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Blog
Gene's blog posts are hosted at:
http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/site/blog/author/spaf/
http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/site/blog/author/spaf/
November 02 2009
So, here we are, in November already. We've finished up with National Cyber Security Awareness Month — feel safer? I was talking with someone who observed that he remembered "National Computer Security Day" (started back in the late 1990s) that then became "National Computer Security Week" for a few years.… read moreWhat About the Other 11 Months?
October 04 2009
October is "officially" National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Whoopee! As I write this, only about 27 more days before everyone slips back into their cyber stupor and ignores the issues for the other 11 months. Yes, that is not the proper way to look at it. The proper way is to… read moreSeptember 18 2009
Cyber Leap Year Summit I've heard from many, many people who read my blog post about this. So far, everyone who attended and was not involved with the planning of the Summit has basically agreed with my comments. Here is an interesting post by Russ Thomas that explores the NCLY in depth… read moreAugust 29 2009
I am a big fan of the Monty Python troupe. Their silly take on several topics helped point out the absurd and pompous, and still do, but sometimes were simply lunatic in their own right. One of their sketches, about a group of sailors stuck in a lifeboat came to mind… read moreMore customer disservice—This time, Facebook
August 22 2009
I have a Facebook account. I use it as a means to communicate little status updates with many, many friends and acquaintances while keeping up to date (a little) on their activities. I'm usually too pressed for time to correspond with everyone as I would otherwise prefer to do, and… read moreA Quick Note about Cloud Computing
August 20 2009
I was talking to several people at the Cyber Leap Year Summit about how we have decades of research in computing that too many current researchers fail to look at because it was never put on line. We have all noticed the disturbing trend that too many papers submitted for… read moreOther cybersecurity legislation in the U.S.
July 18 2009
In response to my last post, several people have pointed out to me some other initiatives before Congress. Here are some brief comments on a few of them, based on what is available via the Thomas service. I am not going to provide a section-by-section analysis of any of these. S.921,… read moreJuly 14 2009
Cyber seems to be one of the buzzwords in Washington these days, with the recent botnet attacks generating a lot of extra noise. This has included at least one rather bellicose response from a US Representative who either is reading much more interesting information than the rest of us, or… read moreJune 28 2009
Tonight (June 27) was the annual ACM Awards Banquet. This event is where various awards and recognitions are made, although most are announced well in advance. Among other things, this is when the Turing Award is officially given (this year, to Professor Barbara Liskov), and when the new class of… read moreOn Cyber Czars and 60-day Reports
May 30 2009
Today, and Before On July 17, 2008, (then) Senator Barack Obama held a town hall meeting on national security at Purdue University. He and his panel covered issues of nuclear, biological and cyber security. (I blogged about the event here and here.) As part of his remarks at the event, Senator… read moreMay 20 2009
In lieu of a new posting here, let me direct you to the June 2009 issue of Communications of the ACM, pages 22-24. That is an essay I wrote that echoes some of the themes of things I have posted here. I would be interested in your comments. read moreCyber security challenges and windmills
March 30 2009
[Note: the following is primarily about U.S. Government policies, but I believe several points can be generalized to other countries.] I was editing a section of my website, when I ran across a link to a paper I had forgotten that I wrote. I'm unsure how many people actually saw it… read moreMarch 21 2009
On March 19, I had an opportunity to testify before the Senate Committee on on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The hearing was entitled Cybersecurity – Assessing Our Vulnerabilities and Developing An Effective Defense. I was asked to include information on research problems, educational initiatives, and issues regarding the current state of… read moreFebruary 16 2009
Short answer: " Almost certainly, no." Longer answer: The blogosphere is abuzz with comments on John Markoff's Saturday NT Times piece, Do We Need a New Internet? John got some comments from me about the topic a few weeks back. Unfortunately, I don't think a new Internet will solve the problems we… read more
