Secure-In-Mind-Institute's podcast

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Bjørn Ihler is Director of the Sweden-based Khalifa Ihler Institute, as well as founder and CEO of Revontulet, a Norwegian consultancy devoted to helping organisations protect themselves against terrorism and violent extremism.

Part III of our mini-series on terrorism and violent extremism deals with freedom of speech, laws, personal and corporate obligations, and support for survivors of extremist violence.

Notes and links:

Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2025/05/21/new-podcast-return-of-the-bride-of-terrorism-with-bjorn-ihler/

Bjørn Ihler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjornih

John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro/outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

Original video at https://youtu.be/OFWY6h_CnvI

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We continue our conversation about terrorism - including whether the term has been watered down due to overuse, how we can spot extremist content, what some of the tactics of actors are, and how extremist and violent groups relate to more legitimate-yet-extreme political parties.

Notes and links:

Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2025/05/16/new-podcast-some-more-terrorism-with-bjorn-ihler/

Bjørn Ihler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjornih

John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro/outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

Original video at https://youtu.be/PK7uG0h9A70

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An activist, expert, and frequent speaker on the topic of terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC), Bjørn joins us today to share his thoughts on the very broad topic of "terrorism". What is it, who are the major actors, who is affected and how, where does terrorism come from, and more - these are all topics that we touch on in this fascinating introduction to an area that's often clouded by buzzwords and sensationalism.

Notes and links:

Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2025/05/15/new-podcast-terrorism-with-bjorn-ihler/

Bjørn Ihler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjornih

John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro/outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

Original video episode is at https://youtu.be/cyHFNfeYN2M

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Retour sur le webinaire organisé par l’initiative Black Is Ethical – 26 mars 2025

Le 26 mars 2025, l’initiative Black Is Ethical, soutenue par le Cybersecurity Advisors Network (CyAN) a organisé un webinaire autour d’un thème essentiel pour l’avenir de la cybersécurité :Comment instaurer une relation de confiance entre le Data Protection Officer (DPO) et le Hacker Éthique ?

Ce webinaire a permis de croiser les regards de professionnels issus des domaines de la protection des données, de la sécurité offensive et de la gouvernance numérique.

Version video: https://youtu.be/V4AbzrDbS3E

Sur le CyAN blog: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2025/04/28/dpo-hacker-ethique-une-synergie-strategique-au-coeur-de-la-cybersecurite/

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This week, CyAN welcomes Gate15 Managing Director Andy Jabbour for a meandering talk around intelligence sharing, information security investments and ROI, US and European cyber policy, defence, and more.

Notes and links:

Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2025/03/21/new-podcast-information-sharing-cybersecurity-politics-threats-and-more/

Andy Jabbour on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-jabbour/ ...and on BlueSky: @andyjabbour.bsky.social John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/ ...and on BlueSky: @johnsalomon.bsky.social

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro/outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

Original video at https://youtu.be/woKOnPEOr_Q

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Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA) is a Growing Threat Online!

IBSA can happen to anyone—regardless of age, sex, or gender. With the rise of AI and deepfakes, both real and fake intimate images are being shared without consent, causing immense harm.

Explore the recorded session of "Breaking the Cycle – Combating Online Image-Based Sexual Abuse." Delve into expert discussions on the severe impacts of IBSA (Image-Based Sexual Abuse), strategies for prevention, and the pivotal role of technology in creating safer digital spaces. This webinar discusses the complexity and solutions to help prevent and remove non consensual intimate images.

Essential viewing for anyone dedicated to advancing digital safety.

Some useful online resources:

STISA (Survivors & Tech Solving Image-Based Sexual Abuse) - https://stisa.network OFFLIMITS - the Dutch center of expertise for online abuse - https://offlimits.nl/ Resolver - https://www.resolver.com/ The Cybersecurity Advisors Network - https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original video format available at https://youtu.be/Ythg4HB2_6Y

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Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2025/01/20/state-of-cyberwar-ep-8-2-military-cryptology-part-ii/

Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/

John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original video at https://youtu.be/twC6NTt9R8E

Intro music courtesy of AlexiAction via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/alexiaction-26977400/ Outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/ Episode artwork via Wikipedia Commons

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Notes and Links: Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2025/01/16/new-podcast-military-cryptology-part-i/

Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/

John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original video at https://youtu.be/kR11szyqDlg

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Mei Danowski, co-founder of Natto Thoughts, and Eugenio Benincasa of ETH Zürich's Center for Strategic Studies, join us to explain China's cyber-exercise capabilities.

Mei is a veteran strategic threat intelligence analyst and a founding member of the Natto Thoughts team, and Eugenio Benincasa is a senior cyberdefense researcher at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic Institute.

Notes and Links can be found on the CyAN blog, at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2024/12/04/chinas-cyber-range-exercises/

Mei Danowski on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meidanowski/ Eugenio Benincasa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenio-benincasa-07a9517a

Original YouTube video at https://youtu.be/IbnWHWE22GI

Intro/outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

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Welcome to the second of our two-part edition on underwater communications cables. Hugo Tarrida and John Salomon discuss the current threat environment facing global underwater data links, motivations of actors, legal frameworks protecting these cables, and more.

Notes and Links: Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2024/09/24/subsea-cables-part-ii-mind-the-sharks/

Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/ John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original video at https://youtu.be/Q6v4d9E_ta0

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Welcome to the first of our two-part episode on underwater communications cables. Hugo Tarrida and John Salomon discuss the history and current situation surrounding the world of undersea comms infrastructure, and try to get a grasp of threats to the data links under our oceans that are an integral part of both civilian and military capabilities.

Notes and Links: Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2024/09/10/subsea-cables-a-crunchy-target/

Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/ John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original video at https://youtu.be/frhAL_EY-yw

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State of (CyberWar) Episode 6.2 In part III of our Middle East cyberwarfare mini-series, Hugo Tarrida and John Salomon talk about probably the most complex topic yet - Iran.

Following our analysis of the broader Middle East region, and of Israeli capabilities and activities, today's episode is an overview of Iran - the history of its online conflict capabilities, the history behind the establishment of these, and some major cyberattacks and influence campaigns attributed to the country and its various agencies and stakeholders.

Notes and Links: As with our previous vide on Israel, it's difficult to judge the impartiality and factualness of many websites describing Iranian capabilities. We will thus stick to Wikipedia unless there’s something better - we tend to trust most US or European government agencies' and mainstream vendors' analysis, and certain reputable news sites unless there is a compelling reason not to do so.

We lean a lot on "the usual suspects" such as the BBC, The Guardian, the Council on Foreign Relations, and particularly, Wikipedia; yes, we know you're not supposed to do that. As always, do your own homework and draw your own conclusions, we’re not here to push a narrative.

We have our own views and opinions of current events. This discussion is not intended to endorse or condemn any particular viewpoint.

As with Hebrew, we don't speak a word of Farsi. Online translations tend to be even less consistent than those for Hebrew, so again, your mileage may vary.

01:24 Because someone will inevitably get mad, and we don't want that. 02:13 Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Republic_of_Iran_Armed_Forces (or if you prefer the official website: https://www.president.ir/en/76724) 02:02 IRGC: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/irans-revolutionary-guards 02:18 IRGC, aka "Sepah" (in Iran, according to Wikipedia): https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/irans-revolutionary-guards - a very cursory search didn't yield an official website. Possibly they have some SEO work to do. 02:29 Quds Force: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quds_Force 02:34 Hezbollah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah 02:35 Houthis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_movement 02:58 We may have gotten confused here - the US government has multiple pages listing sanctions on the "IRGC-CEC", but outside of these, and news articles covering these sanctions, we can't really find anything on this organization. There is, however, the IRGC Cyber Defense Command: https://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/iran/irgc-cyber.htm 03:50 A lot of information comes from either US government sanctions (see above), Iranian anti-government activist groups, and vendors/CSIRTs providing threat actor information - it is surprisingly difficult to find objective, well-researched information on IRGC and regular armed forces cyber actors. The language barrier is probably a major issue. 03:45 Information on the Supreme Council of Cyberspace (BBC: Supreme Council of Virtual Space) is slim, for example https://wilmap.stanford.edu/entries/regulatory-entity-supreme-council-cyberspace or Wikipedia´s page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Council_of_Cyberspace_(Iran) - the official website has a lot of photos of guys in hats meeting and looking serious. 05:07 National Information Network: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Information_Network 05:17 Great Firewall of China: https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/2010-11/FreeExpressionVsSocialCohesion/china_policy.html - this comparison may be a bit of a stretch, although by some accounts we've read, Iran's domestic Internet offers pretty high speeds as well as content filtering/surveillance, so maybe it's not a terrible analogy. 06:20 Al Jazeera article on the topic: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/24/iran-unveils-plan-for-tighter-internet-rules-to-promote-local-platforms 07:20 https://www.hackread.com/iran-biggest-cyber-army-israel/ - includes a link to INSS report on the topic (the mentioned Israeli think tank) 07:51 Honker Union: https://www.moderninsurgent.org/post/honker-union 07:57 2010, sorry. Article: https://www.zdnet.com/article/baidu-dns-records-hijacked-by-iranian-cyber-army/ 08:25 https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-335a 08:32 https://www.cisa.gov/topics/cyber-threats-and-advisories/advanced-persistent-threats/iran 08:44 For example: https://www.zdnet.com/article/mrbminer-crypto-mining-operation-linked-to-iranian-software-firm/ and https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa22-320a - that said, we may have gotten things a bit mixed up since there are also a lot of non-malware (of the massive-pile-of-FPGA type) Iranian cryptominers - a bunch of which were shut down in 2019 after power usage concerns: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48799155 09:16 Russian government entities may not be big ransomware actors, but Russian state-affiliated and state-tolerated actors are sure a different story... 09:40 A 2022 indictment of Iranian ransomware actors came alongside OFAC sanctions of IRGC-affiliated ransomware attacks around the same time: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/us-govt-sanctions-ten-iranians-linked-to-ransomware-attacks/ 10:51 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62821757 11:12 OilRig / Helix Kitten: https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0049/ 12:42 https://www.cfr.org/cyber-operations/ 13:20 https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/iran-dupes-military-contractors-govt-agencies-cybercampaign 13:52 Shamoon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamoon 14:00 Sony Pictures hack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Sony_Pictures_hack 14:55 Operation Ababil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ababil 15:24 Nope, not gonna link it 15:35 https://krebsonsecurity.com/tag/izz-ad-din-al-qassam-cyber-fighters/ 16:37 Edalat-e Ali: https://malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de/actor/edalat-e_ali - note that a lot of sites discussing this group seem to have a decidedly anti-regime view. Not that that's a bad thing, but we're really trying to keep it factual 17:11 https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/iranian-apts-dress-up-as-hacktivists-for-disruption-influence-ops 18:18 Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting: +https://www.abu.org.my/portfolio-item/islamic-republic-of-iran-broadcasting/ - again, the Iranian government is really not great at (at least English language/international) SEO for their own websites 18:57 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahsa_Amini_protests 20:57 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Iran 21:30 https://www.techradar.com/news/using-a-vpn-may-be-a-crime-under-strict-new-iran-internet-law - according to a Persian language website linked to in the above Wikipedia article, Khamenei ordered the Supreme Council of Cyberspace to ban VPNs outright in February 2024. 23:04 AnonGhost; https://cybernews.com/cyber-war/israel-redalert-breached-anonghost-hamas/ - a lot of sites associate it with #OpIsrael, for example https://www.hackread.com/opisrael-anonghost-claims-leaking-hundreds-of-israeli-facebook-account-credentials/ - but given Anonymous' decentralized and fluid nature, who knows (a case study on JSTOR (pdf) that makes only passing reference to #OpIsrael refers to "Anon" as a group which it most certainly is not...)| 28:18 https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/us-document-approving-8bn-military-aid-israel-is-fake-2023-10-09/ 31:14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Iranian_strikes_in_Israel 31:44 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/04/17/world/politics/digital-misinformation-iran-strike 33:02 https://archive.nytimes.com/thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/in-an-iranian-image-a-missile-too-many/ 34:54 Press TV: https://www.presstv.ir/ - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_TV 38:06 Also check out our episode on Chinese disinformation activities, including the 50 Cent Party: https://youtu.be/xBAJ2rBKrMc

Bonus links about Iranian disinformation activities: Natto Thoughts always has some good resources on disinformation: https://nattothoughts.substack.com/p/mideast-crisis-and-russia-cyberspace New York Times - "From Opposite Sides of War, a Hunt for Elusive Facts": https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/business/media/misinformation-fact-checking Israel-Hamas armed conflict resource hub: https://www.disinfo.eu/israel-hamas-resource-hub/ How Longstanding Iranian Disinformation Tactics Target Protests - https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/how-longstanding-iranian-disinformationtactics-target-protests Israel-Hamas armed conflict resource hub - https://www.disinfo.eu/israel-hamas-resource-hub/

You can find CyAN's Secure-in-Mind YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/@cybersecadvisors - and of course, our videos about cyber conflict on the State of (Cyber)War playlist here.

All of our episodes are also available in audio format on Apple iTunes, Amazon Audible, Podcast Republic, Spotify, and Libsyn - links on our Media page.

Original video at https://youtu.be/GAeyNb4-27A

Intro music courtesy of AlexiAction via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/alexiaction-26977400/ Outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

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State of (CyberWar) Episode 6.1 Join Hugo Tarrida and John Salomon for the latest part of our Middle East cyberwarfare mini-series.

We decided to split a more in-depth discussion about the two most capable actors in the region, Israel and Iran, into two half-episodes. Join us as we look at the organizations that make up Israeli cyberwarfare and -defense capabilities, the history of Israeli state-sponsored and state-aligned cyber campaigns,

We also take a brief tour of Israeli media and social media operations, including information, propaganda, disinformation, and manipulation.

If you haven’t watched it yet, please consider checking out our first overview of the overall Middle East situation: https://youtu.be/X3wkTszRlck

Notes and links: Because of the highly emotionally and politically charged nature of current events, we can’t tell how impartial many of the websites describing Israeli capabilities are or aren’t. We will thus stick to Wikipedia unless there’s either an original Israeli government webpage available, or a source we feel is somewhat authoritative, even if it’s biased – in any case, do your own homework and draw your own conclusions, we’re not here to push a narrative.

We have our own views and opinions of current events. This discussion is not intended to endorse or condemn any particular viewpoint.

Neither of us speaks even a bit of Hebrew. We are thus at the mercy of translation engines and webpages in languages we understand. Your mileage may vary.

