Information security: Are defensive measures enough?

What do you do when your network or IP is being attacked? Are defensive measures enough? Or is it time to take the offensive and fight back?

Jeremy Barnaby and Jesse Connell from Generator Group attended the Washington Software Association dinner meeting on this topic on September 20th in Seattle.

The speakers were IT experts and information security thought leaders from the University of Washington Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity, Perkins Coie, Microsoft, and Seitel Leeds & Associates.

The issue of “Active Defense” opens a Pandora’s Box of questions and issues.

Among them:
1. How do you know who is attacking you?
2. Once you have identified your attacker, what is the appropriate response?
3. What tools are legal and ethical to use?
4. How much responsibility does the government have to ensure the security of our information?

Jeremy and Jesse reported that the threats posed by this growing security dilemma are huge and costly. The good news is that there are a lot of challenging problems to solve and interesting long term career possibilities fighting information bandits.