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Wanted: "Public-Interest Technologists" to Inform Raging Debates on Cybersecurity Policy
LAS VEGAS. Technologists are the missing voice in cyber policy debates on issues ranging from encryption to supply-chain security, says Bruce Schneier of Harvard Law’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, who made several presentations here calling for development of a robust “public- interest technologist” community to help shape laws and rules for this technology century.
As an example, he pointed to a “25-year debate on ‘going dark,’” or whether government should be able to access encrypted communications, and said, “It’s a scare term. We’ll never get the policy right if the policy makers get the technology wrong.”
“Here’s the issue,” Schneier said, “none of the policy makers have the technology chops to discuss it.” The separate worlds of technology and policy “was okay in 1959,” but now “technology makes de facto policy – and the policy is always catching up.”
“What I’m calling for is public-interest technologists” who can help policy makers reach informed decisions at the beginning and throughout the policy-making process, he said.
Audio: Autonomous Vehicle Security Deep Dive w/Bruce Schneier
We drill all the way down to the CPU level in this follow-on discussion of autonomous vehicle security. This encore episode with cyber-guru, Bruce Schneier, is in response to the requests we received on Reddit, LinkedIn, and email for a deeper dive after our recent conversation with him.
We start with a simple question, “Who is the threat actor we need to protect our vehicles from?” Bruce’s answer has lessons in it for everyone from a user to a government regulator. We also talk about principles teams can incorporate into their design process.
Audio: Bruce Schneier Talks the Cybersecurity Risks of an Autonomous Future
In this interview, we speak with cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier. Bruce is internationally renowned with multiple books, including Click Here to Kill Everybody.
Bruce shares his perspective on the broad security issues that need to be addressed in our autonomous future.
A crucial question to answer is, "Who will dictate policy?" Many of these technologies transcend federal governments, leaving some policymakers scratching their heads.
"Tu Coche Ya Está Conectado a Internet y Ahora Cualquiera Puede Usarlo para Matarte"
"¿Alarmista? ¡Qué va! Es un gran título, estoy orgulloso de él. Recuerda: los títulos están para vender libros".
Bruce Schneier Is Leaving IBM
Bruce Schneier announced in a blog post that his three-year stint at IBM is officially over:
"Today is my last day at IBM.
If you've been following along, IBM bought my startup Resilient Systems in Spring 2016. Since then, I have been with IBM, holding the nicely ambiguous title of 'Special Advisor.' As of the end of the month, I will be back on my own.
I will continue to write and speak, and do the occasional consulting job.
Bruce Schneier Moves on from IBM
Bruce Schneier announced in a brief blog post, "I'm leaving IBM." His three-year stint with what he calls "the nicely ambiguous title of 'Special Advisor'" ended at the end of June 2019. He gives no specific future plans beyond saying that he will continue to write, speak, teach and occasionally consult.
Schneier has been a cybersecurity luminary since his book Applied Cryptography was published in 1994. Since then he has developed several ciphers, including Blowfish, Twofish, Threefish, and MacGuffin.
Don't Tell Alice and Bob: Security Maven Bruce Schneier Is Leaving Ibm
Infosec veteran Bruce Schneier has said he'll step down as a "special advisor" to IBM's security business to, in part, focus his time on teaching the next generation of security pros.
Schneier said he also wanted to focus on work with nonprofit projects including Tor and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), where he is a board member.
The cryptographer, formerly BT's chief security technology officer, has been writing about security since 1998 and has produced more than a dozen books, as well as hundreds of articles, essays and academic papers.
Schneier started working at IBM in 2016 after Big Blue snapped up his startup, Resilient Systems (previously called Co3), where he served as CTO, for a rumoured $100m.
Audio: SwigCast, Episode 2: Encryption
Listen to the audio on PortSwigger.net
Encryption underpins the security of everything from digital purchases to private chats, and is a technology that has existed in one form or another for as long as human beings have shared secrets.
Having initially started out as a means for rulers and armies to pass on confidential messages, the technology has evolved into an everyday necessity to protect the credit card details of online shoppers and conversations of smartphone users.
But even though its daily presence has made encryption a topic that's rarely out of the news, an ongoing conflict between law enforcement and techies has left the general public with little understanding of its actual importance.
In the second episode of SwigCast, we explore both the practicalities and the politics of encryption with the cryptographer and author, Bruce Schneier.
Apocalipsis digital: cómo evitar que el ser humano se extinga por culpa de internet
«El único sistema verdaderamente seguro es el que se apaga, se coloca en un bloque de hormigón y se sella en una habitación revestida de plomo con guardias armados. Aun así tengo mis dudas». Son palabras de Gene Spafford, experto en ciberseguridad. pronunciadas en 1989, cuando internet estaba en pañales.
Audio: How Government Can Secure Us in the Internet+ Era
The internet was not originally designed with security in mind. In the early days, this was OK, but today the landscape is more complicated because, in the internet+ era, nearly everything is connected to the internet. A spreadsheet crashes, and you lose your data. A heart device crashes, and you lose your life.
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.