Category Archives: NSA

The smartphone landscape has changed drastically over the past few years. Consider this: not too long ago it was easy to make a case arguing that Apples iPhone was the best smartphone on the market. These days, rival devices from Google and Samsung routinely give top-of-the-line iPhones a run for their money. Indeed, when it comes to certain metrics like camera performance, there are some years where Google and Samsung devices leave the iPhone stranded in second place. With that said, the narrative around smartphones today doesnt necessarily center on which device to get. Rather, its about how to make the most out of whatever device you already own. And under that umbrella is the important issue of maintaining Android and iPhone security.

Especially these days, when scammers are more sophisticated and clever than ever, any concrete advice designed to keep your iPhone or Android device secure is worth paying attention to. To this point, the NSA not too long ago released a list of best practices for mobile devices. If youre keen on maintaining optimal security for your iPhone or Android, youll want to read below.

Many of the iPhone and Android security tips from the NSA are familiar. However, there are a few interesting entries on the list. For example, the NSA advises users to shut down and power on their devices every single week.

Touching on this, Citizen Lab security expert Bill Marczak explains that many hackers today are opting for in-memory payloads that are harder to detect and trace back to whoever sent them. However, these types of hacks, Marczak notes, cant persist once a device is powered off.

Is powering your device on and off a foolproof strategy? Not at all. Still, its one tool of many that users should keep in mind when it comes to iPhone security.

It should go without saying, but never open unknown email attachments and links. This is especially worth paying attention to in an age where security firms like the NSO group have come up with incredibly ingenious exploits. As the NSA warns, even legitimate senders can pass on malicious content accidentally or as a result of being compromised or impersonated by a malicious actor.

The NSA document also advises to only use original charging cords. This is especially good advice for iPhone users who might be tempted to buy a knockoff charger because Apple peripherals tend to be pricy. This is an especially important iPhone security tip.

iPhone and Android users alike should also make sure that theyre always running current software. Apple and Google issue security updates periodically. In turn, users should make sure that their software is always up to date so that malicious actors cant take advantage of patched exploits.

Other security tips from the NSA include:

Use biometric authentication like Face ID to prevent unauthorized access to your device.

Disable location services for apps that dont need it.

Disable Bluetooth when youre not using it.

Dont connect to public Wi-Fi networks.

Use text applications with strong encryption.

Only use trusted accessories.

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Every iPhone and Android user needs to do this once a week - BGR

On January 13, the CFPB released a new Bulletin to remind debt collectors and credit reporting agencies (CRAs) of their legal obligations under the FDCPA and the FCRA when collecting, furnishing information about, and reporting medical debts covered by the No Surprises Act (NSA). Effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, the NSA establishes new federal protections against surprise medical bills arising out of certain out-of-network emergency care. The CFPB notes that medical debt often poses special risks to consumers as consumers are rarely informed of the costs of medical treatment in advance and are generally ill suited to the task of identifying [medical] billing errors. Specifically, the Bulletin reminds debt collectors of the FDCPA prohibition against false representation of the character, amount, or legal status of any debt and the use of any unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any debt. According to the Bulletin, these would include misrepresenting that a consumer must pay a debt stemming from a charge that exceeds the amount permitted by the [NSA]. The Bulletin also reminded debt collectors, as furnishers of information to CRAs, and the CRAs themselves of their obligations under the FCRA to assure the accuracy of information furnished or included in a consumer report, as well as to conduct reasonable and timely investigations of consumer disputes to verify the accuracy of furnished information. The Bulletin clarified that the accuracy and dispute obligations imposed by the FCRA apply with respect to debts stemming from charges that exceed the amount permitted by the NSA. The Bulletin further offered several examples of acts or practices that may be violative of the FDCPA and/or the FCRA in connection with medical debt covered by the NSA. According to the Bulletin, the CFPB will hold debt collectors accountable for failing to comply with the FDCPA and Regulation F, and it will hold CRAs and furnishers accountable for failing to comply with the FCRA and Regulation V. The Bureau also noted that it will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other partners to address medical debt abuses.

