All news with #opinion tag

🛡️ Fortinet argues that hybrid mesh firewalls (HMF) are now the baseline for modern enterprise security, unifying hardware, virtual, cloud-native and FWaaS instances under a centralized management plane. The post highlights FortiGate appliances running a single OS (FortiOS) and custom ASICs as the foundation for consistent policy, high-performance inspection, and fabric-wide telemetry. It frames HMF as essential for SASE integration and scalable, consistent enforcement across clouds, branches and data centers.

🔒 CISOs face many behavioral and strategic traps that can stall or end careers if not addressed. Leaders, coaches and consultants identify ten common mistakes — from failing to align security with business priorities and treating security as a pure technology function, to reflexively saying no, enforcing rigid rules, misunderstanding AI, lacking transparency, not networking, and mishandling incidents. The article emphasizes becoming an enabler, tying controls to ROI, communicating clearly, and rehearsing response plans to build resilience.

💡 CISOs must present security spending as business enablers that reduce risk, protect revenue, and support strategic priorities rather than as purely technical upgrades. Begin by defining the business challenge, then tie the proposed solution—such as Zero Trust or platform consolidation—to measurable outcomes like reduced incident impact, faster recovery, and lower TCO. Use cost models, breach scenarios, per-user economics, and timelines to quantify benefits and speak the board’s language of risk, return, and shareholder value.

📘 Bruce Schneier announces his new book, Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform our Politics, Government, and Citizenship, coauthored with Nathan Sanders and published by MIT Press on October 21; signed copies will be available directly from the author after publication. The book surveys AI’s impact across politics, legislating, administration, the judiciary, and citizenship, including AI-driven propaganda and artificial conversation, focusing on uses within functioning democracies. Schneier adopts a cautiously optimistic stance, stresses the importance of imagining second-order effects, and argues for the creation of public AI to better serve democratic ends.

🔐 Cybercrime extends well beyond financial motives, encompassing political, ideological, and personal drivers that can inflict reputational and strategic damage. Experts from Incibe-CERT, Panda Security and UNIE warn that state-sponsored espionage, cyberwarfare, hacktivism, revenge and reputation-seeking activity complicate threat profiling. Understanding these varied motivations reshapes defense priorities—risk analysis, threat intelligence, information-leak prevention and proactive incident response become essential.

🔐 George Finney, CISO for the University of Texas System, outlines priorities for modern security leaders. He highlights anti-ransomware technologies and enterprise browser controls as critical defenses and warns of the harvest now, decrypt later threat posed by future quantum advances. Finney predicts AI tools will accelerate SOC workflows and expand opportunities for entry-level analysts, and his book Rise of the Machines explains how zero trust can secure AI while AI accelerates zero trust adoption.

🔒 Drawing on a Black Hat panel and an eclectic career spanning Unix administration, MSSP operations, and multiple roles at Fortinet, the author distills practical guidance for aspiring and new CISOs. Key points stress that the role is not purely technical but a business resilience function demanding clear, data-driven communication, calendar discipline, and strong team building. The post also highlights burnout risks and the critical need for D&O insurance and legal preparedness.

🔐 The UK government's proposal to require access to end-to-end encrypted data—intended to combat terrorism and child sexual abuse—would effectively demand backdoors that major vendors refuse to build. Apple removed Advanced Data Protection for UK users after a non-public notice under the Investigatory Powers Act reportedly sought access, and WhatsApp has supported Apple's stance. The article argues such per-country mandates are technically unenforceable and easily circumvented, creating border chaos and disproportionate privacy harms. ESET recommends preserving strong encryption and using court-backed, oversightable access mechanisms rather than backdoors.