The press must translate complex digital security issues for the public, bringing a sense of urgency to the subject without scaring people into inaction. To do this job right, we need to talk to hackers. An open and earnest dialogue on how reporters navigate these challenges is in everyone’s interest – unless, of course, you have something to hide.
This panel will feature a frank discussion about what works and what doesn’t in uncovering some of the most important infosec storylines of the day. Discussion topics will include how companies and agencies disclose data breaches; how reporters are involved in the flawed and difficult process of vulnerability disclosure; the responsibilities of more “”mainstream”” outlets in explaining cybersecurity issues to readers; and what to do when policymakers draw the wrong conclusions from your reporting.
Journalists to include Sean Lyngaas from CyberScoop, Joseph Cox of Motherboard, Lily Hay Newman from Wired, and freelance journalist Kim Zetter.
Sean Lyngaas has been writing about security issues as a journalist for several years. He is currently senior reporter at CyberScoop, where he focuses on the security of industrial control systems, medical devices, and other machines of modern society. He likes to talk to as many hackers as possible. Sean’s reporting career outside of infosec has seen him cover military mutinies and presidential elections in West Africa, asylum seekers in the United States, and democracy activists in the Persian Gulf.
Kim Zetter is an award-winning investigative journalist and book author who covers security, cybercrime, digital warfare, surveillance and civil liberties. She has been covering computer security and the hacking underground since 1999, first for PC World magazine, and more recently for WIRED, where she began writing in 2003. In 2004, long before fears of Russia hacking US presidential elections became an issue, she wrote a series of award-winning investigative pieces about the security problems with electronic voting machines and their susceptibility to hacking. She was among the first journalists to cover Stuxnet, and in 2014, Crown/Random House.published her widely acclaimed book on the topic titled Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon.
Joseph Cox covers the digital underground, hackers, and social media platforms for VICE’s Motherboard. His work has triggered multiple government investigations into the sale of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint real-time location data, and his series on Facebook content moderation caused the world’s biggest social network to ban white nationalism.
Lily Hay Newman is a staff writer at WIRED Magazine focused on information security, digital privacy, and hacking. She previously worked as a technology reporter at Slate magazine and was the staff writer for Future Tense, a publication and project of Slate, the New America Foundation, and Arizona State University. Additionally her work has appeared in Gizmodo, Fast Company, IEEE Spectrum, and Popular Mechanics. She lives in New York City.