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CFPB issues guidance on medical debt covered by the NSA - Lexology

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NSA to get binding operational directive authority under new cyber policy - FCW.com

AUGUSTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NetAbstraction, the security by obfuscation company, today announced it has opened a new office here in close proximity to Fort Gordon and the Georgia Cyber Center. The company selected Augusta due to the large pool of experienced military cyber security veterans in the region. NetAbstraction expects to hire more than 20 new employees in Augusta this year.

NetAbstraction will host an industry event on March 2nd at the Georgia Cyber Center to discuss the cyber threats facing both the government and private sector. It will be attended by Admiral Mike Rogers, former director of the NSA, Jim Robinson, former CEO of American Express, Rich Baich, CISO of AIG and Jenny Menna, FS-ISAC Board Member. To register for this event, RSVP here.

NetAbstraction, which has roots in the NSA and intelligence community, is growing rapidly and was looking for a second location which offered a large concentration of cyber security expertise, said Gordon Lawson, CEO of NetAbstraction. Augusta provides all the business resources we need and gives us access to veterans from Fort Gordon as well as technical graduates from nearby Georgia and South Carolina universities. This new office will become a center of technical expertise as well as a central inside sales hub for the company.

As a Georgia native, former CEO of American Express and investor in NetAbstraction, I am pleased to see the company has selected Augusta to expand its footprint and tap into local technical talent, said Jim Robinson, Managing Partner of RRE. NetAbstraction is transforming traditional approaches to cyber security through obfuscation, which is both powerful and easily accessible to any size organization.

NetAbstraction provides technology that anonymizes an organizations cloud resources including data and applications, as well as online communication devices. It was founded by a team that built clandestine telecommunication networks for the NSA and CIA. NetAbstraction protects customers' digital infrastructures from ransomware and other cyber threats by making them invisible to attackers. The companys products also enable organizations to securely conduct research online, examine threats and conduct other cyber activities without attribution.

According to Matt Mills, Executive Vice President of Augusta-based commercial real estate firm Southeastern, NetAbstraction enables us to protect our business against ransomware by hiding our online presence from would-be attackers. It provides powerful security capabilities, is easy to deploy and does not require any changes to our systems that could interfere with operations. We are excited to welcome the company to the Augusta business community.

For more information about NetAbstraction and open positions at the new Augusta location visit: https://www.netabstraction.com/careers/open-positions/

About NetAbstraction

NetAbstraction enables organizations to protect the privacy and security of identities and systems by intelligently selecting and obscuring global network pathways on the Internet. The founders previously designed, created, and implemented clandestine telecommunication networks for the NSA and CIA. NetAbstraction is used by Fortune 500 organizations globally to ensure their cyber operations remain secure, anonymous, and non-attributable. For more information, visit https://netabstraction.com/, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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NetAbstraction Opens New Office in Augusta, Georgia to Tap Cyber Security Talent in Region - Business Wire

MOSA Solution Combines FACE Software and SOSA Hardware

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. and SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Abaco Systems, Inc. and Green Hills Software announced today that the rugged, 3U VPX SBC3511 single board computer supports the INTEGRITY-178 tuMP real-time operating system (RTOS) for avionics and security-critical applications. The combined solution features a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) that is aligned to the SOSA Technical Standard and certified to the FACE Technical Standard. Together the products address many requirements of security-critical systems including both functional security and assurance requirements. Additionally, INTEGRITY-178 was certified to the NSA-defined Separation Kernel Protection Profile (SKPP) high-robustness security and Common Criteria EAL 6+, and INTEGRITY-178 tuMP is the first and only RTOS to be part of a cross-domain solution (CDS) certification to NSA's new "Raise the Bar" standards.

