August 1, 2024
Eric Rosenbach, Harvard Kennedy School
Crowdstrike’s Meltdown—What’s Next In The Cybersecurity War, Eric Rosenbach – Harvard Kennedy School
Listen on:
Cybersecurity is a mess that will continue to impact all of us in the hyper-connected world we live in—and is estimated to cost the global economy $20Trillion by 2026. Whether it is fighting against government sponsored terrorist groups, gig-economy ransomware artists, teenagers holed up in their basements or AI drones, combatting cybersecurity is vital for anyone in charge of digital information. Fighting is the key word of this global war.
The Honorable Eric Rosenbach, knows how to fight at scale globally. He has been confronting cyber risk for decades in his government, civic and private sector roles. Eric is a Harvard faculty member and Director of Harvard’s Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program and previously he was the Chief of Staff for The US Department of Defense—a huge messy job for sure.
With a budget of $840 Billion the U.S. DoD is the largest government organization leading The Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard and National Guard Groups. With 3.4 million people working out of 4800 locations in 160 countries, the DoD is the largest employer in the US….and you thought Walmart was big!!
A strategic Innovator Eric started The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit and has authored several books, including Confronting Cyber Risk: An Embedded Endurance Strategy. Watch or listen in as we unpack scary untold stories that can help you prepare for the rise in ransomware attacks on mid-sized firms, misguided AI drones, dealing with failure and even some on how to reboot bureaucratic government groups.
Are We Always On The Backfoot?
If you listen to any Crowdstrike briefings or ads for VPN services you might begin to feel like you are never safe online and that you are constantly being targeted by malware. Although there are threats that the average internet user should be wary of “firms like Crowdstrike will make things seem a little worse than they are only because it’s good for business.” Cybersecurity services are in a unique position as through fear-based advertising they are potentially able to drive more business.
Gig Economy Of The Dark Web
For the average individual on the internet having a level of suspicion for links or websites is a pretty good protection against scams and malware. For multi-billion dollar firms, they can spend millions if not billions of dollars to protect their information, and even hire individuals to take down the bad guys before they can act. Unfortunately, middle-sized firms, are at the most risk for Ransomware attacks typically operated by organized criminal institutions. Not only do they not have the resources to devote to a higher level of cybersecurity, but they also have a “cyber risk insurance policy that will cover most of it”. So it is easy pickings for crime organizations, insurance covers the cost for the companies, and in some areas, both sides are required to sign an NDA to keep it covered up.
Rebooting The Government
We all know that our government is a bit rigid and difficult when it comes to change. And since we are talking to a former DOD official, we wanted to get some thoughts on how Eric would reboot the government. He starts by saying that it’s “a bit controversial and probably unrealistic, but here we are dreaming big dreams.” Next Eric mentions that the funding pipeline for the DOD is riddled with difficulties. Since they were “micromanaged by Congress” and are “pretty dysfunctional right now” trying to do any sort of planning became near impossible. On top of that congress would send an 1,100-page guide detailing specifically how the funds are meant to be spent, which more often than not cut off any form of innovation to be had. So if anyone has any reasonable ideas for fixing the dysfunctionality of Congress, the head of the DOD might be interested.
