Category Archives: Renata Spinks

As adversaries get craftier, Marine Corps cyber official touts appeal of zero-trust security

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As the Department of Defense tries to be more proactive about preventing hackers from gaining access to its networks, the Marine Corps is working to implement zero-trust security, a top Marine Corps cybersecurity official said Tuesday. Under the approach, a network never trusts users or devices automatically, and they must meet certain security standards, such as multi-factor authentication, before connecting. For military agencies, zero trust could help reframe how they think about digital adversaries, said Renata Spinks, the cyber technology officer for the Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command. “In some cases today we’re very reactive. A breach occurs, we get an alert, and then we do incident response. Looking at user credentials … configuration policies, and procedures” could get the Pentagon one step ahead of would-be attackers, Spinks said at the Zero Trust Security Summit presented by Duo Security and produced by CyberScoop and FedScoop The Department of Defense has already begun working on implementing this […]

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How the Marine Corps thinks about beating adversaries in cyberspace

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There are a whole host of products on the market purporting to be the best way to run defense against nation-state adversaries’ email spearphishing attempts — but there’s one part of defending against spearphishing in particular the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command’s Chief Technology Officer endorses: context. For Renata Spinks, the goal is not to just make sure employees understand they should avoid clicking on what appear to be malicious links, but to make sure they understand the bigger picture of what they’re protecting, she said Tuesday. “Instead of just [test] phishing attempts, teach your employees why phishing attempts are so important and make it relatable,” Spinks said at the Fortinet Security Summit, produced by FedScoop and StateScoop. “Data is your most critical commodity, but people [are] the best asset you can have.” Spearphishing emails often seek to pilfer off passwords and credentials from victims who click on links or attachments that purport […]

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