Green Hills Software logo (PRNewsfoto/Green Hills Software)

"The high-performance of the multicore Intel Xeon E processor on the SBC3511 can be fully realized with the INTEGRITY-178 tuMP multicore RTOS," said Richard Jaenicke, Director of Marketing for Green Hills Software. "The built-in multicore interference mitigation capability in INTEGRITY-178 tuMP enables safe and deterministic performance even in the face of contention for shared resources by multiple processor cores."

"The design of the INTEGRITY-178 tuMP RTOS to high-robustness security and Common Criteria EAL 6+ complements the wide range of security features built into the SBC3511 hardware and firmware designed to assist with the prevention of exploitation of critical technologies and data," said Pete Thompson, Abaco's VP of Product Management. "The combination of advanced security, high-performance, and leading-edge thermal management on the SBC3511 enables the joint solution to meet the demanding requirements of security-critical avionics systems."

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The SBC3511 3U OpenVPX rugged single board computer derives its high performance from the new, highly integrated Intel Xeon E-2276M 6-core/12-thread processor (formerly known as Coffee Lake Refresh) operating at 2.8GHz with TurboBoost up to 4.5GHz. It also features a 40 Gigabit Ethernet data plane, delivering a high-speed interconnect aligned with the SOSA I/O intensive profile for maximum multi-vendor interoperability. The SBC3511 utilizes an onboard Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC with built-in security capabilities. It can be utilized to instantiate a range of Abaco-defined security features or by customers to embed application-specific features. Support is also provided for Intel's Trusted Execution Technology.

The INTEGRITY-178 tuMP high-assurance RTOS is designed to meet the strictest requirements for both airborne safety and security simultaneously, including RTCA/DO-178B/C design assurance level (DAL) A and the SKPP for High Robustness. INTEGRITY-178 tuMP is a multicore RTOS with support for running a multi-threaded DAL A application across multiple processor cores in symmetric multi-processing (SMP) or bound multi-processing (BMP) configurations. INTEGRITY-178 tuMP is the only RTOS to be part of a multicore certification to DO-178C and CAST-32A. INTEGRITY-178 tuMP was the first RTOS to be certified conformant to the FACE Technical Standard, edition 3.0, and it is the only RTOS with multicore interference mitigation for all shared resources. That bandwidth allocation and monitoring (BAM) functionality ensures that critical applications meet their required deadlines, significantly lowering integration and certification risk. The INTEGRITY-178 RTOS is the only commercial operating system ever certified to the Separation Kernel Protection Profile (SKPP) published by the Information Assurance Directorate of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). That certification was done by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) to Common Criteria EAL 6+ "High Robustness," and included all the functionality required to run multi-level security (MLS) applications, such as cross-domain solutions (CDS). INTEGRITY-178 tuMP is also the only RTOS to be part of a certification to NSA's "Raise the Bar" standards for cross domain solutions.

About AbacoAbaco Systems is a global leader in commercial open architecture computing and rugged embedded electronics. With more than 30 years of experience in aerospace & defense, industrial, energy, medical, communications and other critical sectors, Abaco's innovative solutions align with open standards to accelerate customer success.

Abaco Systems is a subsidiary of AMETEK, Inc., a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with 2020 sales of more than $4.5 billion. http://www.abaco.com

About Green Hills SoftwareFounded in 1982, Green Hills Software is the worldwide leader in embedded safety and security. In 2008, the Green Hills INTEGRITY-178 RTOS was the first and only operating system to be certified by NIAP (National Information Assurance Partnership comprised of NSA & NIST) to EAL 6+, High Robustness, the highest level of security ever achieved for any software product. Our open architecture, integrated development solutions address deeply embedded, absolute security and high-reliability applications for the military/avionics, medical, industrial, automotive, networking, consumer and other markets that demand industry-certified solutions. Green Hills Software is headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, with European headquarters in the United Kingdom. Visit Green Hills Software at http://www.ghs.com.