02:03 CFR overview of cyberwarfare capabilities: https://www.cfr.org/cyber-operations/ 02:50 Unit 8200: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200 03:05 Military Intelligence Directorate, aka Aman: https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/directorates/military-intelligence-directorate/military-intelligence-directorate/ 03:57 Unit 81: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_81 05:01 Havatzalot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havatzalot_Program – Google’s horrible translation of the Hebrew wikipedia page indicates it’s some kind of lily. Flowers are nice. 05:16 Talpiot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talpiot_program – the name’s apparently some biblical reference from Song of Songs 4:4 according to their LinkedIn page, that we can’t figure out 06:55 Technion / Israel Institute of technology: https://www.technion.ac.il/ 06:56 Hebrew University of Jerusalem: https://en.huji.ac.il/ 07:30 IDF Information Security Department: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Security_Department – it’s unclear whether it’s the same as these guys: https://www.mitgaisim.idf.il/%D7%AA%D7%A4%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D/cyber-protection-unit/ 07:40 Mamram: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamram – apparently an abbreviation of the Hebrew for “Center of Computing and Information Systems” 09:15 This may be the Israel Innovation Authority – https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/ – we’re not 100% sure though 11:14 Stuxnet: https://www.wired.com/2014/11/countdown-to-zero-day-stuxnet/ 11:22 Specifically, Siemens PCS7, WinCC, and STEP7 control software, and various Siemens S7 programmable logic controllers (PLCs). 22:59 TAO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailored_Access_Operations 12:16 We’re going to assume you’re capable of looking up Snowden and his revelations on your own 12:30 Stuxnet 2.0: https://cyware.com/news/stuxnet-20-iran-hit-by-new-more-aggressive-variant-of-powerful-industrial-control-malware-9d9c9a73 15:37 Duqu: https://www.enisa.europa.eu/media/news-items/duqu-analysis 15:38 Flame: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18238326 15:39 Duqu 2.0: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/11/duqu-20-computer-virus-with-traces-of-israeli-code-was-used-to-hack-iran-talks – the Guardian is one of the outlets that linked Duqu 2.0 to Israel 16:21 Kaspersky’s Equation Group overview: https://www.kaspersky.com/about/press-releases/2015_equation-group-the-crown-creator-of-cyber-espionage 17:13 Some info on those particular negotiations: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-iran-nuclear-deal 17:45 The NY Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/technology/kaspersky-lab-israel-russia-hacking.html 18:38 Correction: Iranian officials disconnected oil terminals themselves as a reactive measure. BBC reporting about initial attack – https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17811565 – and followup: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18253331 19:44 Pegasus (NSO Group): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware) – interestingly, just after we finished this recording, there were reports of “fake” Pegasus variants for sale: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fake-pegasus-spyware-dark-web/ 20:16 Kaspersky on Flame: https://www.kaspersky.com/about/press-releases/2012_kaspersky-lab-experts-provide-in-depth-analysis-of-flame-s-c-c-infrastructure 20:51 NSO Group: https://www.nsogroup.com/ 21:18 Chrysaor: https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/chrysaor-android-spyware-app-smartphone-cameras-hack-photos-pegasus-google-a7666306.html 21:34 https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3927410,00.html 21:41 Should have dug just a little more: https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-watchdog-group-say-israeli-spyware-used-hack-civil-society-2023-04-11/ 22:33 Again the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/over-200-spanish-mobile-numbers-possible-targets-pegasus-spyware 23:32 Start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rif_War – see you in a few months 23:56 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/17/spain-blocks-ship-carrying-weapons-israel-gaza-war/ 24:09 This is a very contentious, and very open legal question. 24:21 (German link) https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/us-geheimdienst-nsa-forschte-merkel-umfassender-aus-als-bislang-bekannt-1.2876007 – caveat: it’s Wikileaks. They have been known to have…issues. That said, the investigation was closed in 2015 due to insufficient evidence: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/12/413866194/germany-closes-probe-into-alleged-u-s-hacking-of-merkels-phone – again, make of that what you will. 25:26 Predatory Sparrow/Gonjeshke Darande: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-62072480 (with bonus steel mill fire video and dramatic music). Wired article with timeline of attacks: https://www.wired.com/story/predatory-sparrow-cyberattack-timeline/ 25:54 https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/04/16/iran-israel-conflict-missile-attack-cyberattacks-warfare/ 28:50 https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/article-731636 – interestingly, a lot of the best investigative journalism exposing this kind of Israeli activity comes from the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, and other Israeli news channels. Another story from Haaretz, and one from The Guardian on the topic 31:13 Very intelligently, we failed to note down the link to the specific story. Good job. But looking for idf manipulate social media site:haaretz.com yields a bonanza of articles on the topic. 31:51 Given Eurovision’s colorful history of political controversies, we’re not even going to start on this one…for the 2024 contest, there’s numerous claims that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ran a campaign to influence audience voting – here’s an article (in Hebrew, use the translation site of your choice) from Ynet: https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/sykjyhaza 32:36 For example, via the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit International Media Branch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDF_Spokesperson’s_Unit. In fairness, a lot of government agencies / armed forces actively try to shape public perception through relationships with private sector channels. The US Defense Department’s relationship is a very well documented example, with the Entertainment Media Office providing personnel and equipment to film productions that follow strict rules about how the US armed forces are portrayed: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-aug-21-la-ca-military-movies-20110821-story.html (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93entertainment_complex). It’s a safe assumption that most major militaries do not have just media and public relations teams, but actively cultivate contacts with journalists to try and influence their reporting.

Bonus links from Hugo: https://www.disinfo.eu/israel-hamas-resource-hub/ – a list of resources surrounding disinformation in the Israel-Hamas conflict Our friends at Natto Thoughts on disinformation in the Mideast conflict: https://nattothoughts.substack.com/p/mideast-crisis-and-russia-cyberspace The New York Times on fact hunting in the Israel-Hamas conflict: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/business/media/misinformation-fact-checking-israel-hamas.html

Original video at https://youtu.be/X3wkTszRlck

Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/

John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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In today's conversation, Craig Rowland joins us to talk about the often overlooked significance of Linux as a key part of global communications and computing infrastructure, and discuss various types threats targeting Linux systems.

Malware, attackers, and techniques are often very distinct from those seen on Windows; Craig shares insights all of these from his extensive experience both writing and reverse-engineering Linux malware.

Craig is CEO of Sandfly Security, a New Zealand-based provider of Linux threat behavior scanning tools. Full disclosure: John Salomon is a paid consultant to Sandfly Security.

Notes from the video:

03:48 I can't find a source for the 95% figure, but a 2023 ZDNet article says 90%, which seems to be the most common figure: https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-has-over-3-of-the-desktop-market-its-more-complicated-than-that/ 03:55 Percentage of top million websites running Linux is another interesting statistic, which seems to be well above 90%. For example: https://gitnux.org/linux-statistics/ 04:08 https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/the-flying-penguin-linux-in-flight-entertainment-systems-65541.html etc. etc. 05:54 France's Gendarmerie Nationale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu 06:40 https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-is-shifting-back-from-microsoft-to-open-source-again/ 14:10 A propos, F5 has some interesting ways of using web shells as an attack vector: https://www.f5.com/labs/learning-center/web-shells-understanding-attackers-tools-and-techniques 14:40 "attacks on kubernetes" is a fun web search string. Same for "attacks on S3 buckets". Enjoy. 14:56 https://redis.io/solutions/messaging/ 15:42 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_Tuesday 17:40 To be fair, Bob in Accounting is a pretty powerful entry point to the organization for various types of cyberattackers. 19:35 Mirai botnet: https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/glossary/mirai-botnet/ 19:37 NoaBot: https://www.akamai.com/blog/security-research/mirai-based-noabot-crypto-mining 20:35 Chroot (change root directory): https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/chroot 27:42 PuTTY: https://www.putty.org/ 29:45 There are several cryptojackers that try to neutralize competing malware, e.g. ChaosRAT https://www.trendmicro.com/en_th/research/22/l/linux-cryptomining-enhanced-via-chaos-rat-.html or Jenkins https://www.f5.com/labs/articles/threat-intelligence/new-jenkins-campaign-hides-malware--kills-competing-crypto-miner 35:30 For example LockBit: https://www.akamai.com/blog/security/learning-from-the-lockbit-takedown 35:37 My mistake - AvosLocker is also a Linux port of Windows malware: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/ransomware-spotlight/ransomware-spotlight-avoslocker - HiddenWasp may be a better example: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cyber-attacks/hiddenwasp-malware-targets-linux-systems-borrows-code-from-mirai-winnti 35:42 Diamorphine LKM rootkit: https://github.com/m0nad/Diamorphine 36:44 https://core.vmware.com/esxi - an example is ESXiArgs ransomware: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-039a 38:42 Abuse.ch MalwareBazaar: https://bazaar.abuse.ch/ 38:49 Fraunhofer FKIE Malpedia: https://malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de 39:35 You could just run a Linux version of the virus aquarium: https://xkcd.com/350/ 39:52 A few examples of VM detection: https://www.cynet.com/attack-techniques-hands-on/malware-anti-vm-techniques/ 41:15 Joe Sandbox: https://www.joesandbox.com/ 42:10 No I won't, because I can't find it. Bit of Baader-Meinhof going on there... 42:59 https://www.youtube.com/@SandflySecurity

Craig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craighrowland/ Sandfly Security: https://sandflysecurity.com

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro/outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

Original video available at https://youtu.be/W-7edx7Le6Y?si=NOoOy1kF3KiVOPUe

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In today's episode of State of (Cyber)War, Hugo Tarrida and John Salomon talk about the background and current state of cyber conflict in the Middle East.

We give an overview of some of the major state actors involved, and zero in on the structures, groups, and motivations of the two main regional adversaries - Iran and Israel.

Notes and links:

Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2024/04/10/state-of-cyberwar-episode-5-notes/

Original video episode avaialable at https://youtu.be/X3wkTszRlck

Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/

John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro music courtesy of AlexiAction via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/alexiaction-26977400

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In today's episode of State of (Cyber)War, Hugo Tarrida and John Salomon talk about China's approach to cyberwar. What is the history behind Chinese cyber capabilities? What are Chinese geopolitical, economic, and social objectives that drive their international cyber activities? What are some of the biases that we should be aware of when evaluating the trajectory of China and its cyberwar abilities?

Also don't forget to check out our previous video about Chinese disinformation activities here: https://youtu.be/xBAJ2rBKrMc

Notes and links:

Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/ John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Wikipedia article worth reading about Chinese cyber warfare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare_by_China

05:42 Granted, Stuxnet was a joint US-Israeli venture - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet 07:06 https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-says-its-working-major-new-agreement-with-iran-2023-12-12/ 14:05 Titan Rain - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Rain Related: Operation Aurora (2009) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aurora 15:20 https://www.npr.org/2022/05/11/1098368201/a-spying-scandal-and-the-fate-of-western-sahara 17:07 The case of Wen Ho Lee, one of several perpetrators of military espionage: https://sgp.fas.org/crs/nuke/RL30143.pdf 20:30 https://nattothoughts.substack.com - Nellie Ohr and her team do excellent analysis work 20:50 "An Analysis of China's Great Cannon" - https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/foci15/foci15-paper-marczak.pdf Shoutout to fellow UC Berkeley CSUA member Nick Weaver for co-authoring this paper) 27:48 E.g. "The 'Century of Humiliation' and China's National Narratives" - https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/3.10.11Kaufman.pdf 29:42 Belt and Road Initiative - https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative 32:38 Referenced here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_information_operations_and_information_warfare ("Definitions" section) 32:45 The Three Warfares: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADB372300.pdf 34:04 The Nine-Dash Line: https://chinaus-icas.org/research/map-spotlight-nine-dash-line/ 34:52 In fact, ruled to be explicitly illegal by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016: https://pca-cpa.org/en/news/pca-press-release-the-south-china-sea-arbitration-the-republic-of-the-philippines-v-the-peoples-republic-of-china/ 36:19 US FBI director Christopher Wray recently warned about this: https://www.npr.org/2024/01/31/1228153857/wray-chinese-hackers-national-security

The State of (Cyber)War is a project by members of the Cybersecurity Advisors Network (CyAN), with an interest in information security topics relevant to geopolitics, military cyberdefence, diplomacy, and other international topics. We discuss various aspects of both current and past issues from the point of view of interested amateurs with varying degrees of experience in the field, in a not-always-entirely-serious format.

Visit the Cybersecurity Advisors Network at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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Original YouTube video at https://youtu.be/HLVPDojARh0

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Join James Briscoe and John Salomon in the latest episode of the State of (Cyber)War podcast as they discuss the People's Republic of China and some of its disinformation capabilities.

This informal conversation includes discussion about Chinese foreign election interference, domestic social media manipulation, Taiwan, China's foreign political and economic interests and more.

John Salomon - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/ James Briscoe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbriscoe/

02:10 Xi Jinping's new year's address, via CCTV: https://youtu.be/TEd3CtcL1pU?si=MAiKGP-SPjm8cjCe 02:50 Xi Zhongxun, Chinese revolutionary leader: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Zhongxun 04:00 Taiwanese elections 2024: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Taiwanese_general_election 04:08 Kuomintang: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuomintang 04:27 Democratic Progressive Party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Progressive_Party 05:45 1992 Consensus: https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/the-1992-consensus-why-it-worked-and-why-it-fell-apart/ 07:15 These are the Valemax ore carriers: https://vale.com/w/fleet-of-ships-serving-vale-receives-first-ore-carrier-in-the-world-equipped-with-rotor-sails 09:12 50 Cent Party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party 09:52 Nine-dotted line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line 10:04 Belt and Road Initiative: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative 13:00 https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSIN277923/ 13:43 NY Times article on the topic: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/us/politics/china-disinformation-ai.html 14:15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident 14:42 A lot of this is obviously speculation. https://www.wired.com/story/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-tiktok/ 16:42 Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank: https://www.aiib.org/en/index.html 19:35 An article about PRC influence on the Taiwanese elections: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/taiwan-presidential-election-china-influence 20:32 https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1215898523/meta-warns-china-online-social-media-influence-operations-facebook-elections 21:05 A US State Department briefing on this topic: https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation 24:15 United Front Work Department: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Front_Work_Department 26:25 Some points about interference in US elections: https://gdil.org/russian-and-chinese-influence-actors-and-operations-against-the-american-electorate/ 29:34 Hundred Years of Humiliation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_humiliation 30:30 The Avoidable War, by Kevin Rudd: https://www.avoidablewar.com/ 32:23 Natto Thoughts: https://nattothoughts.substack.com/ 32:26 The disinformation handbook (part I): https://nattothoughts.substack.com/p/disinformation-handbook-a-concise

A few links on the topic worth reading:

Chinese information operations against Taiwan:

https://therecord.media/taiwan-elections-china-interference https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/taiwan-presidential-election-china-influence https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/beijing-tries-to-capitalize-on-taiwans-controversial-rocket-alert/ https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/rip-off-the-blindfold-let-taiwanese-civil-society-learn-from-ukraine/ https://fpri.org/article/2023/12/whats-at-stake-in-upcoming-taiwan-election/

General Chinese disinfo operations:

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/10/dismantling-the-disinformation-business-of-chinese.html https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/joint-capabilities/13356-report-massive-chinese-disinformation-campaign-uncovered-on-youtube

https://medium.com/doublethinklab/propaganda-analysis-how-different-actors-in-chinas-information-ecosystem-portray-the-ukraine-war-ac82713c2f68 https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1215898523/meta-warns-china-online-social-media-influence-operations-facebook-elections

Visit the Cybersecurity Advisors Network at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro music courtesy of AlexiAction via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/alexiaction-26977400/ Outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

Original YouTube video at https://youtu.be/xBAJ2rBKrMc

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Welcome to episode 2 of CyAN's State of (Cyber) War series.

