a lock a door motion sensing lights
attack dog seatbelt airbags alarm system
these are things we interact with every
single day on your way out of the house
night you lock the door you didn’t think
about it not really in recent time has
anyone asked why do I have to lock my
doors at night it’s pretty automatic
right I’m an IT consultant right here in
Connecticut and I do a fair amount in
the cyber security space one of my goals
is making technology and cyber security
in particular a little more relatable to
people here’s an example this is how
people tend to feel about cybersecurity
before they’ve been hacked Sidewalk you
walk down the sidewalk every day it’s
the most beautiful sidewalk in the world
right I’m gonna stop you one day and say
hey – continue walking down this
sidewalk safely I’m gonna have to
collect a small tax to protect you
there’s some bad guys out there you’d be
like well Matt I don’t see these bad
guys I don’t know what you’re talking
about
okay that’s how people tend to feel
until they’ve been hacked right when
they have been hacked then they feel
like they’ve been robbed and you know
what often times they have been
individuals and organizations are the
targets of hundreds or thousands of
cyber attacks every single day now if
you knew that hundreds or thousands of
people we’re gonna come break into your
house or break into your office would
you leave your doors unlocked on alarmed
or unprotected probably not so that’s
hundreds or thousands of attacks per day
now many of these are automated they
scan the internet looking for
vulnerabilities or weaknesses in
computer systems and some throw out just
some kind of bait hoping someone will
click on it you don’t get to just block
the big one and move on that’s not how
this works
everyone’s under attack at all times but
what I see is the vast majority of
people and organizations just don’t take
enough proactive measures to defend
themselves it’s kind of like they wait
until they’ve been robbed or wait until
they’ve been broken into to get that
lock to get that alarm
imagine if we change the way we think
about cybersecurity what if we all
integrate it into the fabric of our
daily lives creating stronger and safer
relationships with technology allowing
us to enjoy the rich interconnected
world we live in today now this may
sound daunting and it definitely can be
complex but like anything else one foot
in front of the other now if your kids
take some kind of self-defense course
like karate maybe you’ve seen the
transformative power of channeling fear
and constructive and positive ways if
you haven’t maybe give it a try nothing
tends to build self confidence like self
defense
just like cyber security right and you
don’t start as a black belt either you
just start somewhere you see there’s no
reason to be afraid and there’s no
reason that you or we should accept the
current state just as is I’m gonna get
hacked who cares that’s not good enough
the more steps you take the more
confident you’ll feel and the less
afraid you’ll be and here’s some really
good news we’re developing machines
computers that can attack other
computers and do a lot of the heavy
lifting for us so pictured on the screen
here on the left is an early
electromechanical ecto mechanical
computer of sorts right we talk about
machines defeating machines in World War
two the Germans were exchanging messages
using a device called an enigma machine
so what this did was it with scrambled
messages and cryptographers either
couldn’t or had a very difficult time on
scrambling those messages so Alan Turing
and his group of women and men developed
this machine kind of an early computer
of sorts to crack those codes so what’s
the machine to defeat the machine that’s
what’s exciting right now is we’re
developing machines to defeat machines
but until the systems are smart enough
and fast enough we have the old
anti-malware the websites blocked the
annoying pop-ups yeah it stinks we got
it but just know that systems are
getting faster smarter all the time in
fact one of the interesting things to me
is let’s say there’s a file transferred
in an office every single day
it’s a payroll file have all kinds of
good stuff in it like checking account
numbers and you know all kinds of
identifiable information let’s say that
file was transmitted on the company’s
network right every day at 10 o’clock in
the morning what happens if that same
file is transmitted at 10 o’clock at
night you think someone should know
about that what if it’s transmitted
outside of the company people should
know about these things
so what I’m saying is computer systems
are getting smart at identifying unusual
behavior like this and they’re gonna do
a lot of that work for us cyber security
is much more abstract compared to that
lock or that door right you can touch
the lock you can touch the door and I
mean compared to the invention of a door
or lock it’s brand-new but I think we’ve
gotten to a point where we all can wrap
our heads around cyber security
understand why it’s important and really
make it part of our daily routine and we
just have to there’s one thing that all
these systems I other consultants cannot
do for you though and that’s care you
have to care we all have to care we have
to care that this is important enough
it’s important enough to protect our
information our identities that we do
something about it so if you take one
thing away from this it’s go home caring
that cyber security is important and
did you know that over 90% of
cyberattacks start with a phishing email
so that’s a scam designed to trick you
into doing something so something you
can do is develop a habit for
identifying unusual emails because
hackers today aren’t just tech geeks
they’re con artists right this may make
you feel a little less important and
maybe a little insignificant in the
world but Microsoft will not single you
out and call you to solicit technical
support that’s a scam and I think we’re
all on to the foreign prince who needs
help bringing his fortune to the United
States right we got that we’re good but
you know what they are doing there
mining sites like Instagram like
Facebook like your company’s corporate
website to learn everything they can
about you and the people around you they
take that information and they craft
very very very good emails tricking you
into doing something these emails maybe
come from your boss maybe your brother
your sister someone you know maybe HR
maybe they come from a hotel chain they
might ask you to update your personal
information transfer money change an
