Security

Brief Byte: Federal Spending on Cybersecurity

Protection Plan: Federal Spending on Cybersecurity

Spending on security is expected to reach at least $7.3 billion this year, which represents a 73 percent increase over five years.

2009: $7.3 billion

2008: $6.6 billion

2007: $5.9 billion

2006: $5.5 billion

2005: $5.2 billion

2004: $4.2 billion

Protection Plan: Federal Spending on Cybersecurity

Spending on security is expected to reach at least $7.3 billion this year, which represents a 73 percent increase over five years.

2009: $7.3 billion

2008: $6.6 billion

2007: $5.9 billion

2006: $5.5 billion

2005: $5.2 billion

2004: $4.2 billion

Presidential Intentions: “Declare the cyberinfrastructure a strategic asset and establish the position of national cyberadviser who will report directly to the president and will be responsible for coordinating federal agency efforts and development of national cyberpolicy.” — Obama administration’s Homeland Security Agenda

SOURCE: Office of Management and Budget

Off the Shelf

A Trio of Books to Inform Your Cybersecurity Perspective

Recommended by: David Perry, global director of education for Trend Micro

What: The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century’s On-line Pioneers by Tom Standage

Takeaway: “It’s a very good book if you are interested in security; it shows the leap from telegraphy into the cybercrimes of today.” For the IT security guru, it can help reshape how you look at technology as a criminal tool and think about how to confront future problems and where they might pop up.

It makes you wonder why people in IT chase after a specific vulnerability when “there are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities.”

What: The Inmates Are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper

Takeaway: This book focuses on the need to develop technology for users, but there’s a lot tucked away in it about security. For instance, it starts out by detailing the vulnerabilities that metafunctions can create. “In one intriguing section, it talks about keyless entry and how it’s less secure than keys.” The scary part is that this basic premise can apply to the smartphone, “which has a perfect potential for crime because it has open access and runs applications with monetary access.”

What: Future Shock by Alvin Toffler

Takeaways: This book was first published 30 years ago, but it’s “well worth rereading because we still have trouble adjusting to technology. You can just fit the mobile phone in where he talks about societal changes without batting an eye.”