Today, James Briscoe and John Salomon talk about Japan - its national cyberdefence capabilities, the regional and global threat landscape, regulations and laws, and how all of these are evolving in the face of changing geopolitical realities and technologies.

A few notes from our chat:

02:25 US-Japan 1960 joint security treaty: https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/q&a/ref/1.html 02:37 Article 9 Japanese constitution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Constitution 02:45 SCAP: Supreme commander allied powers 02:58 Japan Self Defense Forces: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Self-Defense_Forces 05:01 2019 US-Japan security treaty update: https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000470738.pdf 06:54 national security strategy end of 2022: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/siryou/221216anzenhoshou/nss-e.pdf 08:14 Lazarus Group: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/9/us-japan-south-korea-launch-new-efforts-to-counter-n-korea-cyber-threats 10:35 Lazarus Group's cryptocurrency thefts: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/12/01/north-korean-hackers-lazarus-group-stolen-3b-in-cryptocurrency/ 11:29 https://www.dragonflyintelligence.com/news/japan-shift-to-a-more-offensive-cyber-posture-in-2023/ 11:35 https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Japan-to-quadruple-cyber-defense-forces-meeting-threats-head-on 12:47 The 2016 revision in question: https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000143304.pdf 13:37 The spending increase to 2% request: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/japan-makes-record-defence-spending-request-amid-tension-with-china-2023-08-31/ 13:59 It's actually 2% as well: https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2023/07/03/defence-spending-sustaining-the-effort-in-the-long-term/index.html 14:39 CCDCOE: https://ccdcoe.org/ 14:46 Locked Shields exercise: https://ccdcoe.org/exercises/locked-shields/ 15:33 The official in question was former US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair: https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/political-series/20221122-72394/ 16:05 The Japanese National Security Strategy allows for development of a posture for information warfare and introduction of active cyber defence in cybersecurity. It will create a government information warfare department, allowing government to aggregate and analyze the situation on disinformation originated abroad. The National Center for Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity is to be restructured to establish an new organisation to coordinate policies between the police and JSDF. This will allow for active cyber defence against attackers. Training for 4000 cyber ‘warriors’ and 16k cyber-capable JSDF members over 5 years is also foreseen. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans AI to enhance monitoring of information and intelligence analysis. Furthermore, defence industry profit margin will be permitted to increase to a max of 15%. 16:45 The Nagoya port ransomware attack of July 2023: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-06/nagoya-port-delays-restart-following-alleged-ransomware-attack 17:10 The Chinese cyberattack on the Japanese defence network: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/08/08/japan/japan-china-hack-defense-network/ - WaPo article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/07/china-japan-hack-pentagon/ 17:23 KillNet ceases attacks on Japan: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/09/9846d4bf7aee-pro-russia-hacker-group-stops-cyberattacks-on-japan-due-to-money-woes.html 20:17 2023 Amendments to Telecommunications Business Act: https://www.dataguidance.com/news/japan-amendments-telecommunications-business-act-enter 20:20 Unauthorized Computer Access Law (UCAL): https://iclg.com/practice-areas/cybersecurity-laws-and-regulations/japan

James Briscoe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbriscoe/ John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original YouTube video version: https://youtu.be/Fmuno8ohJPs

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Welcome to episode 1 of CyAN's new State of (Cyber) War series.

Join John Salomon and James Briscoe in a discussion of offensive cyberoperations involving Russian actors, parallels to historical attacks on civilians, expectations and limitations of information operations, and more.

A few notes from our chat:

05:10 James' research paper on Russia/Ukraine: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6899132398601162752/ 05:30 Conti ransomware group: https://flashpoint.io/blog/history-of-conti-ransomware/ 08:55 2016 Ukraine power grid attacks: https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ukraine-cyberattack-power-grid-blackout-destruction/ 11:15 Stuxnet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet 12:47 James' follow-up work: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6944843584533581824/ 14:35 The Dukes: https://www.cfr.org/cyber-operations/dukes Cozy Bear: https://www.crowdstrike.com/adversaries/cozy-bear/ NotPetya: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Ukraine_ransomware_attacks 18:32 Lazarus Group: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/pl/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/a-look-into-the-lazarus-groups-operations 20:11 2022 Yandex Moscow taxi hack: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/09/02/gridlock-as-hackers-order-hundreds-of-taxis-to-same-place-in-moscow 20:25 2023 GUR Russian state tax service hack: https://therecord.media/ukraine-intelligence-claims-attack-on-russia-tax-service 23:22 2022 Belarus railway hack: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/25/cyberpartisans-hack-belarusian-railway-to-disrupt-russian-buildup 24:04 Alexander Lukashenko and the Ukraine invasion map: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/lukashenko-ukraine-russia-belarus-invasion-map-b2026440.html 25:23 Syrian Electronic Army: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Electronic_Army 29:03 Momotarō no Umiwashi came out in 1942: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momotar%C5%8D_no_Umiwashi

Original YouTube video is at https://youtu.be/VlP_L3xX2Lo

James Briscoe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbriscoe/ John Salomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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Juan Ignacio Nicolossi, PRODAFT Team Leader for threat intelligence, joins us today from Chile to discuss the Snatch ransomware group. Active since mid-2018, Snatch has caused havoc in a variety of companies and government agencies.

In this episode, we discuss Snatch's techniques, the significance of how they use stolen information, and how their approach to what's important to customers means for the future of extortion.

CISA #StopRansomware Snatch advisory: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-09/joint-cybersecurity-advisory-stopransomware-snatch-ransomware_0.pdf

Ransomlook.io Snatch profile: https://www.ransomlook.io/group/snatch

ALPHV (BlackCat) regulatory extortion article: https://www.darkreading.com/risk/alphv-ransomware-group-files-sec-complaint-against-own-victim

PRODAFT is a Netherlands-based cyber-threat intelligence analysis firm - their website is at https://prodaft.com

Full disclosure: John Salomon is a paid, part-time advisor to PRODAFT.

Juan Nicolossi's LinkedIn profile is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-ignacio-nicolossi-baeza-286b035a/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro/outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

Original video version at https://youtu.be/g5yiScRofxU

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Dmytro Bilash joins us for a conversation about online disinformation - what it is, how it adversely affects democratic societies, who's behind it, and how we can combat this major and growing threat to social cohesion and political and economic stability.

A few contextual link from our discussion:

Dr. Egor Zakharov of the Swiss Federal Polytechnic Institute, Zurich (ETHZ) - AI expert, and participant in the ITBN AI&disinformation fireside chat: https://ait.ethz.ch/people/egorzakharov

John Oliver/Last Week Tonight segment on Myanmar-related hate speech on Facebook: https://youtu.be/OjPYmEZxACM

The Assault on Intelligence, by Michael V. Hayden: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566537/the-assault-on-intelligence-by-michael-v-hayden/

Offline, by Crooked Media - episode on TikTokers "discovering" Osama Bin Laden's "Letter to America": https://youtu.be/kk84mCHWds8

Shaping Europe's Digital Future - Tackling online disinformation: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/online-disinformation

Finland is winning the war on fake news - CNN, 2019: https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/europe/finland-fake-news-intl/

Dmytro Bilash is a cybersecurity expert and investor, and co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer of Osavul, a Ukrainian AI cyberdefence firm. Visit them at https://www.osavul.cloud/

You can find Dmytro on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmytro-bil

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original video at https://youtu.be/XQonzP3OVXU

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Kojo Osei Amoyaw-Osei is a master's candidate at EM-Lyon Business School. He joins us today to discuss his thesis project for the MSc programme in Cybersecurity and Defence Management.

Businesses face a growing set of challenges when building their information security maturity - specifically, Kojo has identified three core paradoxes in his research:

1) Personalisation - delivering personalised experiences while respecting privacy preferences 2) Regulation - balancing regulatory compliance with data-driven strategies and innovation 3) Trust - earning and maintaining trust by adopting transparent data practices, implementing robust data security measures, and demonstrating responsible data use

This episode of the CyAN Secure-in-Mind video and podcast series turns our usual format around, as Kojo interviews John Salomon, the usual host of these sessions, based on his extensive experience in the industry, as part of his thesis research.

EM Lyon MsC in Cybersecurity and Defence Management: https://em-lyon.com/en/news/who-will-you-learn-msc-cybersecurity-defense-management-program

Kojo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kojooseiamoyawosei/

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original video version of this conversation is at https://youtu.be/vG1zvwDpjpo

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Thanks Jillian Kwong, Research Scientist at Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan (CAMS), for joining us today as we discuss Jillian's work in cybersecurity third party risk management and more.

Jillian has a PhD in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, where her dissertation looked at the human and managerial side of data privacy (e.g. GDPR, CCPA) implementation within mostly small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). She's also a participant in the Cybersecurity Advisors Network (CyAN) mentorship pilot programme.

Cybersecurity is a metrics-driven field; "soft" factors like management style, or how humans process information, are a major challenges for less mature, smaller enterprises. This is more and more the case as regulatory and good practices requirements drive firms to understand their supply chain risk. How can smaller organisations live up to these expectations?

Even when a tremendous wealth of information and resources are available to help such firms, doing the right thing can be a daunting, difficult process.

Jillian has significant experience in understanding the day-to-day challenges of small business and their management through interviews and case studies as a complementary approach to more objective, quantifiable cybersecurity.

This has allowed her to document the interconnected, complex nature of cybersecurity activities in SMEs.

Visit Jillian on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jilliankwong

Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan: https://cams.mit.edu

The Cybersecurity Advisors Network lives at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network - Secure-in-Mind is also available as audio-only podcasts, find our channels via https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media

Original source video at https://youtu.be/KcSZ1l_Eoik

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In today's Secure-in-Mind episode, we talk about cyberwarfare with Hugo Tarrida.

Hugo recently finished his master’s with a focus on cyber and hybrid warfare and the impact it has on security, at King's College London.

Cyber and hybrid warfare are rapidly evolving domains of conflict that encompass a wide array of threats and tactics. These strategies involve cyberattacks aimed at disrupting critical infrastructure, which includes power grids, financial systems, and communication networks, posing significant risks to national security. To counter these threats, effective strategies have to be developed and improved to counter an ever-growing digitalised and interconnected word.

We delve into the impact of public-private collaboration aimed at fortifying defences, sharing threat intelligence, and developing resilience to mitigate the impacts of cyber warfare. In this ever-changing landscape, understanding these concepts and fostering cooperation is paramount for safeguarding our digital future.'

Visit Hugo on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-ortega-32915a204

King's College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/

The Cybersecurity Advisors Network lives at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network - Secure-in-Mind is also available as audio-only podcasts, find our channels at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media

Original video version available at https://youtu.be/oRHIzDjdfjM

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Remy Bertot joins us for the latest Secure-in-Mind episode. Based on his work with Passbolt, makers of a popular open source password manager, Remy shares his observations on current trends and future expecations of passwords, authentication tokens, and similar mechanisms.

We talk about security in open source software, certifications and audits, telemetry and usage statistics, and how such OSS projects can optimize the community's knowledge.

Maybe most importantly, Remy discusses privacy-restricting legislation such as the current UK Online Safety Bill - and how these are bad things for society. Remy is a contributor to Encryption Europe, an initiative designed to help support privacy, not least in the face of such governmental overreach.

Check out Remy's LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/remy-bertot-7913a0254/

Passbolt is at https://www.passbolt.com/

Visit Encryption Europe at https://encryptioneurope.eu/

The Cybersecurity Advisors Network lives at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network - Secure-in-Mind is also available as audio-only podcasts, find us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media

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Today's Secure-in-Mind episode features a discussion with (soon to be Dr.) Florian Hantke, a candidate in the pilot intake of the CyAN mentorship pilot programmed.

Florian is conducting advanced research on vulnerability management and information security trends as part of the secure web applications group at CISPA Helmholtz, a major German academic research network. He is an accomplished penetration tester, capture-the-flag contestant, and ethical hacker.

Among the topics we visit today are an overview of his current project on using "web archeology" - using web archives to evaluate past cybersecurity trends, Florian's views on the effectiveness of information security topics in German academia and how what it entails, and his recent experience in finding and reporting a number of embarrassing web vulnerabilities.

We talk about generational differences in spotting fraud and security issues, getting into cybersecurity as an area of interest and career choice, and more.

Florian's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-hantke-59ba0522b/ Website: https://fhantke.de/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/fh4ntke

CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security - https://cispa.de/

"You Call This Archaeology? Evaluating Web Archives for Reproducible Web Security Measurements" - https://swag.cispa.saarland/papers/hantke2023archaeology.pdf

Florian's blog post describing his experiences reporting web vulnerabilities in wedding photo sharing sites: https://fh4ntke.medium.com/till-breach-do-us-part-the-uninvited-guest-at-your-wedding-2aed35755456

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Original YouTube video: https://youtu.be/zwMSUbDeYfU

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The cybersecurity employment market is in a unique situation - teams are often underfunded and overtaxed, while layoffs at big tech and other security-reliant critical firms have left insecurity in the industry - as regulatory requirements and evolving threats require ever more attention to the topic.

Meanwhile, academic institutions are continuously challenged to improve their approaches to developing the next generation of talent. Cyber- and information security are broad topics, and benefit from a wide range of knowledge, experiences, and areas of study - not just hard core hands-on tech skills.

This raises questions about how aspiring cybersecurity experts should direct their studies, and how academic leaders and institutions can support them in this journey.

Today we welcome Dr. Gergely "Greg" Dzsinich, CyAN board member and professor at Emlyon business school in Lyon, France, and Florian Muntner, a masters degree candidate embarking on a cybersecurity career later this year who is supporting a privacy project led by Prof. Dzsinich.

Join us as we talk about a wide range of considerations when aiming for a cybersecurity career via various academic disciplines, as well as the unique project approach of the Emlyon team to create continuity among successive "generations" of students aiming for careers in the cybersecurity field.

You can find Dr. Dzsinich on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gdzsinich/ ...and Florian Muntner here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-muntner/

This episode of Secure-in-Mind is also available in video form at https://youtu.be/yQWF1DNubbU

Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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Many of us have fallen victims to scams. Most of us know someone else who has. Fraud did not start with the Internet, but it has unfortunately become an integral part of the online experience.

Jorij Abraham is Managing Director of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), a non-profit organization based in Amsterdam and a partner to CyAN.