Green Hills, the Green Hills logo, INTEGRITY and tuMP are trademarks or registered trademarks of Green Hills Software in the U.S. and/or internationally. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Cision

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SOURCE Green Hills Software

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Abaco Adds Support for INTEGRITY-178 tuMP on SBC3511 in Avionics and Security-Critical Applications - Yahoo Finance

On Jan. 1 of this year, the No Surprises Act (NSA) went into effect protecting individuals with private health insurance from surprise medical bills. In other words, if you are insured from a company that is not Medicare or Medicaid and receive emergency medical care or a scheduled procedure at an in-network facility, then, in most circumstances, you will not be billed at out of network rates. This law, signed by President Donald Trump in 2020 and now being implemented under President Joe Biden, goes a long way in protecting consumers from what the industry calls balance billing.

The No Surprises Act is likely one of the most significant bipartisan laws protecting American healthcare consumers in more than a decade. This law helps protect the consumer from getting caught in the crossfire between healthcare providers and insurance companies and gives them important protections that can often shield them from financial ruin or bankruptcy from surprise medical bills.

It is important to note this new law also protects self-payers and the uninsured. A self-payer is simply someone who pays their own medical expenses directly. While those without traditional health insurance do not have provider or facility networks, the NSA still has provisions to protect consumers from unanticipated medical costs. The NSA requires medical providers to give patients a Good Faith Estimate of the cost of scheduled care before the service is provided. The Good Faith Estimate will be provided to all self-pay and uninsured patients and is a good tool when shopping for lower-cost services.

For the self-pay and uninsured, if the services provided exceed the Good Faith Estimate by $400 or more, patients can dispute the charges. In most cases, it makes sense to first dispute the discrepancy with your medical service provider. If you are unable to resolve this dispute with the provider, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in conjunction with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provide a Patient-Provider Dispute Resolution (PPDR) service.

The PPDR program will engage a third party to arbitrate the dispute and will resolve the bill to the amount of the estimate, the billed amount, or somewhere in the middle depending on the circumstances. To start the dispute process, there is a $25 administrative fee that will be paid by the individual making the claim. This process provides a valuable tool for those who are unable to afford health insurance or who self-pay for their medical services.

For more information, contact our office at CSIMT.gov, 406-444-2040, or go to the CMS website at http://www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumer or call 800-985-3059.

Troy Downing is the Republican Montana State Auditor.

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How the No Surprises Act Affects the Uninsured - Flathead Beacon

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NSA, CISA, FBI Issue Joint Advisory Against Russian Hackers Amid Growing Tensions - Nextgov

ISLAMABAD: The National Security Adviser (NSA) has said that issues related to civil-military balance and working relationship and capacity of institutions to implement the policy are complicated issues and expressed the hope that we will be able to deal with these issues through the newly-formulated National Security Policy (NSP).

During an interview with Geo TV on Friday, the NSA said that we have a bitter history of civil-military ties but we have witnessed a consensus in formulation of the NSP as all the state organs have contributed to the formulation of the policy. He also expressed his firm belief that institutions related to implementation of policy have had capacity issues in the past but we need to work it out.

National Security Adviser, Moeed Yousaf, was talking to Geo News in programme Naya Pakistan after the launch of public version of National Security Policy for the first time.

Anchor of the show Shahzad Iqbal asked the NSA about the difference of newly-formulated policy from the existing unwritten policy being exercised, Unwritten security policy was wish-driven, everyone in the past was pursuing the policy as one desired to do so, Moeed replied. He further added that in the absence of an umbrella document, covering all the aspects of national security, confusion and overlapping of the policy was being seen. Now we have determined a direction for all the organs and institutions formulating the National Security Policy, the NSA emphasized.

Moeed was quite categorical in his view about the scope of national security in changed global perspective and said that physical security of a citizen depends upon the economic security.

When asked how this new NSP would be implemented, he said that the mechanism is quite clear. There is a National Security Division, which apart from formulating the policy, has a mandate and scope to implement it. Probably this is the only policy to be implemented this way, the NSA added. He further said that there is then another prestigious forum named the National Security Committee, headed by the prime minister, with services chiefs being the members along with the senior ministers of cabinet. This committee will review the progress of implementation of the policy on monthly basis.

