What a week!  I am on my way home from Dallas, so I thought I would do a little blogging while I am sitting here on the plane.  Just wrapped up two security conferences that happen to be back to back in Dallas.  The first one started on Sunday with a day long session with all the Infragard Chapters across the United States.  Infragard is an alliance between the private sector and the FBI.  The FBI are real people; as the saying goes, they put their pants on the same way we do, one leg at a time.  The biggest take away, they need us... they need the private sector.  If we can share more information, the more data they will have to be able to solve these crimes.  Cyber Security is traceable; it is REAL; it is going to get worse before it can get better.  Talk with your Infragard organization and the FBI coordinator.  Let them know if you have a company that does business internationally.  They will keep you in the loop on any cyber security concerns as they develop.

Opening KeyNote was George W Bush.  I wanted a picture of him on stage so bad!  but no photography and I wasn't going to chance it.  His words of wisdom for leadership - leaders should rise above.  One of the stories he told was George W realized Putin had a chip on his shoulder when he came to visit and "Barney" George W's dog, came into the room and Putin made a comment about what is that, that's not a dog.  At a later time George W was visiting Putin and Putin asked if he wanted to meet his dog; George W agreed and Putin continued to say, "My Dog is bigger, faster, and meaner, than your dog".  At that point George W said he realized this man has quite a chip on his shoulder.

Cyber Security needs a resiliency approach.  We can't just look at what we can do to prevent it, but what we need to do sustain and survive.

One of our lunch keynotes was about the election and the real facts.  I asked the speaker for a copy of his slides, so I am hoping I get those next week.  So here is the synopsis I have in my notes.  Both the DNC and Clinton's email were hacked from someone clicking on a link in an email and entering their user name and password for their email account.  These emails were traced back to a Russia IP addresses.  They used this access then to generate all kinds of news stories.  They also found targeted Facebook ads to PA, MI, etc voters of more breaking news stories that were inaccurate.  This speaker also explained how the voting rolls up and areas to be concerned with in the process where hacking can occur.  Remember, votes that cannot be verified, must be thrown out.  They brought all various models of voting machines used into the convention center in Las Vegas and brought in white hat hackers.  Within 3 hours all those machines were hacked.  So physical security of each and every voting machine is so important.  I remember watching one of the episodes of the Good Wife where that is exactly what happened.   Oh, one thing I discovered is that FBI doesn't like when you refer to TV shows.

For fun, I did get to go to the AT&T stadium where the Cowboys play!  I stood on the star, walked on the 50 yard line; and even had my picture on the HUGE trinitron.  I can confirm everything in Texas is BIG!  That stadium was enormous.  The Hilton Anatole was massive also... so if you are looking for a nice place.  I recommend that!