account number maybe go out and buy gift
cards right maybe it’s from HR company a
file goes out its payroll XLS it’s very
enticing for a lot of people to open in
my simulated testing where we simulate a
phishing attack on organizations the
first test that we do it is not uncommon
to see 50% of people in an organization
fail that first test with a large
percentage of those people actually
giving up information like their
username you see hackers understand that
the weakest link and all of this is us
right now
they understand that people are
vulnerable to this they know that we
want to help each other and do good and
if you know if you want to update my
information okay I’ll go update it
combine that with these emails being
really indistinguishable from real
emails
I’ll tell you though there’s something
that you can look out for in these in
particular be on the lookout for
something that either asks or something
so to this human problem though the good
news is there’s a human solution if you
get an email that asks you to do
something and you’re not really sure
there’s this old device that nobody uses
anymore it’s called the telephone you
can call people and ask did you mean to
send this you know but don’t call the
phone number that’s in the email cuz
for so many people there’s a sense of
powerlessness around cybersecurity and
kind of the way things are today but I
want you to know no matter what your
technical level is there’s no attack
that you or we can’t have a standing
chance of defending ourselves against if
we care enough if we care enough to
harden our systems have good policies
and question anything out of the
ordinary the good news is that systems
today are getting better faster smarter
and identifying and blocking unusual
behavior in real time threats we can
even do things like sandbox and test
attachments launch them in simulated
environments before they even get to
your inbox it’s pretty cool
this is really really cool stuff that’s
on the on the horizon but just like
there was a time when doors weren’t
locked and people didn’t feel like they
needed to lock their doors at night
there’s a time now and hopefully we’ll
you know wind down in the future where
computer systems aren’t protected I
think we all agree now that the risk is
just too great in the next five to ten
years I think you’ll really see
organizations required to protect data
in different ways we already see this
with manufacturers that do business with
the federal government and something
called NIST compliance and I think we’ve
all experienced HIPAA compliance and the
different HIPAA forms that you might
have to fill out at the doctor’s office
that leads right into cybersecurity as
well the technology is here that makes
it fast and smart so we can make this
part of our routine just like locking
that door on our way out of the house
but I just want to be clear I get it it
is really hard to care it’s hard to care
about anything preventive never mind
something that’s abstract and pretty
invisible right you can’t touch
cybersecurity but this is the same
problem in medicine and a whole slew of
fields it might help to think of your
data as what it is though consider your
data your property just like your home
or office and it must be defended thank you
attack dog seatbelt airbags alarm system
these are things we interact with every
single day on your way out of the house
night you lock the door you didn’t think
about it not really in recent time has
anyone asked why do I have to lock my
doors at night it’s pretty automatic
right I’m an IT consultant right here in
Connecticut and I do a fair amount in
the cyber security space one of my goals
is making technology and cyber security
in particular a little more relatable to
people here’s an example this is how
people tend to feel about cybersecurity
before they’ve been hacked Sidewalk you
walk down the sidewalk every day it’s
the most beautiful sidewalk in the world
right I’m gonna stop you one day and say
hey – continue walking down this
sidewalk safely I’m gonna have to
collect a small tax to protect you
there’s some bad guys out there you’d be
like well Matt I don’t see these bad
guys I don’t know what you’re talking
about
okay that’s how people tend to feel
until they’ve been hacked right when
they have been hacked then they feel
like they’ve been robbed and you know
what often times they have been
individuals and organizations are the
targets of hundreds or thousands of
cyber attacks every single day now if
you knew that hundreds or thousands of
people we’re gonna come break into your
house or break into your office would
you leave your doors unlocked on alarmed
or unprotected probably not so that’s
hundreds or thousands of attacks per day
now many of these are automated they
scan the internet looking for
vulnerabilities or weaknesses in
computer systems and some throw out just
some kind of bait hoping someone will
click on it you don’t get to just block
the big one and move on that’s not how
this works
everyone’s under attack at all times but
what I see is the vast majority of
people and organizations just don’t take
enough proactive measures to defend
themselves it’s kind of like they wait
until they’ve been robbed or wait until
they’ve been broken into to get that
lock to get that alarm
imagine if we change the way we think
about cybersecurity what if we all
integrate it into the fabric of our
daily lives creating stronger and safer
relationships with technology allowing
us to enjoy the rich interconnected
world we live in today now this may
sound daunting and it definitely can be
complex but like anything else one foot
in front of the other now if your kids
take some kind of self-defense course
like karate maybe you’ve seen the
transformative power of channeling fear
and constructive and positive ways if
you haven’t maybe give it a try nothing
tends to build self confidence like self
defense
just like cyber security right and you
don’t start as a black belt either you
just start somewhere you see there’s no
reason to be afraid and there’s no
reason that you or we should accept the
current state just as is I’m gonna get
hacked who cares that’s not good enough
the more steps you take the more
confident you’ll feel and the less
afraid you’ll be and here’s some really
good news we’re developing machines
computers that can attack other
computers and do a lot of the heavy
lifting for us so pictured on the screen
here on the left is an early
electromechanical ecto mechanical
computer of sorts right we talk about
machines defeating machines in World War