The NSA also quoted the reasons for keeping a portion of the NSP classified and declared it as the need of the hour. He said the PM wanted to release the full document to public but then in meetings he agreed to keep a few parts confidential. Sensitive and prone-to-misinterpretation points are kept classified, Moeed added.

Moeeds attention was drawn to another aspect that this report, which has put the economic security at the core, is being launched in a time and environment when ministers are portraying the passage of mini-budget as their success, which was tabled and passed on the precondition of IMF for restoration of Extended Facility Fund program. Moeed in reply to this question said that this policy wont impact the affairs of yesterday, today and tomorrow. It has a broader vision and impact and it is devised for the next five years, which could be extended beyond this set period.

Apart from these facial impacts and implications of the policy, detailed content of the launched policy also came under the scope of the discussion during the show. An important part of the policy is Pakistans approach towards India, particularly in prevailing situation. It was reported that this policy might bring a paradigm shift in policy towards India, but the NSA termed such reporting baseless and said that any major policy shift in this regard was dependent upon the atmosphere in India. We will have to wait for India coming back to its senses, the NSA said. He further added that Pakistan has always wanted normalcy in ties with India, but this cant be achieved by Pakistans wish only.

Pakistan, through this document, set a policy goal of not being a part of camp-politics. He was asked if achieving this goal is possible for Pakistan or not, particularly keeping the US-China cold-war in view and Pakistans position in it, the NSA answered that the policy is devised to steer our direction. If any country doesnt respect Pakistans intent and decision in this regard, Pakistans ties with that particular country would be affected. We are clear and shown our clarity that we want to be a bridge, not divide.

Other than issues pertinent to the foreign policy, a part of comprehensive National Security Policy, internal security matters were also discussed in detail during the show. When reminded that we have seen the State dealing with forces internally, who had created a situation of law and order in recent past, the NSA said in this regard use of the force was the last resort for the state and this was decided in principle that no one could be allowed to challenge the writ of the State. Dealing with elements vary case to case, the NSA emphasized. He further added that the State has to segregate between reconcilable and irreconcilable elements before reaching finality. He said that the State, at times, bears the hit of optics and public perception in such cases by assessing minimum damage and maximum good.

Read more from the original source:
Newly-formulated National Security Policy: Policy to help resolve issues of civil-military balance, says NSA - The News International

By Jimmy LaRoue and Titus Mohler

Staff Writers

The varsity football teams from Kings Fork High School and Nansemond-Suffolk Academy earned a variety of state accolades, including top individual honors, along with NSAs varsity volleyball team this past fall.

Five players from the standout Kings Fork football team that finished 11-2 and reached the state semifinals were named to the Virginia High School Leagues Class 4 all-state team, with Kyree Moyston named Defensive Player of the Year.

Senior Bravion Campbell was named first-team all-state at both tight end and linebacker, junior Kaletri Boyd was tabbed as a first-team all-state selection as a kick returner and second-team all-state as a receiver, and Moyston, a senior who recently signed a national letter of intent to play at Virginia Tech, was named first-team all-state at defensive end in addition to his player of the year honor.

Freshman Javon Ford was named second-team all-state at running back. He was one of just two freshmen named to either first or second-team all-state.Junior Antoine Gray received second-team all-state honors at defensive back.

The Bulldogs only losses of the season came against state champions, falling to Class 6 state champion Oscar Smith High School during the regular season and to Class 4 champion Varina High School 35-28 in the state semifinals.

Varinas Marcus Lewis was named Coach of the Year and all-purpose player Anthony Fisher was named Offensive Player of the Year.

Of the Bulldogs 11 wins, two were by shutout, and in seven of them, they allowed fewer than 10 points.

Nansemond-Suffolk was well-represented on the 2021 Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II all-state teams for football, led by senior running back George Pettaway, who was named Co-Offensive Player of the Year.

