Dupont’s Titanium Oxide Color Recipe- Stolen for Chinese Advantage July 22, 2015
Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management.Tags: Chris Mark, corporate espionage, cyberespionage, cybersecurity, Dupont, InfoSec, mark consulting group, San Francisco Chronicle, security
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Oddly (to me anyhow) this is the 2nd most popular post on my blog! It was written over 3 years ago but since it gets so much traffic I thought I should re-post. Here it is in 2015!
Many mistakenly believe that only “high tech” secrets and intellectual property are targets for intellectual property theft. In a clear example of how any propriety secret can be considered a target, a scientist (Tse Chao) who worked for Dupont from 1966-2002 (36 years!) pleaded guilty in Federal court on Thursday to committing espionage for a company controlled by the Chinese government. Mr. Chao testified that he provided confidential information to Chines controlled Pangang Group. What did he steal? Among other things, the recipe for Dupont’s Titanium Dioxide. What is TD used in? Titanium Dioxide is the ingredient in many white products that makes the products white. Products such as paint, toothpaste, and Oreo cookie filling! Stealing the ingredients to Oreos shows just how low cyberthieves will go! According to court documents: “DuPont’s chlorine-based process was eagerly sought by China, which used a less efficient and more environmentally harmful production method”
I have worked with a number of large companies who, when asked why they did not protect trade secrets, replied that they did not believe their industry or type of product was of interest. Make no mistake. If your company has a unique process, technology, or product, it IS of interest to many companies. Unfortunately, the US Government has released reports that state that China is sponsoring much of the US and European cyber espionage.
photo from: http://www.titaniumexposed.com
Getting into Information Assurance Careers June 2, 2015
Posted by Chris Mark in Uncategorized.Tags: Chris Mark, CIPP, CISSP, Consulting, cybersecurity, InfoSec, privacy, SANS
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I have had a number of folks email me asking about becoming an InfoSec worker so I am writing this post to (hopefully) help those who are interested. In 2001, I landed in InfoSec by pure luck and I have never looked back. It is an amazing field and a great career path. First..for some marketing. According to the InfoSec Institute, the average CISSP Salary in 2014 is over $100,000 per year. In 2013 there were 209,000 job postings for CyberSecurity Jobs and it is estimated that in 2015, there are 40,000 more jobs than people to take them. In short, it is a very high demand field.
InfoSec? CyberSecurity? Information Assurance? WHAT?
It is even confusing to me sometimes. At a high level I use the term Information Assurance as it encompasses all of the elements of protecting data. This includes data security (protecting data), CyberSecurity (protecting the systems, and infrastructure), Privacy (appropriate use of information) and Compliance (ensuring your company complies with relevant regulations) and Risk Management (evaluating the security risk of your organization). While this short post does not allow for a more comprehensive overview, these are the generic ‘pillars’ that we consider.
What types of Jobs are Out There? (more…)
”Active Responses” to CyberAttacks are Losing Propositions May 22, 2014
Posted by Chris Mark in cybersecurity, Data Breach.Tags: active, active response, Chris Mark, cybercrime, cybersecurity, data breach, data security, deterrence, fight, InfoSec & Privacy, PCI DSS, response, security
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“Everyone has a plan until the’ve been hit” – Joe Lewis
Having spent numerous years providing armed and unarmed physical security in combat zones, hospital emergency rooms, psychiatric wards, and anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia has given me a deep respect for force continuum and the dangers of unnecessarily provoking an escalation by a volatile and dangerous adversary.
As cyberattacks continue to plague American companies as well as the payment card industry, there is a growing voice within the cybersecurity industry to allow and empower companies to take offensive action against cyber attackers. This is frequently referred to as ‘hacking back’ or ‘offensive hacking’. Several prominent security experts as well as some companies who have fallen victim to cyber-attacks have begun advocating that ‘a good offense is the best defense’. On May 28th, 2013 there was an online discussion in which an author of the upcoming book: The Active Response Continuum: Ethical and Legal Issues of Aggressive Computer Network Defense[1] posted the following excerpt:
“There are many challenges facing those who are victimized by computer crimes, who are frustrated with what they perceive to be a lack of effective law enforcement action to protect them, and who want to unilaterally take some aggressive action to directly counter the threats to their information and information systems.”[2] (emphasis added) (more…)
Chris Mark in AT&T Network Exchange Blog February 20, 2014
Posted by Chris Mark in Uncategorized.Tags: AT&T, Chris Mark, cybersecurity, DSS, Exchange Blog, information, PCI, security
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As the AT&T PCI National Practice Director, I write and blog on numerous topics that I hope are of interest to those who have to protect data. Aside from the GlobalRiskInfo blog here I also publish some blog posts on the AT&T Network Exchange Blog. Please take a spin through. Also, there are a very large number of great writers on the AT&T Network Exchange Blog. Take some time and look through the other authors…
CyberEspionage (Again)…The Counter Terrorist Magazine February 19, 2014
Posted by Chris Mark in Uncategorized.Tags: AT&T, Chris Mark, cybercrime, cyberespionage, cybersecurity, PCI DSS, risk management, security
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In light of the continuing attacks against companies by Eastern European organized criminal groups, I thought it appropriate to remind everyone that state sponsored attacks are still a major issue. Here is a link to an article I wrote in The Counter Terrorist Magazine on the topic of CyberEspionage. “The economics of cyber-theft is simple: Stealing technology is far easier and cheaper than doing original research and development. It is also far less risky to the spy than historic cloak and dagger economic espionage.”
