Recapping the Bloomberg Enterprise Risk Conference
On Nov 29th I had the good fortune to participate in a 45-minute panel discussion at the Bloomberg Enterprise Risk Conference on the following topic:
“WHEN STATE-BASED, STATE-SPONSORED ACTORS TARGET FINANCIAL SERVICES INSTITUTIONS”
The panel consisted of a number of esteemed industry thought leaders including Dimitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder and CTO, CrowdStrike Inc, John M. (Mike) McConnell, Vice Chairman, Booz | Allen | Hamilton; Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Andy Ozment, Senior Director for Cybersecurity, National Security Staff, The White House. Michael Riley, an industry reporting veteran from Bloomberg News and a true gentleman, moderated the panel.
The panel set out to discuss the alleged Iran-based attacks on US banks that took place this past October as well as examine state-based and state-sponsored hackers from Russia and China. The discussion was thought provoking and reflected the wide spectrum of opinions on these electrifying topics. Many of the questions focused heavily on whether or not there is any way to stop the recent spate of DDoS attacks. In addition, the audience was very interested in a number of pertinent issues including the role of information sharing, law enforcement mechanisms and cyber counter-attack measures. The question of future precautions and ways in which to adequately prepare was also a key focus.
The panel certainly touched on a variety of topics that will serve to stimulate further discussion and only time will tell how many of these pressing cyber security conundrums are ultimately resolved. However, for the moment, I have to say that this was one of the best panels I’ve had the good fortune to participate in! As the famous quote from Socrates goes, “an unexamined life is not worth living.” To that end, we were certainly living life this past Thursday, and I encourage all to watch!
The full interview and panel discussion can be seen here.