30 years ago, the United States suffered a pivotal moment within our space program when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. This incident forever changed the way risk was handled by that program, with hard lessons learned at the cost of human lives.
Information security failure is plagued by flawed decision making, communication breakdowns, and lack of involvement in critical discussions, to name just a few. And it gets worse: managers think technology solves security problems, and staff can't communicate problems effectively up the chain. Unrelenting pressure to meet the demands of business can result in loss of effectiveness of a security program.
The root causes that led to the shuttle's O-ring failure were process and communications breakdowns revealing wide disconnects between management and the engineers. This talk will focus on analyzing those breakdowns and disconnects, and what lessons NASA learned from them that can be put to use today to improve your information security program and posture.
The lessons of our past have much to teach us about our future - but only if we are paying attention. Come learn how the information security programs we are charged with building and maintaining today can learn from the failures of our past.
This talk is intended for all audiences from analysts to executives. Audience members are welcome to share their views during the presentation to provide a greater depth to the takeaways we can all benefit from.
Joel Cardella has over 24 years of experience in information technology, having run a gamut from network operations, sales support, data center management, field operations and information security. He has worked in industries including telecommunications, healthcare and manufacturing. Prior to Rapid7 he held the role of Regional Security Officer for North America for a multinational manufacturing company. Joel is interested in the human part of the security equation, and seeks understanding of human behaviors as contributors to secure processes and systems. In his free time Joel directs a not-for-profit youth musical theatre program, bringing fine arts experiences to kids ages 4 to 18.