On Monday, April 11, the Strauss Center will welcome John Skaarup, cybersecurity officer with the Texas Department of Transportation, for a talk: "So You Want To Be a Cyber-Hero?" as part of Strauss's speaker series titled "Tales from the Cybersecurity Front," aimed at sharing stories from the cyber world. This talk will be moderated by Wendy Nather, Strauss senior cybersecurity fellow.
The thrill of a cybersecurity breach: the adrenaline, the conference bridges, the cold pizza. You may think that incident response is cool, and sometimes, it is. But sometimes it's not what you were expecting. In this talk, Skaarup presents the story behind the ransomware attack at the Texas Department of Transportation: how it broke out just as the pandemic was shutting everyone out of the offices; how the obvious countermeasures and best practices didn't necessarily work; and how, to paraphrase Dante Hicks in the movie "Clerks," he wasn't even supposed to be there!
Biography
John Skaarup is a cybersecurity officer with the Texas Department of Transportation, responsible for the security operations of everything from iPads to tollbooths. Originally from New York, he finished 20 years in the Army making tanks roll over and do tricks, and then answered a Craigslist ad* and began his cybersecurity career with the State. After 16 years, he's beginning to suspect that state government IT is not as agile as a tank.
*This part is absolutely true