two the Germans were exchanging messages
using a device called an enigma machine
so what this did was it with scrambled
messages and cryptographers either
couldn’t or had a very difficult time on
scrambling those messages so Alan Turing
and his group of women and men developed
this machine kind of an early computer
of sorts to crack those codes so what’s
the machine to defeat the machine that’s
what’s exciting right now is we’re
developing machines to defeat machines
but until the systems are smart enough
and fast enough we have the old
anti-malware the websites blocked the
annoying pop-ups yeah it stinks we got
it but just know that systems are
getting faster smarter all the time in
fact one of the interesting things to me
is let’s say there’s a file transferred
in an office every single day
it’s a payroll file have all kinds of
good stuff in it like checking account
numbers and you know all kinds of
identifiable information let’s say that
file was transmitted on the company’s
network right every day at 10 o’clock in
the morning what happens if that same
file is transmitted at 10 o’clock at
night you think someone should know
about that what if it’s transmitted
outside of the company people should
know about these things
so what I’m saying is computer systems
are getting smart at identifying unusual
behavior like this and they’re gonna do
a lot of that work for us cyber security
is much more abstract compared to that
lock or that door right you can touch
the lock you can touch the door and I
mean compared to the invention of a door
or lock it’s brand-new but I think we’ve
gotten to a point where we all can wrap
our heads around cyber security
understand why it’s important and really
make it part of our daily routine and we
just have to there’s one thing that all
these systems I other consultants cannot
do for you though and that’s care you
have to care we all have to care we have
to care that this is important enough
it’s important enough to protect our
information our identities that we do
something about it so if you take one
thing away from this it’s go home caring
that cyber security is important and
did you know that over 90% of
cyberattacks start with a phishing email
so that’s a scam designed to trick you
into doing something so something you
can do is develop a habit for
identifying unusual emails because
hackers today aren’t just tech geeks
they’re con artists right this may make
you feel a little less important and
maybe a little insignificant in the
world but Microsoft will not single you
out and call you to solicit technical
support that’s a scam and I think we’re
all on to the foreign prince who needs
help bringing his fortune to the United
States right we got that we’re good but
you know what they are doing there
mining sites like Instagram like
Facebook like your company’s corporate
website to learn everything they can
about you and the people around you they
take that information and they craft
very very very good emails tricking you
into doing something these emails maybe
come from your boss maybe your brother
your sister someone you know maybe HR
maybe they come from a hotel chain they
might ask you to update your personal
information transfer money change an
account number maybe go out and buy gift
cards right maybe it’s from HR company a
file goes out its payroll XLS it’s very
enticing for a lot of people to open in
my simulated testing where we simulate a
phishing attack on organizations the
first test that we do it is not uncommon
to see 50% of people in an organization
fail that first test with a large
percentage of those people actually
giving up information like their
username you see hackers understand that
the weakest link and all of this is us
right now
they understand that people are
vulnerable to this they know that we
want to help each other and do good and
if you know if you want to update my
information okay I’ll go update it
combine that with these emails being
really indistinguishable from real
emails
I’ll tell you though there’s something
that you can look out for in these in
particular be on the lookout for
something that either asks or something
so to this human problem though the good
news is there’s a human solution if you
get an email that asks you to do
something and you’re not really sure
there’s this old device that nobody uses
anymore it’s called the telephone you
can call people and ask did you mean to
send this you know but don’t call the
phone number that’s in the email cuz
for so many people there’s a sense of
powerlessness around cybersecurity and
kind of the way things are today but I
want you to know no matter what your
technical level is there’s no attack
that you or we can’t have a standing
chance of defending ourselves against if
we care enough if we care enough to
harden our systems have good policies
and question anything out of the
ordinary the good news is that systems
today are getting better faster smarter
and identifying and blocking unusual
behavior in real time threats we can
even do things like sandbox and test
attachments launch them in simulated
environments before they even get to
your inbox it’s pretty cool
this is really really cool stuff that’s
on the on the horizon but just like
there was a time when doors weren’t
locked and people didn’t feel like they
needed to lock their doors at night
there’s a time now and hopefully we’ll
you know wind down in the future where
computer systems aren’t protected I
think we all agree now that the risk is
just too great in the next five to ten
years I think you’ll really see
organizations required to protect data
in different ways we already see this
with manufacturers that do business with
the federal government and something
called NIST compliance and I think we’ve
all experienced HIPAA compliance and the
different HIPAA forms that you might
have to fill out at the doctor’s office
that leads right into cybersecurity as
well the technology is here that makes
it fast and smart so we can make this
part of our routine just like locking
that door on our way out of the house
but I just want to be clear I get it it
is really hard to care it’s hard to care
about anything preventive never mind
something that’s abstract and pretty
invisible right you can’t touch
cybersecurity but this is the same
problem in medicine and a whole slew of
fields it might help to think of your
data as what it is though consider your
data your property just like your home
or office and it must be defended thank you
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