#ISC2CONGRESS - Chris Krebs Keynote Address: Fighting Cyber Adversaries Requires New Thinking and Approaches

#ISC2CONGRESS - Chris Krebs Keynote Address: Fighting Cyber Adversaries Requires New Thinking and Approaches

The number of connected devices will continue to increase in the next five years, widening the attack surface for cyber adversaries. If we hope to have a fighting chance against them, we need a shift in thinking about defenses as well as increased cooperation between the private sector and government.


That was the message delivered by Chris Krebs in the opening keynote of (ISC)2 Security Congress 2021, taking place virtually today through Wednesday. His keynote was the first of about 130 sessions scheduled for the three-day event. Krebs is the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He served in the role from November 2018 to November 2020.


Speaking about the need to rethink cyber defenses, Krebs said the past five years have been nothing short of “crazy” in terms of cybersecurity, starting with Russian interference in the 2016 election. That was the “Sputnik moment” for cybersecurity, he said, referring to the Russians’ early win in the space race. “It was a wakeup call” that showed “you could destabilize democracy through cyber capabilities.”


The hits kept coming after that, Krebs noted, citing a series of high-profile cyber incidents that followed. Those included the global Wannacry and Notpetya ransomware attacks and the Equifax breach in 2017, the SolarWinds supply chain attack last year, and this year’s Colonial Pipeline attack.


Cyber adversary teams in China and Russia have been especially active in recent years, Krebs said, although other countries such as Iran and North Korea have caused their fair share of mayhem. While Russian attackers are more focused on disruption, the Chinese have mor ..

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