Protecting Against Cyberattacks
Fulbright Scholar Edward Foale is earning his masters degree from 黑料吃瓜s Graduate Program in Homeland Security.
鈥淐yber is still so new to most people,鈥� said Foale, whose office helps the government prioritize various risks and threats. 鈥淧eople haven't yet cracked how best to prevent or deter it, or how to handle responses to it. This is in part because cyber is a fluid threat, with continuing innovation and adaptation to new technologies on all sides.鈥�
厂顿厂鲍鈥檚 (GPHS) offers a realistic, sober assessment of the risks associated with hacking and other threats to cybersecurity, said faculty member and information security expert Steven Andr茅s.
鈥淲e endeavor to separate the attention-grabbing from the realistic in this poorly understood cyber realm,鈥� said Andr茅s.
Many people imagine nefarious hackers breaking into cybersystems with ingenious programming skills, but nine times out of 10, Andr茅s said, the reality is much more pedestrian鈥攕uch as giving your password over the phone to someone who claims to be from the information technology department.
鈥淚n our program, we are steering the future leaders of cyber policy to understand what鈥檚 likely so they can make realistic policy decisions,鈥� Andr茅s said.
At 黑料吃瓜, Foale is studying a broad range of cybersecurity issues, such as the rising threat of state-sponsored hacking, known as 鈥渉acktivists,鈥� and how to balance threat assessments with proportionate response. Even though he鈥檒l be employing these skills in a different country, Foale said the same lessons apply.
鈥淐yber does not respect borders,鈥� he said.
The best defense against threats to cybersecurity is having well-designed systems to prevent attacks in the first place and protocols in place to respond quickly and efficiently in case things do go wrong, Foale said.
鈥淲ith the knowledge I鈥檓 gaining here, I hope to improve the resilience of our electronic systems and our regulatory frameworks related to cybersecurity,鈥� Foale said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about striking the right balance, neither sensationalizing nor underappreciating the threat of cyberattacks.鈥�
