federal and international law sectors. There are a few things about what I have learned that are hysterical from my particular perspective. First, these technology courses I am participating in are really almost… Read More
Weapon of Mass Disruption (WMD)
Of all the attacks taking place on Web sites across the Internet today, and there have been some very high profile ones recently, SQL injection is making its mark as the cyber-criminal’s most effective weapon of mass disruption (WMD) into corporate data stores. In my opinion, this threat vector against the crown jewels is public… Read More
What’s in a name?
Prior to April Fools’ Day, 2011, you probably had never heard of Epsilon Data Management, right? I’d wager, however, that this email marketing firm has heard of you. In excess of 250 million email account names were pirated from the marketing services firm, vaulting this to what may be the largest breach of personal information… Read More
Now Reading: Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – 21
The Law of Legacy: A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession. My life sentence is, “I want to add value to leaders who will multiply value to others.” Most people simply accept their lives – they don’t lead them. Someday people will summarize your life in a single sentence. My advice: pick it now!… Read More
Juris Doctor 120 of 161 – AKA Beer Breach
I have a natural passion for keeping people safe and secure as many of you know. I also have a real passion for technology law which might be evidenced by the doctoral pursuit in law. I also follow the news looking for cases that have been adjudicated and what the verdict or in most cases,… Read More
Now Reading: Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – 20
The Law of Explosive Growth: To add growth, lead followers – To multiply, lead leaders. Becoming a leader who develops leaders requires an entirely different focus and attitude from simply attracting and leading followers. It takes a different mind-set. Leadership development compounds. The more you invest in people and the longer you do it, the… Read More
Juris Doctor 118-119 of 161
While I was doing some research on consumer protections in my Cyberspace Law class, I encountered the following policy that is certainly on the horizon for consumer protections. You can find the original press release here: Commercial Data Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy: A Dynamic Policy Framework, The Department of Commerce internet policy… Read More
Now Reading: Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – 19
The Law of Timing: When to lead is as important as what to do and where to go. If a leader repeatedly shows poor judgment, even in little things, people start to think that having him or her as the leader is the real mistake. When the right leader and the right timing come together,… Read More
Congratulations Your New Expinfo Account is Approved.
I received a confirmation message this morning though email from a company called Expinfo. Dear MICHAEL D, You have successfully registered with Expinfo Inc. Following are your Login details. I’ve never done business with, contacted, or knew these scoundrels existed but apparently, my alter impersonated expinfo-ego created an account and emailed me the credentials. This… Read More
Mobility Madness: Securely Extending Commerce to Mobile Users
With any emerging information technology, particularly those that interweave financial transactions, such as commerce and banking, one of the first concerns should be security. With an exponentially increasing number of consumers using mobile payment technologies, there is increased scrutiny of the precautions retailers are taking to guard these transactions. For retailers with mobile commerce sites… Read More
Now Reading: Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – 18
The Law of Sacrifice: A leader must give up to go up. The heart of good leadership is sacrifice. Sacrifice is an ongoing process, not a one-time payment. If leaders have to give up to go up, then they have to give up even more to stay up. This is certainly a subjective point of… Read More
Your Personal CISO on Linkedin.com
Your Personal CISO is now an open group on Linkedin.com. You can find it here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Your-Personal-CISO-3790361?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
The Weakest Link
I recently ran across a memorandum by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) that states: “Narcissistic tendencies in many people fuels a need to have a large group of ‘friends’ link to their pages and many of these people accept cyber-friends that they don’t even know. This provides an excellent vantage point for the… Read More
Juris Doctor 117 of 161
I am definitely having fun with my Cyberspace Law class this term. The course concludes this December so I have the rest of the year to immerse myself into a synergistic subject area. It is widely held that in general, lawyer’s knowledge about computers, and predictions they make about new technology, are highly likely to… Read More
CISO FYI 2011021001
Security through Encryption Overview: As many companies begin the migration of their internally hosted email to cloud providers such as Google, several items that need to be discussed come to my mind to ensure your corporate privacy and security is maintained. There are plenty of crossover implications for personal privacy and security as well. Encryption… Read More
Now Reading: Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – 17
The Law of Priorities: Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment. Leaders should get out of their comfort zone but stay in their strength zone. I suppose that some of my economic training will shine through right now but, not being one of my strong suits, please excuse my rudimentary comments. The division of… Read More
Domestic Terrorism
According to a recent analysis conducted by Akamai, out of the all the cyber-attacks observed originating from the 209 unique countries around the world identified, the United States was the top attack traffic source, accounting for 12% of observed attack traffic in total. Russia and China held the second and third place spots respectively, accounting… Read More
Somebody is watching me.
I’m sitting in an airport right now with time to kill essentially and inevitably, my mind wanders. Big surprise right? Well I decided to sit down on one of several chairs flanking several ATM kiosks when I can of course plug my laptop in. I bear witness to the multitude of users inserting their card… Read More
Now Reading: Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – 16
The Law of the Big MO: Momentum is a leader’s best friend. Why is momentum a leader’s best friend? Many times momentum is the only thing that makes the difference between losing and winning. Momentum is like a magnifying glass; it makes things look bigger than they really are. Even average people can perform far… Read More
Now Reading: Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – 15
The Law of Victory: victorious leaders possess an unwillingness to accept defeat. The alternative to winning is totally unacceptable to them. When the pressure is on, great leaders are at their best. Whatever is inside them comes to the surface. The team doesn’t win a championship its players are working from different agendas. Leaders who… Read More
B.S. in Best Practices
Have you ever sat in a meeting with auditors or other third party professionals who will include the phrase “best practices” in their argument or report? I have no idea how many times security practitioners have tossed this phrase about to bolster their position. I’ve read that phrase countess times in articles published by reputable… Read More
Now Reading: Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – 14
The Law of Buy-in: People buy into the leader, then the vision. The leader finds the dream and then the people. The people find the leader and then the dream. People don’t at first follow worthy causes. They follow worthy leaders who promote causes they can believe in. Every message that people receive in filtered… Read More