In today's Secure-in-Mind episode, we talk about GASA's mission fighting scams of all sorts. What is a scam? What types of scams are most common around the world, who are the victims, and who are the major perpetrators?

Jorij shares his experience in helping to fight abuse, whether it involves fake work visa promises, business email compromise, as well as subscription, romance, crypto, and many other scams that defraud innocent victims of their money. How are we working with law enforcement? What are tech companies doing to fight scams? And, as always, we ask Jorij his views on what the future will bring.

CyAN strongly endorses GASA's mission; visit them at https://gasa.org, as well as their https://scamadviser.com service where you can check whether something is a known scam.

Consider also register for GASA's annual summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on Oct 18-19 2023 - https://www.gasa.org/event-details/4th-global-anti-scam-summit-2023

You can find Jorij on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorijabraham/

The Cybersecurity Advisors Network lives at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network -

This episode is available as a video at https://youtu.be/XidPnG6SmaY

All our various media channels are here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media

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Let's face it: your company will be breached. This is just a reality in today's business world. The first step is to accept this, and to understand why it happens. The next step is to take steps to minimize the damage from a security incident when it inevitably occurs.

In today's episode of the Secure-in-Mind series of conversations about security topics, CyAN explores the topic of surviving a cyber incident - from both a human and an organizational level.

How do you prepare for something you've never experienced before? What can you do to mitigate the damage when it happens? Will your business survive? And who do you turn to when things go wrong?

Geoff Leeming is founder and consultant with Pragma, a Singapore-based cybersecurity firm providing preventative and response services to businesses around the world. You can find him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffleeming

Visit Pragma at https://pragma.ltd/

Check out the video version of this chat at https://youtu.be/9tCLFkuqJ1E - and don't forget to watch the rest of CyAN's great videos at https://youtube.com/@cybersecadvisors

CyAN is at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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In today's episode of the Secure-in-Mind series, I'm joined by Anthony Hess, CEO of co-founder of cyber crisis management and response firm Asceris.

Anthony has a wealth of experience working with insurance firms, especially in the field of cybersecurity and cyber risk insurance, and combines a strong technologist's background with a wealth of knowledge around insurance logic, policy types, underwriting methodologies, and more.

Cyber risk insurance has been a growing topic over the past decade, and in our conversation today, we seek to address several misconceptions about this type of service, while giving you a basic understanding of what you need to know when considering such a service.

For example, we talk about

what types of policies are there? - what's all the hubbub around Lloyds of London's much-discussed "cyber acts of war" exception? - what's the relationship between insurance and regulatory risk management requirements? - what types of services to insurance firms offer to their customers?

...and many more.

Visit him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyhess/

You can find Asceris at https://www.asceris.com/

Don't forget to check out the Cybersecurity Advisors Network at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/cybersecurityadvisors/

Our YouTube channel is at https://youtube.com/@cybersecadvisors

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In the latest episode of the Good Faith Cybersecurity Researches' Coalition dialogues, we speak with Mischa Hansel, head of the research focus on international cybersecurity at the IFSH - the University of Hamburg institute for peace research and security.

In our conversation, we cover topics such as - stockpiling and weaponizing of cyber vulnerabilities by state actors - vulnerability reporting requirements to national authorities - handling of cyber vulnerabilities by authoritarian governments - the impact of free discourse around vulnerabilities on liberal democracy - vulnerability-as-a-service providers - the role of academia and free research in the uncovering of cyber vulnerabilities

A few links Mischa provided that are relevant to this conversation, and to IFSH's work:

International Cybersecurity Made in Hamburg: https://international-cybersecurity.com/ - A paper published in Just Security around strengthening cybersecurity researchers https://www.justsecurity.org/81293/empowering-security-researchers-will-improve-global-cybersecurity/ - the IFSH newsletter (Jan's Cyber Hotchpotch) " offering an entertaining weekly summary of what is going on in cybersecurity" - subscribe via https://ifsh.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2fda1cac544809b12bab70663&id=d8ad8ab2a0 - A paper on the peace and security implications of cybercrime: https://ifsh.de/file/publication/Research_Report/012/Research_Report_012_EN_web.pdf

IFSH is at https://ifsh.de/

You can find Mischa Hansel on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mischa-hansel-7207ba1a2

Visit us at https://gfcrc.org - and check out the Cybersecurity Advisors Network at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Also check out the GFCRC video series at https://youtube.com/@gfcyber

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In today's episode of the Secure-in-Mind series, Joe Cozzupoli and I confront some burning topics around how to deal with artificial intelligence (AI) when confidential or critical data is involved.

On the CyAN blog, Joe recently wrote about the need to balance privacy and security in AI systems - you can find that article here:

https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2023/05/03/balancing-privacy-and-security-in-ai-systems-navigating-the-cybersecurity-conundrum/

As a follow-up to this piece, we address considerations in ensuring the security and confidentiality of critical data whenever AI is used...including the idea that fundamental concepts of responsible use of data don't go away just because it's a new technology. How should existing information security policies and good practice be updated to take these new capabilities into consideration? How are regulators around the world trying to ensure that AI doesn't introduce unacceptable risk?

Joe is a Senior Information Security Advisor at Microsoft in Australia, and CyAN member. All views expressed in this conversation are his personal opinions and not those of Microsoft.

Visit him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcozzupolicissp

Don't forget to check out the Cybersecurity Advisors Network at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/cybersecurityadvisors/

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Dr. Jacqui Taylor and John Salomon talk about the state of diversity in the cybersecurity industry.

What is the state of women in the sector, and how are neurodiverse professionals represented in information security positions? What are the current challenges facing underrepresented groups in industry, how do we see this developing in the coming years, and how can we help address current imbalances?

In this conversation, we explore why, aside from it being the right thing to do, companies actually benefit from a more representative workforce.

Employers with access to a broader range of skills, backgrounds, and attitudes are likely to be much more capable of managing and mastering cybersecurity risk.We also explore how younger generations are approaching this topic.

How has the digital native experience of Millenials, Gen Z, and beyond shaped their attitudes towards equity, diversity, and better representation of different population groups in the technology / cybersecurity arena? How can the current generations of professionals talk to these groups and encourage them to take an interest in cybersecurity?

Dr. Jacqui Taylor is CEO and founder of FlyingBinary, a UK-based deep tech innovation firm. Among numerous other activities, she is a frequent public speaker on a variety of topics around technology, geopolitics, and beyond.

Check out FlyingBinary - "The home of our Cyber Security Work across the world" at https://flyingbinary.com/contact/, and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/1202052 -

You can find Jacqui on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jacqui-taylor/

For Jacqui's website "The home of the Empathy Economy and my equity mission", please have a look at https://jacqui.online

CyAN's mentorship programme is announced here: https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2023/04/12/cyan-announces-mentorship-programme/

Visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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Welcome Wim Hafkamp, Managing Director of Z-CERT, the Dutch healthcare CERT, and Quartermaster / Chairman of the European Health ISAC. Wim brings many years of information security leadership experience in the financial sector to his current organisation's role of supporting the cybersecurity resilience of the Dutch medical and healthcare community.

In the latest in our Secure in Mind series, we discuss the issues currently facing health institutions and providers in defending against cyberattacks, complying with regulations, and working together across borders and with public sector partners.

A few of the concepts mentioned in the video:

EU Cybersecurity Act: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/cybersecurity-act EU Cybersecurity Certification Framework: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/cybersecurity-certification-framework NIS2 Directive: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2021)689333

Attacks on Irish Health Service Executive attacks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Service_Executive_ransomware_attack

Ransomware attacks on hospitals in Victoria (Australia): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-01/victorian-health-services-targeted-by-ransomware-attack/11562988 (Actually I was referring to an earlier campaign but this one's more recent and equally relevant)

André Mignot attack (2022): https://www.france24.com/en/france/20221205-french-hospital-suspends-operations-after-cyber-attacks Brussels ransomware case: https://therecord.media/brussels-hospital-cyberattack-belgium-saint-pierre 2023 Barcelona hospital ransomware case: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hospital-cl-nic-de-barcelona-severely-impacted-by-ransomware-attack/

Z-CERT's homepage: https://www.z-cert.nl/ EU Health ISAC (via the Empowering EU ISACs initiative): https://www.isacs.eu/european-isacs

Find Wim on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/wimhafkamp/

Visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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Welcome Eward Driehuis, chairman of the board of CSIRT.global. Eward has a long and diverse history in the information security sector, and currently supports the mission of CSIRT.global, a not for profit vulnerability and incident management collective based in the Netherlands.

Today, we talk about a wide range of topics, including

various types of malware - the evolution of visibility into different types of threat actors - different "use cases" of malware, and different perspectives of public vs. private sector defenders - objectives, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of purely commercial criminal gangs vs. those of spies - supporting cybersecurity preparedness and resilience in small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) - Internet structural vulnerabilities - how not to annoy customers when selling information security products and solutions - the impact of cybercrime and disinformation on societal stability, and how different generations deal with this

Some links to topics mentioned in the video:

GameOver Zeus malware: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2014/06/02/gameover-zeus-p2p-malware Dyre banking trojan: https://www.secureworks.com/research/dyre-banking-trojan Dridex malware: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa19-339a Kaseya vulnerability (CVE-2021-30116): https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2021-30116/ REvil ransomware attack: https://blog.qualys.com/product-tech/2021/07/08/kaseya-revil-ransomware-attack-cve-2021-30116-automatically-discover-and-prioritize-using-qualys-vmdr

The Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure: https://www.divd.nl/

CSIRT.global homepage: https://csirt.global/ Eward's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewarddriehuis/

Visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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CyAN welcomes Inti de Ceukelaire, ethical cybervulnerability researcher, and Chief Hacker Officer at Intigriti, a Belgium-based bug bounty platform.

We talk about a wide range of topics relevant to legal protections of responsible vulnerability researchers and disclosure, using the recently implemented Belgian safe harbor law as a basis for discussion. Industry and society depend on timely awareness of software vulnerabilities from reliable,. ethical sources such as white hat hackers. Meanwhile, obsolete computer misuse laws in many countries make

A few relevant links to topics mentioned in the video:

OECD recommendations for coordinated vulnerability disclosure: https://one.oecd.org/document/DSTI/CDEP/SDE(2021)9/FINAL/en/pdf https://www.oecd.org/digital/encouraging-vulnerability-treatment-0e2615ba-en.htm

OECD paper on vulnerability treatment: https://one.oecd.org/document/DSTI/CDEP/SDE(2020)3/FINAL/en/pdf

Good Faith Cybersecurity Researchers Coalition: https://gfcrc.org

Vulnerability reporting to the Centre for Cyber Security Belgium (CCB): https://ccb.belgium.be/en/vulnerability-reporting-ccb

Intigriti blog on Belgian safe harbor framework: https://blog.intigriti.com/2023/01/19/new-belgian-legal-framework-gives-safe-harbor-to-ethical-hackers-and-bug-bounty-hunters/

Marcus Hutchins: ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Hutchins

St. Louis Post-Dispatch web "hacking" case: https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2021/10/14/mike-parson-st-louis-post-dispatch-hacker/

Gold Standard Safe Harbour Initiative: https://www.hackerone.com/press-release/hackerone-announces-gold-standard-safe-harbor-improve-protections-good-faith-security

Bonus old school cultural phenomenon mentions:

Doom II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_II The Cuckoo's Egg, by Cliff Stoll: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18154.The_Cuckoo_s_Egg

Inti's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/intidc/ Intigriti: https://www.intigriti.com/

Visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network and https://gfcrc.org

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Łukasz Gawron and John Salomon talk about the current state of the Polish cybersecurity industry. Łukasz works with #CyberMadeInPoland, an industry cluster dedicated to advancing the interests and maturity of the Polish information security sector - with activities ranging from talent development and support for startups, to fostering public-private and intra-industry cooperation.

In this video, we talk about the development of Polish cybersecurity innovation - how are startups addressing the international market? What is the role of government, domestic industry, and large international offshoring presence in Poland in helping to expand the startup world, and how is the country encouraging and developing new cybersecurity talent entering the market?

For these and many other topics, join us in this interesting overview of a large, growing, and incredibly vibrant player in the European information security economy.

A few of the links we mention:

#CyberMadeInPoland: https://cybermadeinpoland.pl/ Kosciuszko Institute - a nonprofit think tank and research institute: https://ik.org.pl Cybersec Forum and Expo 2023: https://cybersecforum.eu/

You can find Łukasz on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/%C5%82ukasz-gawron-92a636201/

Please visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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John Salomon talks to Jonathan Srugo, cybersecurity consultant, founder of Nebotain Smart Digital Defense, and former CISO of an Asian online gaming company.

Internet gambling is a significant part of the online economy, and is legal (if often heavily regulated) in much of the world. Unfortunately, whether due to moral considerations or disagreements about legality, several cybersecurity actors, including vendors and government agencies, refuse to support gaming operators threatened by malicious actors.

This, combined with the lucrative nature of the industry and its high degree of dependence on availability and brand integrity, often leaves companies much more vulnerable than more mainstream, traditional firms to cybercrime and attacks.

In this video, we talk about an area of the cybersecurity sector that is not on the radar of many professionals working in more "traditional" industries. Jonathan shares his observations on the types of attacks, actors, and motivations that affect gaming operators, thoughts about working with vendors, law enforcement, and CSIRTs, and the views of management towards the value of information security capability. Most importantly, we discuss why failing to support any victims of cybercrime hurts everybody, whether you agree with their business model or not.

An overview of legality of online gambling: https://slotegrator.pro/analytical_articles/where-online-gambling-is-legal.html

Typical statistics about DDoS attacks on online gambling sites: https://www.gamblinginsider.com/news/17722/research-shows-25-of-all-gambling-sites-were-hit-by-june-ddos-attacks

Find Jonathan on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-srugo/ and check out Nebotain Smart Digital Defense here: https://www.nebotain.com/

Visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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Join James Briscoe, CyAN Secretary General, as he moderates a panel of experts discussing the concept of zero trust.

What are the requirements for designing and implementing true zero trust models, frameworks, and strategies? What a premises and assumptions should a zero trust architecture be based on, what use cases are relevant, and how can its security value be proven, if at all?

What pitfalls should you be aware of, and how can you differentiate between vendorspeak and genuine security advantages from implementing a zero trust environment? Is absolute zero trust even practical and realistic?

For the answers to these and many other questions, check out this informative video, the latest in our series of information security conversations on the CyAN YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@cybersecadvisors

Our guests today:

Michael McDonald is CTO, CDO, and a co-founder at Flatworld Integration (https://www.flatworld.world/), as well as a CyAN member Thierry Leblond is co-founder and CEO at PARSEC (https://parsec.cloud/) Boris Taratine is a CyAN member and comms advisor Lee Roebig is Customer CISO at Sekuro (https://sekuro.io)

Visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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A conversation with Udi Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Vendict, a startup providing automated AI-driven supplier risk management form data entry.

