Zero Day on the Mountain

Last week, I attended a lecture by Robert O’Harrow, a reporter on the Investigative Unit of the Washington Post.  The topic of Rob’s presentation was “Zero Day:  The Threat in Cyberspace.”  The presentation was held in a concert hall that held 560 people and it was standing room only.  This may not appear out of the ordinary for an INFOSEC group, but this event was held in Steamboat Springs, CO.  There were no INFOSEC professionals in the audience, only very interested people, who took time off from recreational pursuits to learn about what is threatening their personal computers and email accounts.

I had already purchased Rob’s book ($2.99 for the Kindle edition) and read it before his lecture.  His talking points followed his chapters and he geared his presentation to the audience.  What amazed me, was here were over 560 people who gave up their late afternoon time to learn about a topic that is threatening all aspects of their lives from their personal bank accounts to whether the local electric utility could lose control of their systems and services.  When the presentation and Q & A session was over (Questions like “why you should not use your cat’s name as your password”), I listened to members of the audience exchange personal experiences of what attempts had been made to harvest their personal and financial information.

What I was hearing was a microcosm of what we are doing for our members at Red Sky Alliance every day. People who knew each other from the community were asking questions and informing each other of the attempts that had recently targeted them.  We see these in our email accounts every day, and I was elated to see a group of informed computer users sharing their information with others.

BT BT

Jeff is on vacation this week, but he still held a prospective member presentation with me on Tuesday morning.  We had another one scheduled for tomorrow and I didn't him him to a third one on Wednesday morning.  He needs some well-deserved time off.  Even though it is the peak of summer vacation time, we are still receiving requests from leading corporations to learn more about our alliance. 

On a daily basis, another group is gearing up again and again to attack another industry segment that affects our daily lives, why not join our team share in the information that our members already know.

Until next week,

Jim McKee