The Saints, who made a state semifinal appearance and finished 7-4 this past season, drew eight all-state selections, with six coming on the first team. Making the first team on offense on the line was senior Nathan Dowd and at running back was Pettaway, who has committed to play for the University of North Carolina.

Selected to the first team on defense were senior lineman David Russell, senior linebacker Josh Morris, senior defensive back Christian Townsend and sophomore kick returner Preston Groves.

Making the second team on offense were senior wide receiver Jaden Freeman and senior lineman Brendan Livesay.

In volleyball, NSA drew four state honors, including Coach of the Year for Robyn Ross.

On the VISAA Division II all-state first team for the Lady Saints were Marlin Price and Alyssa Waddy. Kyra Bradford was named to the second team.

In field hockey, Nansemond River High School and NSA each drew three all-state selections.

Lady Warriors senior forward Halle Fago made the VHSL Class 5 all-state first team. Named to the second team were junior midfielder Madie Baker and freshman Anyia Woods, the latter receiving an at-large selection.

Page Henry, of the Lady Saints, made the VISAA Division II all-state first team, and Meredith Edwards and Sara Rhodes made the second team.

In girls tennis, NSA was represented on the VISAA Division II all-state first team by Kayla Kosiorek and on the second team by Anne-Perry Harrell.

In boys soccer, the VISAA Division II all-state second team included NSAs Chris Clarke and Bola Orenuga.

VHSL Class 5 all-state honors for football and boys volleyball, which could include Nansemond River honorees, have not yet been announced. VHSL Class 3, 4 and 5 all-state accolades for competition cheer, which could include Lakeland High School, Kings Fork and Nansemond River honorees, respectively, have also yet to be announced, along with Class 3 boys volleyball all-state selections.

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King's Fork, NSA teams earn top state honors - The Suffolk News-Herald - Suffolk News-Herald

Vinnie Liu was only 17 years old when he landed his first job the National Security Agency (NSA). The year was 1999, and he worked onsignals intelligence gathering.

It was a formidable but typical start for Liu, now Bishop Fox CEO and co-founder. The NSA was looking for promising high school graduates with proven fluency in hacking and programming languages. Liu, then an incoming computer science majorwith apsychology minor at the University of Pennsylvania, spent two years commuting from Philadelphia to the NSA satellite office in Baltimore. His first year was focused on red-team hacking and the second on specialized tool development.

Working at the NSA really opened my eyes into how deep you can get, into how deep this rabbit hole can go," Liu says. "I had grown up with bulletin-board systems on the Internet. Cybersecurity wasnt even a term people used.

Thats about all he will say about his work at the NSA, except that it involved nation-state actors. But the experience left a lasting imprint.

It gave me a huge sense of being mission-driven, Liu says. Were missionaries, not mercenaries. Our mission, fundamentally, is to keep people safe both online and offline.

That mission ultimately manifested itself as Bishop Fox, an offensive security firm whose team of hackers pretend to be villains. In other words, they try every possible way to penetrate a clients security defenses, including adversary simulations and purple teaming (red teaming and advising the clients blue team at the same time).

But for all the criminal cunning that Bishop Fox staff need to employ, Liu thinks of the companys work in medical terms. Bishop Fox, he says, is the doctors doctor.

There are so many similarities between good health practice and security, he tells Dark Reading. You dont just prescribe pills and thats it. You dont eat healthy and exercise once and thats it.

This approach is a view into the two personal qualities underlying Lius success: his sense of purpose missionaries, not mercenaries and his palpable scorn for complacency. Lius brand of optimism is hard, even austere.

People in the industry have too pessimistic a view, he says. I dont even like the joke, 'Its not if you get hacked, but when.' Our whole philosophy is defending forward.

Career PathLike many successful tech firms, Bishop Fox has humble origins: the living room of a bachelor pad.

Liu had graduated from Penn in 2003, having focused on network security and adaptive intrusion detection services. He then joined Ernst & Young as a security consultant, performing penetration testing for Fortune 500 clients. Liu calls Ernst & Youngs Advanced Security Center a kind of NSA for the private sector.

