Cybersecurity
FTC and DOJ Forum: Child ID Theft By Family Members Most Damaging
WASHINGTON, July 13, 2011 – Child ID Theft more commonly occurs via organized crime, but the most severe damage happens when done by family members, experts concluded at a joint Child ID Theft forum Tuesday.
Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice held the forum one day after hacktivist group ‘Anonymous’ attacked U.S. government security contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton, resulting in the theft of 90,000 military email addresses.
WASHINGTON, July 13, 2011 – Child ID Theft more commonly occurs via organized crime, but the most severe damage happens when done by family members, experts concluded at a joint Child ID Theft forum Tuesday.
Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice held the forum one day after hacktivist group ‘Anonymous’ attacked U.S. government security contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton, resulting in the theft of 90,000 military email addresses.
Five panels, which included government officials, data security industry professionals and child safety advocates discussed the realities of the problem and solutions for combating the Child ID Theft. Child ID Theft – in cases of poverty, substance abuse and child neglect by family members – occurs through using a child’s Social Security Number under an assumed identity in order to utilize the child’s credit.
The damage inflicted by family members is more severe than that committed by organized crime syndicates because of the emotional damage inflicted upon the child, said the panelists.
“Child ID Theft is real, but don’t panic – it is a problem that we’re starting to get visibility to,” said panelist Tom Oscherwitz, Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer at IDAnalytics, a credit identity and risk management company.
While legislative and law enforcement efforts can only react to the problem after it has happened, panelists and conference members stressed the importance of action taken in the realm of education and parental awareness. Panelists agreed that parents must take the protection of their children’s identities seriously, and they should teach their children about ID theft in the same way they are taught to not accept car rides from strangers.
“This is just part of Parenting 101 in the current day,” said Alan Simpson, Vice President of Policy for Common Sense Media, a family media education nonprofit corporation.
Child ID Theft is one part of the continued barrage of data security attacks on industry and government networks. Such events have brought significant media attention to weaknesses in network security, but attention a vigilant corporate culture must also be the norm for companies and government agencies nowadays.
“A successful, security-conscious culture is based on its adoption by each employee who believes that it is his/her right and duty to ensure the security envelope of the firm is protected and that no one is exempt from mature participation,” said panelist Richard Boyle, President and CEO of ECMC Group, nonprofit corporation specializing in higher education finance.
Cybersecurity
CES 2023: Consumers Need to Understand Personal Cybersecurity, Says White House Cyber Official
Consumers must better understand how to weigh risks and protect themselves in the digital world, said Camille Stewart Gloster.

LAS VEGAS, January 7, 2023 – In addition to building a more robust cybersecurity workforce, policymakers should consider consumer education, said Camille Stewart Gloster, deputy national cyber director for technology and ecosystem for the White House, speaking Saturday at the Consumer Electronics Show.
CES 2023 has featured numerous discussions of cybersecurity in sectors ranging from transportation to Internet of Things home devices. On Thursday, an official from the Department of Homeland Security argued that manufactures should design and pre-configure devices to be secure, thus reducing the security burden on consumers.
For their own protection, consumers must better understand how to weigh risks and protect themselves in the digital world, Stewart Gloster said Saturday. “The sooner that people understand that their physical security and digital security are inextricably linked the better,” she argued. According to the panel’s moderator, Consumer Technology Association senior manager for government affairs John Mitchell, 82 percent of data breaches in 2021 involved “the human element, stolen credentials, phishing, misuse.”
Stewart Gloster’s team is working on a national cyber-workforce and education strategy, she said, which will address the federal cyber workforce, the national cyber workforce, cyber education, and “digital safety awareness.”
Stewart Gloster said workforce initiatives should promote the participation of “people of a diverse set of backgrounds who are highly skilled and multidisciplinary who can take a look at the problem space, who can apply their lived experiences, apply the things they’ve observed, apply their academic backgrounds to a challenging and ever evolving landscape.”
Cybersecurity
CES 2023: Cybersecurity for IoT Devices Should be Market-Driven
NIST’s cybersecurity guidelines for IoT prescribe desired outcomes, rather than specific and ‘brittle’ standards.

LAS VEGAS, January 6, 2023 – Cybersecurity protocols for Internet of Things devices should be industry-driven, Katerina Megas, program manager of the Cybersecurity for Internet of Things Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show 2023.
The popularization of IoT devices gives cyber-criminals increasing opportunities to breach networks, many say. Network-connected household devices – e.g., lightbulbs and home security devices – can be entry-points if security protocols are lacking. On CES panel on Thursday, a cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security argued that manufacturers should design and preset devices to be safe, shifting much of the burden from the consumer.
“For a long-term, sustainable solution, the best approach really is for demand to be market driven,” she said, adding that NIST is “happy” to support the market when called on. To preserve flexibility, NIST’s cybersecurity guidelines for IoT manufacturers in general prescribed desired outcomes, rather than specific and “brittle” standards, Megas said.
“How you achieve those [outcomes] will vary depending on the maturity of your organization, the architecture of your product, perhaps preferences that you might have for you own internal processes,” she explained.
Megas said manufacturers, who well know their devices’ technical capabilities, often lack an understanding of how consumers actually use their devices. Megas said she has examined how to “help a manufacturer who has no insights into the final contextual use of this product, how can we help them…understand, ‘Here are the risks associated with my device.’”
At an American Enterprise Institute panel held in November, Megas endorsed an “ecosystem approach” to cybersecurity, arguing that network security is also indispensable.
Cybersecurity
CES 2023: Railroad Industry Needs Cybersecurity Update
Shawn Smith advocated heavily tailored, industry-specific approaches that can address to the unique needs of the rail industry.

LAS VEGAS, January 5, 2023 – To keep pace with today’s technological innovations and cyberthreats, the railway industry must retool its cybersecurity defenses, said Shawn Smith, vice president of business development of rail cybersecurity company Cylus.
The railway industry is working to patch old vulnerabilities as well as the new ones that have been create by developing technologies, Smith told Broadband Breakfast at the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday. The need for enhanced cybersecurity has been a recurring theme at the conference, as have the implications of the ever increasing number of devices and technologies now relying on connectivity.
“We’re really fast-tracking an operator’s ability to keep pace with the change in the digital environment that they’re operating in (and) the interconnectivity that they’re seeing,” Smith said, adding that his team works to provide “visibility, threat detection, and response capability to keep pace with the change in their organizations.”
Smith said that many of the large rail players have developed responses for some cybersecurity risks, but lack the automation and planning tools necessary to maximize their effectiveness. He advocated heavily tailored, industry-specific approaches that can address to the unique needs of the industry.
Governments and industry players worldwide have of late been on high alert for cyberthreats, particularly since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Railways, like other infrastructure, are potential targets for nefarious actors, Smith said.
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