Letter from the Editor - November 2016

By: Tim Young

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden

I know what Thoreau was getting at here. We should dream boldly and then work vigilantly to make those dreams a reality in order to avoid turning a worthy goal into a foolish, abstract pursuit. But on a different level, I love how this quote applies to security in a virtualized, cloud-based, IoT-loving, decentralized world.

We have scattered our treasures into the wind, confident that they will be there when we want them. Our information is everywhere and nowhere, all at once. Our networks are complex and decentralized. Subscribers want anytime, anywhere access, while also hoping that their information will remain safe from prying eyes. And a growing slate of connected devices means there’s more at stake than bank balances: our homes, cars, dams, power plants and more are all up for grabs if we don’t take security seriously.

Simultaneously, we live in a world rife with threats to the security and integrity of our data. From malicious hackers to thieves to government agents to hacktivists, the threats are many and varied. How can we secure ourselves and our subscribers without limiting the access and ease-of-use we all value?

In this issue of Pipeline, we discuss the realities and possibilities of security in our connected world. We explore ransomware prevention, DDOS attack mitigation, and automated incident response. We examine the special considerations for security from an IoT perspective and explore how automated attack simulations are helping to create better, stronger networks. We look at the fringe of security, from AI to neural networks, and consider the balance of liberty and safety from a governmental standpoint. In the current global, cultural and political environment, there may never have been a more important issue of Pipeline.

Enjoy, and stay safe.

Tim Young
Editor-in-Chief