In this video, we discuss various aspects of how AI will affect the information security space, particularly in the areas of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC). Udi gives his comments on the potential, as well as the limitations of generative, linguistic AI in creating content beyond filling out forms - e.g. reporting, and even analysis or risk assessment itself.

Artificial intelligence is an intriguing, highly promising capability, that will increasingly allow resource strapped cybersecurity organisations to focus their attention on higher-value activities in an ever more complex information security space - in Udi's words, functioning as a "junior analyst".

How will management deal with the potential of AI? How will regulators' expectations affect how AI is employed? How will AI impact the industry's ability to ensure a new talent pipeline? Join us for these topics and more.

Vendict - https://vendict.com, or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/vendict. Udi Cohen on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/udic/

Full disclosure - John Salomon is a member of Cyber Club London (https://cyberclub.london), and an investor in Vendict.

Visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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We welcome Jacques Dahan, Chief Revenue Officer of Cyvers, a startup providing blockchain security services.

John and Jacques discuss aspects of crypto- and blockchain security - what types of attacks are there, what are the vulnerable points of crypto exchanges and implementations? Where and how can they be stopped? This is a very new and fascinating area of information security, and one we expect to see much more of in the coming years.

We touch on the development of increasing regulatory interest in the security and reliability of the cryptospace, and the future role of crypto as a key element of a token-based society and industry far beyond just cryptocurrency and -lending - why and how must smart contracts and other uses of blockchain be secured, to avoid risk to critical areas of the economy?

Full disclosure: Cyvers is a portfolio investment of a consortium John Salomon is a member of (https://cyberclub.london) - which in turn is a great source of ideas for video topics.

Links to some of the topics we touch on:

Cyvers: https://cyvers.ai EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) directive: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020PC0593

Gary Gensler's (SEC) controversial statement on crypto staking: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/02/10/sec-chief-gensler-warns-crypto-firms-to-comply-with-rules-after-kraken-shutters-staking-program/

Cross-chain bridge: https://www.investopedia.com/what-are-cross-chain-bridges-6750848

Smart contracts: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smart-contracts.asp

Crypto bridge breaches in 2022: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/10/hackers-have-stolen-1point4-billion-this-year-using-crypto-bridges.html

Please visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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John and J-C Le Toquin finally and conclusively solve the age-old conflict between cyber-privacy and security!

No, not really.

Rather, we have an interesting discussion of the history, context, and current considerations around this highly contentious topic. How should society, legislators, and law enforcement balance the right to privacy with the need for effective investigations? How can we give law enforcement and intelligence agencies the means for effectively tracking various types of miscreants, including child abusers, terrorists, and miscellaneous other cybercriminals, without violating citizens' ability to protect their communications, including from potentially abusive governments?

Jean-Christophe Le Toquin is a managing partner at SOCOGI in Paris, France. He is co-founder of CyAN, as well as its President and member of the board of directors. As a veteran advisor in the fight against cybercrime and online child abuse, he is President of INHOPE, a global network of hotlines for the combat of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM), as well as Coordinator of Encryption Europe.

Here are links to some of the topics referenced in our conversation:

Clipper Chip (US) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/contents

Encryption Europe - https://encryptioneurope.eu

INHOPE - https://www.inhope.org/EN

The (in)famous "RSA in 3 lines of Perl"/"This label is classified as a munition" text -

http://www.cypherspace.org/adam/rsa/label.html

Please visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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John and Dan, one of our newer members at the Cybersecurity Advisors Network (CyAN) discuss a variety of topics relevant to Dan's activity with Zurich Resilience Solutions, and his past experience in intelligence and law enforcement.

Visit Dan on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliott-dan, and check out his excellent Simplify Cyber newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/simplify-cyber-7022999656397709313/

Join us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

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John Salomon and James Briscoe, CyAN Secretary General, discuss the organisation, its history, its objectives, and activities in flight. The latest in our series of video chats around topics relevant to cybersecurity in the 2020s.

Visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network

Intro/outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we speak with Christopher Ahlberg, whose firm Recorded Future serves numerous governments and private companies worldwide, aiding intelligence-driven decisions that impact citizens globally.

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In this “Secure In Mind” episode, it was a privilege to welcome John W.H. Denton to the podcast for a second time. John is the Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce and with him we discussed the WTO, the World Bank, risk, digitisation, a secure digital ecosystem, and more.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we are honoured to welcome Canadian Senator Vernon White, who shares with us his perspective on security, based on his policing, political and strategic expertise

So, the war on drugs is a complete success, isn’t it? Well… all one has to do, if they are not privy to this darker part of our world, is to jump on google, plug in “cartel violence” or “drug seizure record” or “[insert drug here] epidemic” and you’ll likely come to the conclusion that the resounding answer is a big, fat “no”.
A new strategic approach to fight drug trafficking
If you want a reality slap in the face from a guy who has fought to keep his streets safe, this is for you. Make no mistake, if you’re a cop in a city drowning in drugs, the death, pain, violence and other associated ills arising from the chasing of profitable dragons would be downright horrific and dauntingly complex to address.
Killing kingpins – doesn’t work. The cartels splinter and someone is always going to reach for the crown.
Telling kids to not do drugs – doesn’t work. It’s all good and well for politicians with no experience of scraping a teenager off the street because yes, they were dumb, but no, they weren’t a bad person and certainly didn’t deserve to die because the apparent adults in charge were too conservative to give rational thought and reality a go.
Throwing small-time users into the incarceration merry-go-round – doesn’t work. Legalizing everything and leaving it to fate – doesn’t work.
The situation is highly complex and requires less knee-jerk, more multi-layered interventions that will take decades to realize benefits even if they manage to pass the political smell test. So, a massive kudos to people like Senator Vernon White, who is fighting for a more rational approach to success.
My discussion with the Senator highlighted the shortcomings and a feasible, multi-pronged approach aimed at tackling the illegal drug trade and its associated ills; and he should know more than most. His background as a police officer in Canada, an International Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and now a Senator in Canada lends a lot of weight to his arguments that we aren’t facing the reality of the drugs trade in a successful manner.
We covered a broad range of interrelated topics which, although not being strictly tech- nor cyber-related, have a deep and direct impact on the security and safety of us all, predominantly drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism – and their correlation.

Specifically, Vern shared with us a new vision on Canada’s efforts to fight illegal drug trafficking, an approach focused on helping and reducing the demand rather than focusing merely on the supply side, following globally recognized models in this respect, namely Switzerland and, partially and arguably, Portugal. The final, broader aim encompasses the interest and safety of entire communities, being those strategies targeted at combating organized crime – both national and international -, society degradation, the spreading of terrorism, death and illegality
The rise in violence & crime and its correlation to the lucrative drug market
Canada has progressively witnessed a steady rise in organized crime, gang violence and guerrillas, all vying to gain control over the prosperous drug trafficking market, a situation that prompted the administration to consider an international trade retaliation policy towards offshore countries that illegally introduce drug precursors on their national soil.
As for crime and terrorism, the link is easy to identify, and in this respect, Vern highlights the importance of strengthening the intelligence and policy communities’ ties with international allies and partners, to share field-relevant information and best practices.
Finally, we discuss the relationship between Canada and the EU – supported by some real cooperation cases – on the powers of dark web, the lack – and need – of education among young generations and the blurred line between privacy and security for protection and defense purposes.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we discuss with Steve Korns, Director for Cyber Operations at the US Cyber Command, the US Federal approach to national security and defence through the protection of citizen information

The cyber security and data protection landscape, as we all know, is dramatically and relentlessly changing. Our guest today, Steve Korns, has been, and continues to be, one of the main actors on stage and will explore with us the most important shifts in focuses and efforts as for the Federal Government activity within the cyber sphere.
Steve has an impressive military and private sector background, holding positions as CTO & Director for Cybersecurity for important conglomerates, as well as being a former US Air Force Coronel and Chief of Staff at the US Department of Homeland Security (a division of the US National Cyber Security Centre).
In our conversation, we covered all kinds of topics, from Web 3.0 to Federal Government commitment as for IT Security, from IoT to Blockchain and Risk Management.

National security, military and defence in the US
We explore the construction of the US Cyber Command, which represented the first cyber initiative pulling together different teams to construct an overall strategy and embracing the new offence & defence approach to the cybersecurity world. We then compare its scope of action with the established National Security Agency in order to achieve a broader picture of the state of the art concerning intelligence collaboration and international network cooperation.
Finally, we had a critical but surprising look at the Federal Government’s position as for the budgeting, resources, support and policy allocated to IT Security and Data Protection. Last but not least, we investigate how business entities within the private sector can improve their risk assessment, classification and management techniques.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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Let me introduce you to Tor Ekeland, the federal criminal defence attorney who fights for hacker justice in the US
We started our conversation from the time Tor moved from his routine and not-so-exciting role as a Corporate Lawyer to what was – evidently – his true calling: becoming a criminal defence lawyer representing defendants on trial.

The joys of US Computer Law
Tor is one of the few lawyers the press turns to when in need of a commentary on internet law and all of its associated impacts given his experience in technology law, Intellectual Property rights and regulatory frameworks. We discussed the relation between cyber and law in depth, starting from the Bill of Rights’ role in protecting citizens’ privacy by limiting government intrusion to a critical analysis of the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act – CFAA – and its unveiled misuse.
We negotiated the tough terrain of the Computer Law mandate and its ongoing pressure on common and criminal laws.
To conclude our chat on the “fairness” of justice – and on the US Criminal Justice system in particular – we took into account the power of information control, the influencing role of social media, the first steps towards stronger data protection accountability – think GDPR – and the controversial issue of online web search reading and storage – talk about privacy.

An overview of Tor’s intriguing and multifaceted cases
Over the course of his remarkable career, Tor has managed to follow some of the most complex and controversial cases in the history of computer criminal law, and he was more than willing to share some first-hand details with us.
We examined the case of Laurie Love in all its intricacy and complexion. The case was of an alleged UK hacker risking extradition for alleged intrusions into the US government and federal agency computers to steal massive quantities of confidential data, thus violating CFAA.
We then moved on to Aaron Swartz case, which made history for the disproportionality of its prosecution and its tragic end. In fact, Swartz, a true PC pioneer, innovator and Internet hacktivist, was charged with 11 CFAA violations and state breaking-and-entering charges, leading to a major political protest against the US Department of Justice after the suspect’s heart-breaking suicide on the trial’s eve.
Finally, we discussed some of the cases Tor is currently working on, including Daniel Hale’s “Theft of government property” felony charge according to the Espionage Act, pointing to his unauthorised access of a protected PC from which secret data concerning the US military and attack strategies were allegedly leaked to press sources.
To discover how these cases ended up and more about Tor’s experience in this field, tune in and perhaps ponder this question: what constitutes a felony charge and how should the law meet the rapidly changing environment of our time?
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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The state of the art in cyber security, surveillance, politics and economies across the EU, in emerging markets and beyond. Nick Kelly and Roberto Capocelli talk about this and more in this episode of the podcast

This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly and Roberto Capocelli have a very open, fairly high level discourse about the state of cyber security, surveillance, politics and economies throughout EU, emerging markets and beyond.

Less open warfare, and more open and constructive dialogue
I’ve known Roberto for some time now and always thoroughly enjoy our interactions as we agree and disagree yet always communicate openly. Roberto’s approach to discussing hard topics is exactly what the world needs – less open warfare on the right or left, and more open and constructive dialogue.
Roberto Capocelli is a journalist specialized in international relations and economics. He started out as a freelance reporter in 2002, traveling to the West Bank and Gaza during the Second Intifada uprising. Roberto has traveled and worked in several countries, including Egypt, Lebanon, the UK and Colombia, where he worked as a human rights officer for the NGO Peace Brigades International.
After this experience, he produced and filmed a documentary on gold mining in Colombia. In 2012, he worked as a political reporter covering Italian politics.
In the same year, Roberto received an award from the newspaper La Repubblica and was selected to attend the video journalism school, La Repubblica Academy. Additionally, in 2014 he worked as a public information officer for the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 2015 he moved to New York City on a Fulbright scholarship. Roberto holds an MA in journalism from the City University of New York, a master’s degree in communication from the University of Rome La Sapienza, and a postgraduate specialization in criminology.

Correction note
During the podcast, I incorrectly mused that the EU President was possibly board of director of a number of banks in Luxembourg. He was actually the Prime Minister of Luxembourg at the time when many of the country’s tax avoidance laws were put in place. Thus, when in 2014 as the President of the European Union he made the following comment “try to put some morality, some ethics, into the European tax landscape” is was a no-brainer for people to see a bit of a disconnect from diplomatic discourse to historical action. For further details, see here or here.
The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments
collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure In Mind” podcast episode, Professor Katina Michaels and Dr Roba Abbas share their thoughts on the current global push for the adoption of technological applications that enable Contact Tracing

In this episode of Secure In Mind, I was fortunate enough to be joined by two academics from Australia, both of whom have extensive research in the use of technologies for surveillance purposes and the surrounding socio-ethical arguments this topic rightly attracts for debate.
Professor Katina Michael and I have been meaning to record a podcast for over a year, and since travel has been (and still is for the foreseeable future) out of the question, we had the time to virtually pick up on our draft conversations with this topical tour de force. Katina and I were also joined by Dr Roba Abbas for the antipodean view of the debate; Roba was previously a student of Katina’s, and amongst the three of us, the conversation flowed across different geographical regions quite nicely.
Rather than exposing too much of the discussion in this preamble, have a listen and let us know what you think. There is a huge amount to unpack in terms of the ethics, necessity, societal shaming, risks, scope, competing interests… so use this to equip yourself with information to determine if downloading that voluntary app in your country is for you.

The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments
Collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we explored with with Pierre Noel, un CSO by design, the complexities involved in managing cyber security within a global environment for some of the world’s leading technology giants

I have known Pierre for a while now, hence why I’m stoked to have had the opportunity to welcome him on the podcast. Pierre knows his stuff and can switch gears in conversation across an array of topics at a deep level which is precisely why he has been appointed to so many key security positions around the world. He shared with us his background in the ICT field, from his beginning at the Open Software Foundation where he participated in the creation of the open source codes that would later on be integrated by mammoth software houses like Microsoft (his former employer where he was the CSO for Asia years after).
He has advised nation states, operated at PM level, built cyber security programs around the globe and walked the executive tightrope in particularly testing environments.

