April Fools!!! Are we really???

So April 1st came and went (for most of us around the world) and Conficker mayhem did not hit the mainstream as expected (by many). Who knows what lurks in the shadows, one thing for sure is that we should continue doing what we have been preaching about for years and make sure our housekeeping is up-to-date. On related news (or not), two senators have drafted two bills to "beef-up" our cybersecurity. The reciprocity is expected, but the meat reference still befuddles. Just what we need more security guidelines that we can't follow and yet more certifications to further confuse technologists, recruiters, and the government agencies that need the services. It's 2025 and we still don't have a handle on infosec (I pray that I won't be saying this then...)

100kcal reading:
http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/939
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?date=2009-03-31

Infragard Long Island March 26, 2009 Meeting

Wow, what a great event we had yesterday at the Suffolk Police Department Police Academy. We had a great time discussing our upcoming events and trying to re-energize the public-private partnership on Long Island. Mark White, Deputy Chief of the Suffolk County Police Department and his team discussed and showed our members the capabilities they have for dealing with unknown substances (read: white powders, chemicals, etc) and how quickly they can determine whether or not they are safe. Also, they showcased the "B.E.A.R" anti-terrorism armored truck. The members had a blast touring this vehicle and we were in awe of all the capabilities that it has to protect our nation's defenders. Many people are unaware that the important tasks of keeping their communities and critical infrastructure protected requires their constant participation. In our day-to-day grind we are always rushing from one place to another (work, school, home, etc.) and we fail to notice how things are changing around our environment, sometimes for better other times for worse. The Long Island Infragard chapter is trying to recruit members to further develop our grassroots movement and help protect our nation, by protecting our own backyard first.

What is Infragard? This is a question that I get asked all the time (did I mention I was not only client, I'm a member?), as summarized on our website (http://www.infragard-li.net/aboutus.htm):

InfraGard is an alliance of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other organizations, which are unified together to prevent hostile acts against the United States through information and intelligence sharing.

InfraGard is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) program that began in the Cleveland Field Office in 1996. It was a local effort to gain support from the information technology industry and academia for the FBI’s investigative efforts in the cyber arena. The program expanded to other FBI Field Offices, and in 1998 the FBI assigned national program responsibility for InfraGard to the former National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) and to the Cyber Division in 2003. InfraGard and the FBI have developed a relationship of trust and credibility in the exchange of information concerning various terrorism, intelligence, criminal, and security matters.

The strength of Infragard’s Intelligence and Information sharing is from its Subject Matter Expert membership which represents a wide range of industries, professions and fields.

This organization is membership driven and we can only get out from this program as much as we put into it. If you are interested in learning more about our program please visit our website or contact me directly.

Stay safe!!!