So what’s the endpoint security forcast for 2010?

With security journalists complaining about hazy security predictions for 2010, we thought I thought I should get my crystal ball out and share with you what the future holds for the world of Endpoint Security! My predictions are based on what I’ve noticed in the past few years, on recurring issues and generally how things work in the industry. So here goes!

1. The much hyped and awaited US Cybersecurity Czar will spend at least 6 months sorting through inter-agency policies, egos and feeble budgets and only then starting to do some work! The boost the security industry is expecting to come from the authorities interest in cybertheats will continue to lag.

2. The economy is picking up. But slowly and mostly on paper. Security budgets won’t be much increased and cost effectiveness will remain an important factor in selecting security products. Let’s hope it will come into play after the ineffective products are eliminated and not before! Read more

Long live the new Cybersecurity Czar!

A nice Christmas present wrapped up and delivered to the cybersecurity world. When we all started to doubt there will be a czar appointed in 2009, when all hopes were fading after months and months of delay (the initial announcement was made in May), the Obama administration finally chose Howard Schmidt to fill this position.

Schmidt is also a former member of the Bush administration and will be the leading star of the cybersecurity initiative, although experts fear the position does not come with any real power, says the Dark Reading. A little background info on the new czar:

Schmidt, who most recently served as president and CEO of the international nonprofit Information Security Forum and was previously chief information security officer at eBay and at Microsoft, said in a statement that he looks forward to bringing to the table all stakeholders in efforts to better secure U.S. networks and systems. He will work with the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.

Schmidt will have to settle all differences between the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, add a side of Deparment of Defense and other federal agencies involved in related projects, and serve a over common and effective US cybersecurity posture. And all this on a not so significant budget and with not so much power over these US security giants. We all wish him best of luck!

One third of federal IT security pros face cyberthreats on a daily basis

If you’re wondering how many cybersecurity threats a federal agency faces on a daily basis, a new survey has the answer to your question. At least one, each day, every day. About a third of the IT professionals employed by federal agencies say they experience at least one cybersecurity incident each day, be it external attack, malware, lost device, inappropriate employee access, or other threat.

When one thinks that of these 31% at least a few work for the same agencies. Threfore the numbers are troubling. The frequency of such problems are at the same level or slightly higher than last year for most survey respondents, and their severity has remained about the same. The top issues of this year are malware (33% of respondents), inappropriate employee activity or network use (25%), managing access for approved remote users (25%), and data encryption (23%).

As most of the participants find a solution to this problem in acquiring new, better performing cybersecurity solutions, and as many agencies already make efforts to buy such technologies, it comes to no surprise that market research firm Input, quoted by DarkReading,  says federal cybersecurity spending will increase 48% from USD 7.9 billion this year to USD 11.7 billion in 2014. And the shining stars of this future wave of inestments are a USD 1.5 billion cybersecurity data center currently being developed by the National Security Agency and a cybersecurity operations center recently opened by the Department of Homeland Security.

Obama’s Cybersecurity plan, a resignation marathon

The White House might have a bright, shiny plan for cybersecurity, but it seems unable to keep the security heads it needs to manage and further implement it. No less than the people holding key positions related to the USA’s cybersecurity have resigned in the past few months.

The trend was started in March by Rod Beckstrom, who at the time resigned from his position as head of the National Cybersecurity Center within the Department of Homeland Security. The said center coordinates the defense of civilian, military, and intelligence networks. The reason for Beckstrom’s resignation? As he stated in a letter quoted by the Register, the post was underfunded and unduly controlled by the National Security Agency.

The next person to announce their resignation was Obama’s top cybersecurity director, Melissa E. Hathway. What led to her decision was the long months of delays by the Obama administration in appointing a permanent director to oversee the safety of the nation’s vital computer networks. As the Register points out, Hathway was one of the best candidates for the “cybersecurity czar” position. The czar would hold the authority for securing networks and infrastructure that serve US banks, hospitals and stock exchanges.

The third and most recent top cat in the US government to go is Mischel Kwon, the head of the US Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team. Washington Post rumor has it that Kwon  had grown frustrated by bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of authority to fulfill her mission. And it seems people in her position don’t stick around for too long, she was the fourth US-CERT director in five years.

Hopefully, the critical cybersecurity plan will eventually be implemented, without any further delays and resignations. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

The UK Applies the Centralised Cyber Security Idea

It seems that the centrally managed cybersecurity plans are a catchy trend. Following White House announcement, the UK is planning to create a centrally managed cybersecurity agency. All the secret operations that are currently going down within the intelligence and security services – Ministry of Defence, Home Office, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – will be centralized and handled by a separate institution.

The UK plan will be soon made public, sometime before the summer Parliament recess, according to the Register, and will be included in the government’s updated National Security Plan.

The idea of a cyber tsar role, initially launched by US President Barack Obama, might also be implemented by the EU.

“The European Commission is now encouraging member states to cooperate on digital wargames, to simulate attacks from outside the bloc. Commissioners have suggested a European cyber security tsar should be appointed.”