How to ensure effective cyber security management from a global perspective
Pierre shared his insight from his days as Chief Security Officer for Microsoft on how to effectively manage security within a multi-jurisdictional and legal environment, as well as how vendors (Microsoft in this instance) nurtured relationships with its multiple stakeholders, inevitably ending up with a mention to the nowadays trendy “IP discussion”.
Pierre then moved on to hold the position of Global Chief Security and Privacy Officer for Huawei, the Chinese tech giant currently undergoing a grilling behind closed doors and in the media. I’ll park that there – we get into it, there’s a lot of noise surrounding the entire thing.
Are we heading to more turbulent and dark waters than ever?
Additional disclosure, Pierre’s work with aizoOn Technology Company is in Switzerland where, as Pierre illustrated, he is helping to develop a Cyber Hub for a client (and in turn their clients) an information sharing and cyber security platform connecting financial institutions and service providers across Switzerland. The greater good? Collaboration and knowledge sharing in cyber security as a crucial tool to win the good fight!
We then addressed some of the most unclear and thorny issues in our near-term future, primarily 5G, the EU encryption law (success or mistake?), FaceApp and country-based classification, ending the drive of winning perceptions in cyber and instead encouraging fact-based judgements instead.
Well, what else to add – tune in now and feed your ears!
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with Neil Walsh, The United Nations Global Chief of Anti-Terrorism, Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Cybercrime. An incredible person who has tirelessly worked in the fight against cybercrime and some of the darkest elements the world over. Human trafficking, child explotation, organised crime, terrorism: the UN chief explains how technology facilitates them all and how they are facing these issues

This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with Neil Walsh, The United Nations Global Chief of Anti-Terrorism, Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Cybercrime. In what is at times a deeply shocking, heart-wrenching discussion that pulls the cyber covers of the darknet back from the depravity that lurks underneath, the conversation explores how and why all the above elements in Neil’s job title are so interconnected and related in the modern day.
Cybercrime, terrorism, laundering: the darkest elements the world over
This was an incredible conversation with an incredible person who has tirelessly worked in the fight against some of the darkest elements the world over, and who continues to do so by supporting, training and empowering countries throughout the world in their struggle.
So, plug in and listen to a rich tapestry of tales from the front-line that include meetings with the pope, bomb blasts and trying to take down bad guys.
NOTE: excuse the slight white noise during the recording – cables are misbehaving but we mostly got away with it.
The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick has spent years living and breathing different cultures in far flung lands the world over. From Guatemala to Cambodia and numerous places in between, he has collaborated, negotiated, elaborated and celebrated with fascinating people from all walks of life the world over. Not one to be put in a box, his background is highly varied and yet has always been involved in or associated with technology and ethics, and he brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table.

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In this “Secure In Mind” episode, it was a privilege to welcome Neil Walsh to the podcast for a second time. Neil is the Chief of Cyber-Crime & Money Laundering at the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime. Please listen to this episode – the impacts of COVID extend beyond the hospital bed and awareness raising is key

In the space of a circa 40 minute conversation, Neil and I pivot from an opening filled with genuine good humor and laughter about the current niggles that we are experiencing (my talking tongues to wardrobes / Neil’s ill-fitting slacks) through to the seriousness of suffering for so many victims of physical and sexual abuse of (mostly) children and women in a world of lockdown.
We humans are an amazingly resilient species, having managed to survive (for now!) amidst an eternal carousel of quarks and quasars. Our evolution, and indeed evolution as a process, is marked by constant, often painful ascendancies to new levels of physiological capacity and / or cognition and intelligence. Unnoticed by our everyday conscious selves, we are continuously learning and growing at the cellular level. The push and pull of the individual and the greater global society catalysis in our species growth and at this level we can and do actively and indirectly play a part. Fundamental to this is our collective ability to expose our wounds to effective remedies rather than letting them fester… an ability not always leveraged due to fear or uneasiness resulting in avoidance. Shining a spotlight is the only way we can see what needs to be fixed.

The life of victims / responders i.e., law enforcement / or the perpetrators themselves is shocking to many folks simply because it is not part of their day to day. Of course, the life of an impoverished and starving refugee escaping a war zone in bare foot is also a shocking reality. I could go on but the point I want to draw is that these realities exist, regardless if many are ignorant, willfully, or not. Indeed, ignoring or shifting onus of phenomena such as child abuse and domestic abuse to that of a dark deity by using terms grounded in intangible contexts – ‘demonizing’ – does not help to mitigate or effectively contain and prevent it here on planet earth. I raise this point since it is incredibly easy to categories what has been identified in numerous studies as a neurological anomaly as evil – incredibly easy and incredibly true since the word evil is (correctly) attributed to that which causes immense pain and suffering. But just as we have increased life-spans and quality of existence (according to most metrics you can run a ruler over) through science and practicality rather than voodoo or our heads in the sand, so too can we at best prevent and at least minimize this pain-causing phenomenon as well.

In short, child abuse and domestic abuse are devastating issues, currently amplified by perpetrators spending more time at home with their victims and evidenced by a vast increase in new generated abuse material available on darknet and Clearnet platforms. Organizations like UNODC, LE, Intel etc. can and do combat this through the application of multiple, practical strategies – they do an incredible job amid the deluge of horror they have to wade through.

I’ll leave the reader now to press play and let the podcast do the talking as is its purpose. There are links at the bottom of the page. One in particular stands out: it is the result of decades and more spent by UNODC and associated stakeholders (LE / intel / Civil Society / Aid) trying to tackle a societal ill, facing an equal or greater amount of the same problem day after day. This link tries to nip a potential calamity in the bud before it has jumped the cranial firewall of a would-be perpetrator. It is the necessary confrontation of a sickness epitomized in a link borne of prevention, and as Neil comments during the podcast, if this awareness-raising means that even one individual halts an urge before it manifests in the real-world – a real-world with real-world pain, suffering and consequence – then the awareness has served its purpose.

This podcast has a mixed bag of listeners, some of whom know the challenges faced in fighting the above problems all too well. Some of the listeners do not share this level of insight. For both segments, share this episode: not because you enjoyed it – because you may not – but because it needs to be shared to raise awareness to either encourage victims to come forward or encourage potential perpetrators to seek help before, not after, the fact..

The Secure in Mind project

Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.

There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the specialty, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments
Collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In the lead up to Europe’s most prestigious and impactful Security Conference in Munich, we headed to the Bavarian capital to speak with Natalia Oropeza, Global Chief Cyber Security Officer, Siemens

Natalia Oropeza heads cyber security for one of the largest electrical engineering and electronic-related products and services companies in the world. In figures, 2019 data reports €87 Billion in revenue and 384,000 employees. A large chunk of the world’s electrical and operating technology backbone is provided by the company, with their products present in everything from Power, Gas, Medical Devices, Phones, Power Plants, Trains, Dams, Smart Infrastructure… the list goes on, and on, and on…
The sheer scale of responsibility is pleasantly paired with Natalia’s calm and sharply intellectual demeanour. It was a pleasure to speak with her about her journey from Mexico to Munich, an inspiration for any aspiring cyber engineer and especially for girls and women who may be thinking of entering and advancing in the field.
The synopsis for this episode is short and sweet as I’m on the road again, but hands down this episode covers it all – Stuxnet (yep, those were Siemens devices that were Pwnd), Supply Chain Security, Cross-Border legislative failures and successes, the push and pull of influence and compliance with policy makers, Natalia’s participation in the creation of mechanisms built to encourage greater equality in the field (ECSO’s Women4Cyber) and plenty more.
As always, listen, share and please send me any feedback you may have as well as recommendations or introductions for other critical thinkers and operators you may know!

The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments.
Collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we are glad to welcome Ms. Hanane Boujemi, Internet policy and governance expert directing the Tech Policy Tank in the UK, a think tank providing market intelligence, policy analysis and advice on tech products and services deployment

Hanane is an experienced and ambitious leader, specialised in internet governance and regulatory challenges, international law and diplomacy.
In what was a truly enriching discussion, we explored the complex and multi-faceted world of Internet governance, with it being subject to the influence of a variety of cultures, agendas and countries. Its overall global relevance is significant, as Hanane clarifies by sharing the importance of anticipating and understanding the impact that Internet usage and management has on the users’ current and future societies, as well as by engaging users into shaping policies governing Internet usage.
Women empowerment in IT & tech: how to shape the policy of the future together
During the discussion, Hanane and I explored her view on the voice of women in tech & ICT, predictably still a challenging field due to strong societal and stereotypical issues. However, she highlighted the great, beneficial role the internet can and does offer when employed as a tool of empowerment… often easier said than done but Hanane is one of the inspirational women making it happen!
Finally, we touched on her Blockchain research, of the rising accountability in ensuring users’ privacy and rights with reference to one Facebook’s exorbitant fine as well as the subsequent need for stronger government-enabled regulatory frameworks… the perennial issue of the day being the creation of legislation is a reactive manoeuvre, and our tech world keeps on moving faster and faster…
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure In Mind” podcast episode, Morgan Deane, CEO of Baader Helvea Group, discusses the unstoppable force of technology in banking and its potential part in increasing transparency in the banking sector

The word wheelhouse is currently working its way wildly through my mind during these days of pandemic pandemonium. Here in Milan, the epicentre Europe’s pandemic, I’m joined by the rest of the world’s non-medicos listening to and heeding the advice of virologists, epidemiologists, doctors and more transform into emergency policies.
There are quasi-infinite wheelhouses one can specialise in these days, and we at Secure In Mind are fortunate enough to speak with many such people in a commanding position in their chosen fields. In this episode, I had a great conversation with Morgan Deane who, alongside being the CEO & President of the Executive Management Board at the Baader Helvea Group, is also Ambassador for the Transparency Task Force, an initiative with a goal of raising the battered level of trust the public has in its critical banking & financial institutions.
Throughout what I thought was a very relaxed, engaging discussion, we explored everything from Morgan’s formative educational period as an aspiring Human Rights lawyer living in Ghana for 3 months working on issues related to child-trafficking, through to the potential application of cutting-edge technologies such as the Blockchain to cement transparency in industry (banking and finance in this case).
We spend a good portion of time on the Transparency Task Force; the purpose, goals, successes thus far and ongoing challenges to tackle. When discussing precursory steps in the process of the Task Force’s creation, Morgan draws a link to his time in Ghana; both the task force and the project to combat child-trafficking evidenced incongruent views of function and outcome from the same situation. What becomes apparent is that Morgan has a deep and balanced level of insight across all sides of a particular issue, certainly a positive given the importance of both the banking sector and, in parallel yet oft in opposition, the transparency and trust of said sector.
So wherever you are listening from… whether it be the bedroom, the kitchen-converted-to-office, the bathroom or the balcony, please enjoy this engaging discussion and share so that others in lockdown can also benefit!

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we discover the human brain behind Intel: Matthias Wilson, Senior Intelligence Analyst and Trainer at government level, guides us through the fascinating and multi-faceted world of Intelligence

I had the pleasure to chat with Matthias Wilson, a super-smart guy having a senior intelligence and military background for civilian, government, corporate and law enforcement services. He is one of the major experts in multiple types of Intelligence a.k.a. the strange acronyms you often stumble across without being able to decode them (perhaps) – OSINT, HUMINT, GEOINT, SIGINT. Keep on listening to learn more!
Do you really think there’s just one type of Intelligence?
He is skilled at combining different types of Intelligence collections methods in order to leverage another type of information gathering, putting it all together to support businesses in fraud investigation and due diligence, as well as reporting critical information to governmental authorities to protect both the German army and nation. Nice!

How to discover the human being behind online communications
We covered a broad range of subjects, including the level of sophistication of German intelligence, the German law on HUMINT and data protection, and the importance of understanding financial accounting and forensics for corporate purposes.
Particularly, I could learn the major tech- and policy-wise shifts in intel information collection (to discover if now it’s all about HUMINT or OSINT, you know what to do). As for OSINT – ok here I can say that: Open Source Intelligence – we explored the role of some of the major communities, such as bellingcat, and their collaboration with intel agencies as for criminal activities detection and prevention. Interesting use, isn’t it?
Finally, all social media and online platforms addicted will be interested in learning that different cultures do a different use of social networks… find out how!
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with Martijn Van de Beek, whose impact on cross-border law enforcement collaboration was critical to many serious crime investigations

This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with Martijn Van de Beek, whose impact on cross-border law enforcement collaboration was critical to many serious crime investigations. In an episode with a true pioneer in EU high tech crime, we discuss all things cyber-crime, risk and crucially the separation of politics from everyday law enforcement activities. If you like the idea of cops from all countries working together to stop truly horrendous bad guys, then this is an episode not to be missed!

Cooperation in the field of cybercrime law enforcement
Martijn Van de Beek started his working life for the Amsterdam Police Force where he gained exposure to a variety of different policing disciplines including investigation, which became his core area of focus.
He has worked in the War Crimes unit and was responsible for establishing the Cyber Crime Unit looking at serious organised cybercrime in 2006/2007. This led to a distinguished career in different positions in the Netherlands National Police involving relationship building and joint investigation activities with multiple, cross-border law enforcement stake-holders including the FBI and FSB.
He has also worked as a Europol expert into the Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan. Currently, he is the General Manager of Hoffmann BV, a consulting firm that provides fraud, cyber and risk expertise to corporate sector clients. He holds a Master’s degree in Law and Criminal and Administrative Law amongst an array of other associated certifications and trainings.
The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments
collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we welcome Ms. Maria Smekalova, Project Director at the RIAC think tank in Moscow, who discussed with us the current state of affairs in cyber space at the global level from a peculiar perspective

Maria is a PhD candidate and Project Leader at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), a think tank based in Moscow committed to raise awareness and stimulate the debate on all matters cyber security, cyber culture and international affairs at the global level.
The project coordinated by Maria looks at Information Security and Cooperation in Cyber Space between two historically opponent super-powers: Russia and USA. If we add to this that the project’s kick-off coincided with the 2016 Russiagate, we can easily get Maria’s brave and strong leadership.

The “Russia Trend”, cyber hygiene and cyber education
Maria shared with us some of the key principles to follow in order to overcome the numerous preconceived ideas in cyber nowadays, namely cyber education and cyber hygiene.
Particularly interesting was exploring Maria’s opinion on the so-called “Russia trend”, which puts her country at the center of a true media hype for any kind of bad news, especially when referring to the cyber sphere. Education, curiosity, information and awareness of the fingerprints we leave online are the weapons we can rely on to fight national biases and positively rebrand a country.
I really enjoyed this well-balanced conversation with Maria, a person coming from a think tank who understands and appreciates the complexities concerning a country as a whole and its distinct layers of state, including military, policing and civil society as well as macro trends. Although a think tank perspective often tends to be as objective as possible, and considering the think tank as a positive yet new and emerging phenomenon in Russia, it was an interesting conversation to uncover some of the most tangled and multi-faceted cyber issues from the other side of spectrum.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.

f we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with Keren Elazari, Israel’s most famous hacker with 2.5 Million views on TED and a Forbes Israel 30 under 30. What a discussion – hacking, women in tech, philosophy…

This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with Keren Elazari. Keren is an internationally recognized researcher, author and speaker on all matters cyber security and hacker culture. Since 2000, Keren has worked with leading security firms, public organizations and Fortune 500 companies. Keren’s independent research about cyber security has been featured by Scientific American, WIRED, TED, CNN, Financial Times and more.
The Internet’s immune system
Keren’s TED talk “Hackers: the Internet’s immune system” has been viewed by millions online, translated to 30 languages, selected as “Most Powerful Ideas” and helped shape a global conversation about the role of hackers in the information age.
In 2016 Keren founded BSidesTLV, a community event for hackers in Israel. Keren is also a visiting faculty member of Singularity University, in NASA Research Park, California. Her latest collaboration is an Amazon bestseller, a book for “Women in Tech” (2016, Penguin Random House).