Working with Liu at Ernst & Young was Francis Brown, now on Bishop Foxs board. Brown and Liu had lived on the same hall as freshmen at Penn, and both studied computer science. They were the only first-year students in their program who did not drop out within the year, Liu says. The two friends lived as housemates in Arizona, where as long as we could afford pizza and Internet, we were good to go.

Honeywell would eventually poach both men from Ernst & Young; Liu would lead Honeywells global penetration testing team, plus the teams of Honeywells various subsidiaries. The chance to build up Honeywells team was an exciting prospect, but turned out to be a limited opportunity: Once the team was built, the slower pace of work left Liu (and Brown) restless. Liu had outgrown the role; by 2005 he was speaking at conferences like Black Hat on how to bypass anti-forensic tools a skill he had been developing since his teens. Both Liu and Brown started moonlighting as independent security professionals.

Then one day, in 2006, Liu, Brown, and a third contributor sat in the living room and toyed with the idea of launching a security services startup.

We said, Why not? Liu remembers. We were really enjoying this.

From 2006 to 2009, we were a lifestyle company, says Liu, referring to the fact that the company was still kind of a hobby for them. In 2009 they switched to a professional mindset, and Bishop Fox was born. Liu and his partners set about recruiting the best talent they could find and attracting bigger and bigger-name clients. Their revenue rose, despite launching during the Great Recession.

It was also the Titan Rain era when a string of attacks believed to be the work of Chinese state-sponsored actors compromised a number of government agencies in the United States and United Kingdom and companies and government agencies were beginning to realize how vulnerable they really were. Binary analysis and incident-response forensics were suddenly in high demand. Liu was one of only a few hundred people in the United States who had any experience with both of these functions, and most of his peers had only worked with disk forensics.

We sucked at it back then! he laughs. Everyone did. We were playing catch-up with the people writing the viruses.

Fast-Forward to NowThese days Bishop Fox offers various assessment tests, including the comprehensive 4+1 methodology, in which several assessments and simulations are built around a central tabletop exercise. But all of the company's services involve continuous work with a clients developers, architects, and teams, rather than the waterfall style of performing one test here and another test there. Sometimes an assessment alone can take two months to complete.

This is not a let me just kick the tires kind of scan, Liu says. We look at code. We look at business logic issues. We like to find the hard problems, we always exploit, and were going to chase it down all the way.

Liu doesn't let clients rest on their brand-new tools or infrastructure either. Youve got to get the basics right," he says. "We teach them how to take a punch and keep going.

Twelve years later, the threats have grown, attackers have become more sophisticated, and defenders are changing how they approach security. Liu has observed security teams shift away from compliance-based security and toward ongoing, developmental security operations.

What does that mean for Bishop Fox?

Weve been very discreet, says Liu. I think its time to come out of our shell. Weve done good work with big name clients. Its time to go out into the world and talk, to bring good work to more people.

The landscape may have changed, but Lius mission hasnt: keeping people safe, online and off.

PERSONALITY BYTES

What is Vinnie Lius greatest success? This sounds terrible, but Im really proud of the people who have come through Bishop Fox. Some of our alumni have become CISOs at publicly traded companies. Recruiters will just hang up if they hear you work at Bishop Fox [because they know how hard it is to hire people away].

One thing his colleagues would never guess about him? I dance goofy, I sing loudly, roll on the ground, make faces. Ill do anything to make my kids laugh and smile.

His dream job if he worked in a different industry? Definitely something where I make things with my hands food for people, construction, etc.

Favorite thing to do in his spare time? My pandemic skill has been failing to grow things in my garden. The universe has somehow blighted the 32-square-feet of backyard where my garden lies.

Favorite book? Im a huge sci-fi/fantasy book nerd. The more space battles, wizards, and aliens, the better.

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Vinnie Liu Has a Mission: Keeping People Safe Online and Offline - DARKReading