Episode 15 - Dr. Cody Buntain ”Humans are the weak link in cybersecurity - let’s do something about it!” #Cybersafety

Dr. Cody Buntain (@codybuntain) is an Asst. prof in the Informatics Department at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He researches how people engage politically online, especially during disasters and times of social unrest, and how coordinating actors behave and information flows across multiple platforms.  He has a Postdoctoral Fellowship for the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (2016-2018), and a former research scientist for Raytheon. Learn more about Dr. Buntain here: http://cody.bunta.in/

#crisis informatics #online political engagement #disinformation #information quality #real-time summarization #weak supervision #text mining #machine learning

1:45 Larry asks Dr. Buntain: How can a person get into cybersecurity when they don't have prior job experience? 

• "If you have a background in IT, then consider pursuing an undergrad degree in cybersecurity or a graduate degree'
• "if you have no background in IT, then start with a cybersecurity bootcamp to gain technical skills first." 

3:00 to 10:00 Tough Cybersecurity Interview Questions 

• When you want to get into cybersecurity, it’s important to have a home lab where you can practice and then you can speak to that during an interview
• Difficult interview questions, like Elon Musk's favorite: "“You're standing on the surface of the earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west, and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you?”

11:00 Why humans are still the weak link in cybersecurity

12:30 Cybersafety

• how do we help people be more secure users on the internet
  • socioeconomic factors to cyber safety

16:20 Is there enough incentives for large private companies to secure against breaches, when insurance companies cover their losses, and breaches are not mandatory to disclose?

19:30 Tesla employee bribed with a million dollars to plant ransomware by a Russian

https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-ransomware-insider-hack-attempt/

21:00 Insider Risk

24:15 Discussion on Supply Chain Attacks- like Kaseya

27:00 The supply chain risk is not new - example from the cold war. Conclusion: It comes down to trust, which is a decision of weighing risks.

28:15 Is Nationalism inevitable to avoid supply chain compromise?

29:00 Dr. Buntain discusses the #1 problem in cybersecurity today: Phishing and Humans being the weak link. It's about persuading employees with the "why" not just the policy enforcement.