The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations around the world in diverse countries and environments
collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life like politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are all merely mortals making the best of it.

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Karol Okonski is the Secretary of State at the Polish Ministry for Digital Affairs and, in this episode, he discusses Poland’s cyber security mandate, his role’s key responsibilities and the country’s approach to the cyber security issue

All roads lead to cyber, it seems… Karol holds a polyhedric background, ranging from technical to economical, from accounting to banking: he is currently a member of the European Cyber Security Organization BoD, as well as being entitled by the Polish Prime Minister with the responsibility to craft, coordinate and manage the national cyber security environment.

How to shape and coordinate a national cyber security environment
Together, we went over some of the main responsibilities involved in the role, such as how the government implements new technologies to automatize and secure processes such as electronic identification and national central registry management, by also identifying the solutions and tools available to citizens in this respect.
Top national cyber priorities and the international cyber diplomacy game
What are the main responsibilities of a country’s representative for cyber and digital affairs? Karol explored this theme with us: securing and protecting the public administration’s critical infrastructures and core services, as well as educating people to foster cyber hygiene, awareness and culture, are the top key missions contemplated by his mandate.
We ended our chat looking at the international scenario and analyzing the complexities involved in the cross-border diplomacy, military and policy cyber game, especially where adversarial countries are involved, as well as examining the EU scenario, its need to find a common ground in cyber and the distinct nature of relationship with the so-called “digitally-like-minded” countries.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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Meet M. Juan Carlos Lara, a financial leader in wealth management ranked among the “Top 100 People in Finance in 2018” for his efforts in pursuing sustainable development through finance

Juan Carlos holds a background in various branches of the financial sector, including trading, brokerage and stock exchange, private banking, asset and wealth management and financial advisory. Most importantly, he acquired particular knowledge of how the financial system works from a global, cultural and geographical perspective, having travelled to the US from his Mexican homeland until settling in Switzerland.

A walk through a slice of the financial system
I had the pleasure to meet him at a Swiss event on freedom and security online, where we could first approach the theme that would later become this episode’s object: how to fight widespread corruption and increase oversight in finance.
Currently, Juan Carlos pursues these efforts by managing the Point5Family Offices in Switzerland, an asset management and advisory firm committed to full disclosure in the provision of real, alternative financial products to its customers, as well as to foster women empowerment via its collaboration with the international NGO Graduate Women International.
A pioneer in finance, Juan Carlos sees the financial system as a viable tool to make sustainable development happen – tune in to discover everything about the ESG Lab and its mission!
Financial super structures
In this episode, we covered a broad range of current topics in finance, including risk assessment mechanisms, due diligence investigations and the pervasiveness of corruption.
We then swam in grey – the blurred lines between survival and graft – to grasp the far-reaching impact of corruption in our daily lives.
Listen now to an experienced financial leader speaking to what he sees as the most critical trends characterising the financial system – and, by result, all of us – nowadays and, presumably, in the foreseeable future.

The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we cover a broad range of issues stemming from security and policy with Jonathan Reichental, multiple award-winning tech leader ranked among the top and most influential CIOs globally

Our guest, Jonathan Reichental, is a connoisseur of the most interesting challenges of today – the 4th Industrial Revolution, Urban Innovation, Future of the Cities and Blockchain Technology. As the smart guy in the room, his innovative work for the US government was recognised ad-hoc by the White House – nice!
How to become a major innovator in Palo Alto
Through his founded and/or managed companies, such as Human Future, Highrise and Silicon Valley Innovation Centre, he does what we aim to do – see the human being behind the tech, or using the digital economy to reconstruct and serve the future of humanity. Pretty ambitious goal, isnt’it?
However, the bar is never set too high and we believe the human experience needs to keep on being the core of the global digital transition, while cybersecurity will necessarily be approached as a top priority in economic, social and political agendas.
How to replicate the successful, innovative model of the Silicon Valley
Jonathan left his mark as the Senior Advisor of the Silicon Valley Innovation Centre, especially focusing on a hot and much-needed topic in today’s crazy world: smart cities. A bunch of cool use cases illustrate how digital services were put in place to serve a plethora of sectors, carrying on socially-important innovations in healthcare, transportation, education, energy and housing, to name but a few.
We then moved on to discuss the complex and interesting scenario of public policy and local authorities, in which city councils and federal governments work hand-in-hand to provide solutions to the major afflictions of today’s world.
Finally, we could not ignore the main challenge linked to the smart and interconnected city revolution: security and privacy, and in so doing, we explored Palo Alto’s perseverance as for pushing – successfully! – on a crucial movement that is still under-invested and complex to manage because of the multiple entities involved (see above). So here we go – tune in for first-hand lessons shared by a true tech & future innovator!
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we welcome John W.H. Denton, the Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce. John brings a wealth of international insight on economic and international development

A former Diplomat and member of the Australian Federal Government’s Strategic Advisory Board on the implementation of emerging policy issues, John Denton now resides in France, heading the International Chamber of Commerce on all matters of Trade, Commerce, Economic and International Development, Business and Trade Disputes.
John also sits on the Board of the UN Global Impact and is Chair Emeritus at the Business Council of Australia’s Global Engagement Task Force. To reinforce the strong ties between business and governance, he founded the B20, the business movement associated with the G20.

The International Chamber of Commerce’s role in bringing peace and prosperity
During our discussion, we explore the ICC’s mission – to bring stability, growth and security worldwide by enabling business and trade globally – and how the organisation realises this in practical and applied terms.
We consider the regulatory and enforcement responsibility and capability of the International Chamber of Commerce, which is not only charged with setting standards and norms but also with enforcing them.
In fact, the world’s leading private arbitral body is actually the ICC court of arbitration – so settling major cross-border, nation-influenced issues makes up a large portion of the ICC’s remit.
Finally, John gave us precious insights on how a good governance and robust legislative framework can enable and ensure prosperity and security at multiple levels worldwide. His words were illuminating; partly as a result of the privileged observation right the ICC has by holding a seat at the UN General Assembly.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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John Salomon, Regional Director at the FS-ISAC, tells us his story about how he got where he is and what helped him understand his true calling in the information security sector…a precious lesson for every young talent out there

John is the Regional Director for Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa at the FS-ISAC, a global organization that involves different industry players with the aim of defining and implementing better rules and regulations governing information security in the financial sector, primarily by fostering information sharing among its members. NOTE: John does not speak for FS-ISAC in this interview; rather, for himself.
In our conversation, he relives the path he followed that led him to where he is now. From getting into security when it was a hot &trendy topic to now, where he encourages collective defence in the financial sector by anticipating and coping with relentlessly swinging trends.

Financial security, critical infrastructure & national defense: tying them together
John embraces a strategy-driven and all-encompassing approach in tackling the cyber issue by combining lessons learned and best practices from emerging markets with his field-specific expertise enriched by a global and multi-cultural perspective.
He ended our conversation on a positive and promising note for all the young cyber talents to-be out there, encouraging inter-industry alliances to find and train and by betting on the power of inspiration and mentorship to prepare the next generation of cyber minds.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode Nick Kelly speak with your friendly hacker Jayson E Street. This unique individual uses his devices and experience to break into often supposedly unbreakable locations to educate companies, governments, users and everyone in between what they need to do to better their cyber security posture

This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with Jayson E Street. Well what can we say – this unique, warm individual uses his confidence, smarts, devices and experience to break into often supposedly unbreakable locations to educate companies, governments, users and everyone in between what they need to do to better their cyber security posture.

Break into supposedly unbreakable locations
Strap yourselves in for a fun, educational discussion with a champion for positive change.
Jayson battled a dragon during the Fire Run in Barcelona Spain. He ‘accidentally’ broke into a shark tank in the Dominican Republic and climbed the pyramid of Giza (until the guards carrying AK-47s expressed their displeasure). He consulted with the Secret Service in 2007 on the WIFI security of the White House and has had tea with a Lebanese General in Beirut.
Jayson never finished High School but does have his GED. His first book is used as course material at four colleges in three countries (that he knows of), and he has spoken at numerous universities in the US and gave an eight-hour lecture at the Beijing Institute of Technology in 2014. Outside of standardized education, Jayson has spoken numerous times at DEF CON, at the first six DerbyCons and at many other Cons (Hack in Paris, Nuit Du Hack, IT-Defense, SYSCAN360, PH-Neutral, etc….) around the world. He was also on the David Letterman show (seriously) though he is still waiting for Stephen Colbert to have him on his show!
Jayson is only one degree away from Kevin Bacon after awkward hugging Oliver Stone and Jimmy Fallon. He started in security and law enforcement over 30 years ago and has always striven to make things more secure. Jayson has been in the Information Security industry for over 18 years, and once broke into a high scale hotel in the South of France – barefoot – wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pyjamas. He was also noted as the best janitor of all McDonald’s in the South East Texas region for 2 consecutive years.

The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick has spent years living and breathing different cultures in far flung lands the world over. From Guatemala to Cambodia and numerous places in between, he has collaborated, negotiated, elaborated and celebrated with fascinating people from all walks of life the world over. Not one to be put in a box, his background is highly varied and yet has always been involved in or associated with technology and ethics, and he brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table.

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In this second “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, Nick Kelly speaks with J Michael Daniel, President Obama’s Cyber Security Czar, on the importance of constructing an effective Cyber Security Policy, for Cybersecurity360.it

This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with J. Michael Daniel, who prior to his current role as CEO of the Cyber Threat Alliance, served as the advisor on Cyber Security in the Executive Office of the President to President Obama from 2012 – 2017. This position earned him the title ‘President Obama’s Cybersecurity Czar’.
The complexities of constructing effective cyber policy
In what was an incredibly rich and interesting discussion with a man who has seen it all, we explored the complexities of constructing effective cyber policy in a multi-layered, complicated environment with numerous moving parts.
How do you ensure that clear communication and threat intelligence-sharing is conducted across Federal & State government departments, the Military, Intelligence, Private sector, the broader international community and allies, as well as the global citizenry? Listen to this podcast to find out.

The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick has spent years living and breathing different cultures in far flung lands the world over. From Guatemala to Cambodia and numerous places in between, he has collaborated, negotiated, elaborated and celebrated with fascinating people from all walks of life the world over. Not one to be put in a box, his background is highly varied and yet has always been involved in or associated with technology and ethics, and he brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode Nick Kelly speak with Francesca Spidalieri on the need for strong female mentors is absolute in order to encourage further female proliferation within the very heavily male-weighted industry

This “Secure in Mind” podcast episode sees Nick Kelly speak with Francesca Spidalieri (the Senior Fellow for Cyber Leadership at the Pell Center at Salve Regina University), an incredibly impressive young female leader and influencer in cyber security.

The need for strong female mentors in the realm of the cybers
Francesca’s work in advising business and government leaders around the world is nothing short of inspirational for anyone in tech but especially for aspiring girls and women looking to enter the field. As Francesca points out several times during the episode, the need for strong female mentors is absolute in order to encourage further female proliferation within the very heavily male-weighted industry. Francesca is a rising global powerhouse in this field so everyone buckle up and enjoy the show!
The teachings in cybersecurity of Francesca Spidalieri
Francesca Spidalieri is the Senior Fellow for Cyber Leadership at the Pell Center at Salve Regina University, where she leads the Cyber Leadership Research Project and the Rhode Island Corporate Cybersecurity Initiative (RICCI). She is also a cybersecurity consultant for Hathaway Global Strategies LLC, and serves as co-principal investigator for the Potomac Institute’s Cyber Readiness Index 2.0, as a subject-matter expert for the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and as a distinguished fellow for the Ponemon Institute. Francesca teaches graduate courses on cybersecurity for managers and has published extensively on cyber risk management, cyber leadership development, and cybersecurity education and awareness. In addition, she lectures regularly at cyber-related events both in Europe and the U.S. and contributes to journals on cybersecurity matters affecting countries and organizations worldwide.
The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations around the world in diverse countries and environments
collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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Meet Fergus Hanson, Head of the International Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank focused primarily on defence and national security

I had a very comprehensive chat with Fergus, starting from his background in international relations and law / policy and technology right up to the moment when he started to look at the Silicon Valley-esque culture of innovation in the US and everything in between. You’re going to want to listen to everything in between because there’s a boatload of insight the valiant listener can glean.

Australia-Europe alliances, cyber competition, 5G and organized chaos
We explored ASPI’s mission and objectives, its relations with adversary countries, toyed with an array of joyful topics trending in today’s binary-soaked globe such as IP theft, cyber espionage and intel.
Tune in now to discover Australia’s relations with its European friends, the threats and joys of 5G and Australia’s place in cyber space, among others!
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.

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Meet Eliot Higgins, the founder and spokesperson for Bellingcat, the man behind the most famous and esteemed open-source, online, intelligence investigation community

Bellingcat started out from a blog Eliot opened as a hobby in 2011: the platform is now the world’s most renowned community of investigative, intelligence and online journalism. In this episode, Eliot explores with us the birth and growth of Bellingcat, its internal organization and its key research focuses.

How a blog turned into the strongest and biggest online investigation community
Particularly striking was witnessing Eliot’s intuitive ability to effectively combine open-source, easy-to-find tools, such as images, videos, social media pages, with geo-location and geo-mapping to create what is knowns as reference imagery. By exploiting these widely and publicly available pieces of information, the Bellingcat community specialized in investigating complex cases in an extra-ordinary and definitely out-of-the-box way.
Bellingcat’s palmarès and its somewhat complex relations with public entities
Eliot shared with us his view over some of the most high-profile cases Bellingcat successfully embarked on, such as the MH17 Malaysian Airlines flight crash in Ukraine back in 2014, the Lybian scenario in 2011, the Syrian conflict, the UK phone hacking scandal in 2012, up to the Lega Nord case and the Miroslava project.
We then dealt with a thorny but inevitable side of Bellingcat’s investigative commitment: the complex ties with law enforcement agencies, national governments, police and state entities which, from showing a pro-society collaborative approach, can quickly initiate a harsh and open denounce of the online community investigative practices and role.
Eliot was brilliantly clear in demonstrating how his community can prove the truthfulness, authenticity and accuracy of their extra-ordinary investigations, while keeping at bay every conspiracy theory and country propaganda that could hinder their investigation commitment and criticize their unique methodologies.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, Drew Sullivan, Director and Co-Founder of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Program, discusses investigative journalism, corruption, the high costs and the crucial fight to be fought
Fantastic episode with a man who co-founded an organisation that pulls the thread on corruption and crime to the highest international levels. His role, and indeed the roles of his employees, is not for the faint-hearted; in fact, heartbreakingly the opposite as you’ll hear. But the work Drew and the team do is crucial as it peers back the curtain on the stain of development and true prosperity for all – corruption.
Drew Sullivan, Bosnia, is an investigative journalist who has worked for almost a decade in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. He founded the Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2004 and served as its editor and first director. He co-founded and serves as editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Program, a global network of 40 investigative reporting centers, media, and networks. He also founded the Journalism Development Network, an innovative media development organization with programs worldwide. Under his direction, OCCRP has won more than 90 international awards including the European Press Prize, the Online Journalism Award, the Global Shining Light Award and others. He previously worked as an investigative reporter for the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville and for the Special Assignment Team of the Associated Press in New York.
The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments
Collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, Dr Tobias Feakin, the Australian Ambassador of Cyber Affairs, discussed the country’s strategic position and future projected outcomes within the global cyber sphere

Dr Tobias Feakin is the Ambassador for Cyber Affairs at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and holds a PhD in International Relations with a focus on Cyber Security.
Before taking on his government position, Tobias started his career working in think tanks, including the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, where he founded the International Cyber Policy Centre.
Where does Australia stand in cyber space: its vision and developments
In our chat, which I think both of us enjoyed, we covered a lot of ground: cyber space in government, business and society, IP rights and encryption systems, policy and politics, international alliances and relations, internet core values and their preservation…
Specifically, we focused on the Australian Cyber Affairs government department’s agenda, on Australia’s strategy within the global cyber scenario as a nation state and on the country’s links with the EU – and, naturally, how to strengthen them.
The Australian strategic engagement in the global cyber sphere
Tobias fervently illustrated the broad and far-reaching mandate of the International Cyber Engagement Strategy, comprising cybercrime, digital trade and international security, alongside the promotion of cyber capacity made in Australia. We agree on many points, philosophise about some grey areas, agree on complexity in others, push lines of in more.
We moved onto the agenda of the Australian government, including IP rights and theft, human rights and democracy, internet governance and architecture rebuilding versus the creation of a multi-stakeholder infrastructure at the national level.
Finally, we delved deep into how technology can be used to foster country development at the political, economic and societal level, as well as the need to engender international dialogue and cooperation to preserve the core positive benefits of the internet.
I’m sure you’ll get a lot from this chat so tune in and check it out.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we interview two special guests on how the worlds of immunology, research, pharmacy and national security intersect. How does technology play a part? Is a cyber attack on virus databases or weaponisation through manipulation possible?

In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we interview two special guests on how the worlds of immunology, research, pharmacy and national security intersect. Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases in the US, and my sister, Dr Melissa Kelly, Infectious Diseases Physician specialized in HIV.

Complexities, mitigations and successes
Dr Fauci is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases (NIAID) that is an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services. As said, Melissa Kelly, more than being my awesome sister, is also an incredibly talented Infectious Disease Physician specialised in HIV, so I invited her along to make sense of any answers where all I could respond with was “boh” (my Italian audience will understand this!).
Dr Fauci’s vast experience is incredible: he has personally advised six, count them, SIX, US Presidents since Reagan on research / preparation / budget and direction of a department that fundamentally predicts and prepares the US for the worst and constructs both its National and International health and safety interests accordingly. We discuss the evolution of the infection diseases, immunology and HIV and the impact that these transmittable diseases have on society. Nation states will be nation states, and stockpiling weapons of immunological destruction is an old game, so we touch on stockpiles of Soviet Anthrax, Smallpox, Botulism and more!
However, for all of the wonderful destruction that we humans can and do inflict upon ourselves, we are not even in the same ballpark as mother nature, and Dr Fauci mostly dismisses the prospect of a “humanity endgame” event being the result of a man-made pathogen.
Nature will find a way, and countries must navigate through the highly complex landscape of pharmaceutical incentives, international relations, security mitigations, health education and more to ensure we are in the strongest position possible before the next inevitable pandemic hits.
Dr Fauci’s experience over the last 4 decades is formidable and both my sister and I truly appreciated spending time with one of the greats in the field. It was a pleasure to have my sister join me as well to make up for my zero medical knowledge! She is travelling the world with organisations like the World Health Organisation continuing Dr Fauci’s fights against microbial nasties.
A final note: I have the utmost admiration and respect for people like Dr Fauci and my sister, Dr Mel; they are on the frontlines, sometimes facing very dark days filled with death and pain but always fighting the good fight.

Policy-wise health and hygiene guidelines: a global perspective
We are passionate about international policy, and to contextualise this, we discussed the state of the art of cross-border cooperation and integration of different entities – researchers, academics, practitioners, institutions, clinics – for risk mitigation strategies and pre-clinical trials.
Particularly enriching was the discussion on the role of national and global institutions, such as the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, the WHO and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in setting best practices and health guidelines.
Particularly, what kind of pressures are successful on different nation states’ governments to foster their alignment with globally recognised best practices? You’ll have to listen to find out!
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure In Mind” podcast episode, Despina Spanou, Director of European Commission for Cybersecurity, ePrivacy and more, discusses the complexities of keeping pace policy-wise in an ever-changing landscape

I’m trying to blend “a can of sardines” in its proverbial sense with my schedule toward the end of last month but am coming up short… “time-slots and hard-stops squished together like sardines in a can”. We’ll go with that.

Cyber Security in Europe is a Top Priority
Anyway, preamble over, the above point’s purpose was to illustrate that during a jam-packed mini-road trip traversing several countries late last month, I dropped by Brussels to the European Commission HQ to catch up with Despina Spanou, Director for Digital Society, Trust and Cybersecurity, European Commission. It was an absolute pleasure speaking with Despina; our conversation touches on her background prior to moving into public office and the associated policy-making complexities and considerations across the 28 country EU market in a perennially evolving landscape. We also discuss her more recent initiative as co-founder of the Women4Cyber initiative where community, job markets and more will be incorporated into EU policy-shaping for the future.
So hats off to a remarkable woman at the top of the tech policy game – plug your headphones in and check it out!!
P.S. At the beginning of the podcast, literally seconds after Despina reiterated the pronunciation of her name to me before we hit the record button, I gleefully say that I nailed the pronunciation. After we finished the recording, my hubris came crashing down in one big pile of last name blunder!

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In this “Secure In Mind” episode, Despina Spanou, Head of Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas, was kind enough to join us for a second time on all things EU. Ardent supporters will note that Despina has been on the podcast before in her previous role as Director for Digital Society, Trust and Cybersecurity for Communications Network, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT)

What is it to be European? (Well I’m an Australian so I’ll ask you, dear audience!). What is it to be Italian? Or French? Or Greek? Is it the type of food grown and eaten from a specific location on a map? Is it the invisible line drawn by the ‘powers that be’ to delineate one from the other? Who exactly are those ‘powers that be’ who are drawing lines all over the place and why did ‘they’ start doing that?
Ok so I’m not even going to try to conduct a Yuval Harari-an analysis of the historical and geo-political structures that have coalesced over the course of human history leading to the European Union… Google it, it’s remarkable. In this podcast episode, however, it was my absolute pleasure to welcome Despina Spanou back to the podcast to shed light on what the bloc is doing right now to support its citizens at this time.
As time was limited for this conversation, we didn’t touch on all of the areas that we could have; there are obviously a never-ending stream of challenges and opportunities faced by Despina and her team when trying to promote the European Way of Life at this critical juncture in time. The primary take-away for listeners should be this: Despina and indeed so many of the people working for the union are working 28 hours a day 8 days a week to carry the torch of hope in an international, peaceful and incorporative framework that was generated the day the EU was born.
So, listen (and skip my damn 2 minute meandering introduction if time is tight!) share and take your hat of for the folk on the citizens’ payroll paving the way for a better future in a time of uncertainty.
Links referenced in the chat (here, here and here).
The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments
Collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, Ciaran Martin, CEO of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (a part of GCHQ), and Nick Kelly discuss why the centre exists and its successes since creation

For this episode of “Secure in Mind” podcast, I travelled to the UK to take a tour of the UK’s Cyber Security Centre and meet with Ciaran Martin, the man at the helm of the impressive initiative.

So government institutions are fighting criminals on the internet
Ciaran is an exceptionally sharp leader of an organisation that is charged with protecting the United Kingdom from cyber attacks. During this episode, we discuss how he landed in the lead role of such a critical function in public office just over 2 years ago when the centre was officially established. This is a must listen for anyone remotely connected to the internet [pun intended]… which is most people nowadays.
I truly enjoyed meeting up with Ciaran again – it’s a pleasure to listen to someone so thoroughly on top of their game give well considered answers to questions regarding modern day efforts government institutions are employing to combat miscreants on the internet.
As always, listen, share and please send me any feedback you may have as well as recommendations or introductions for other critical thinkers and operators you may know!

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we discuss with Christopher Painter, the world’s first Cyber Diplomat. Christopher was appointed as the inaugural cyber diplomat for the US State Department by then-Secretary Hillary Clinton in 2011 and has been cutting through the global cyber dross ever since

After several in person discussion with Christopher, I finally sat down (remotely though due to timing! J) with him for an episode and I’m sure listeners will take away a huge amount from it. Christopher is the former Coordinator for Cyber Affairs at the US State Department and former Senior Director for Cyber Security at the White House, a role he covered from the beginning of Obama’s Administration in 2009, until the first eight months of Trump’s Presidency, in 2016. In this charge, he helped shape US international cyber policy and supported the creation of the Cyber Directorate Affairs at the US National Security Council. On top of this impressive background, he is currently a Commissioner at the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace.
Prosecution, Diplomacy, Cyber
With his background as a Prosecutor and additional experience operating at the most senior levels of government and international diplomacy, Christopher is the perfect person to address the most pressing cyber issues governments’ face today, including dealing with cyber conflicts, fighting cybercrime and, among others, facing electoral interference. Particularly, he points out the reasons for supporting a stronger integration of a cyber agenda in every government’s top priorities.
Public attribution, activism vs crime & the diplomacy game
Our conversation was rich with coverage of the complexities involved in diplomacy e.g. shaping cyber dialogue, coordinating different support mechanisms and stakeholders, untangling complex adversarial relationships and posturing correctly to gain both internal and external desired reactions. We then moved on to a discussion concerning the need for inter-country alliances aimed at defense-driven information sharing and joint public attribution.
We ended our conversation on the perceived purpose of hacking attacks and attempted to separate hacktivism activities (for privacy, freedom online, security, defense) and crime (data theft and leakage, public exposure of secret documents, unauthorized access to restricted sources of information) while also looking at the associated disincentives / sentences for criminal hacking activities.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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Amitabh Singh, CSO & CDO for Swisscard, the largest issuer of credit cards in Switzerland, talks successful hatch battening and what is on the horizon for tech & society

In this Secure In Mind episode, I enjoyed a conversation with Amitabh Singh, whose dual responsibilities at Switzerland’s largest credit card issuer are as Chief Security and Chief Digital Officer for the company. Swisscard issues cards to over a million folk in Switzerland out of a population of 8 million, and ensuring they have access to their funds to keep necessary payments ticking over, especially when the use of cash diminishes due to physical necessities, is a joint responsibility of Swisscard’s and other financial institutions.
The initial portion of the conversation focused on what Amitabh and his team at Swisscard did to prepare themselves in the face of the crisis. As it turns out, they were already very well poised to migrate staff and operations remotely, something that would be encouraging to hear if you were one of their customers!
I’ll leave the rest of the discussion, including the predictions for future technological innovations and societal trends (including VR shopping!) to your ears, rather than your eyes. Listen – enjoy – share!
NOTE: Sound recording is slightly iffy for some minutes in the middle thanks to either my sputtering microphone but it’s more than listenable. Apologies – hazards of remote recordings!
The Secure in Mind project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you; a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments
Collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over. He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure in Mind” podcast episode, we welcome Brett Johnson, former US most wanted hacker, convicted of 39 felonies and prison escaper, who turned its love for crime into an unparalleled ability to spot and stop cyber criminals

Brett created the first organized cybercrime community, Shadowcrew, precursor of today’s DarkNet web and he helps us understand the major advancements of these communities by comparing his platform with the latest technologies in today’s marketplace through the analysis of the latest technological attacks.
Being a reformed cyber talent collaborating with US authorities and major conglomerates worldwide, he also illustrates the changes in cross-border collaboration as for the sharing and exchange of information at the law enforcement and government level, by looking at the role of major actors such as EUROPOL, INTERPOL and UNODC.
What a former crime leader can teach us today
I had the unique opportunity to witness Brett’s vision about the cybersecurity state of the art today, including cyber attackers’ extremely sophisticated education and information sharing capabilities, as well as their “privileged” status in terms of power and income.
Through his consulting, advisory and teaching roles, Brett can now exploit his unique, unparalleled and extremely deep knowledge of the cyber spectrum’s criminal landscape to help authorities understand the attackers and anticipate their moves, by building a pro-active, effective and targeted cybersecurity strategy.
The Secure in Mind Project
Our mission is to greatly increase and encourage community discussion about technological and ethical issues that have done, are and will impact society on a global scale.
There is a longstanding and distinct disconnect between the way information is packaged and presented to the public and the effectiveness of this presentation in terms of generating informed, considered debate.
If we can take complex, important topics and present them, as best we can, in a manner that can interests people from outside the speciality, then we have surpassed our expectations.
Nick Kelly Bio
Nick is someone who, in many senses, is just like you: a human being trying to make sense of this existence of ours as we hurtle around a ball of gas in a sea of infinite eternity. More relevant though are his vacillations in the world amongst diverse countries and environments, collaborating, negotiating, elaborating and celebrating with fascinating people from all walks of life including politics, technology, activism, military and intelligence the world over.
He brings this unique breadth of perspective to the table and has a dogged interest in pursuing the human story behind the title or policy, appreciating the fact that underneath all of our bravado, political correctness and dichotomous states of creation and destruction, we are, after all, merely mortals trying to make the best of it.

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In this “Secure In Mind” podcast episode, we caught up with Elisabetta Trenta, the former Italian Minister of Defence, to discuss the concept of dual-use and how Covid-19 presents an opportunity to implement a National Security Strategy

Last week, Elisabetta Trenta and I sat down and recorded a podcast episode about her life, career, various roles, and perspectives regarding security and defence. Join us for a walk through an exceptional career, keen insight and some lessons learned – this is not to be missed.
Note: our remote recording quality was poor in the first minutes – my sound engineer tried his best to smooth it as much as possible, but it is sometimes the nature of this increasingly remotely connected world we live in. Stick with it though as it generally clears after some minutes and the content is fantastic.

Secure-In-Mind-Institute's podcast: Recent Episodes

Nick Kelly