Digital Earth: Cyber Threats, Privacy and Ethics in an Age of Paranoia by Sarah Katz. She is currently a Cybersecurity Technical Writer at Microsoft.
Sarah holds Master of Arts, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Operations from Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a PhD in Cyberpsychology from Capitol Technology University. Sarah has been published in Cyber Defense Magazine, Dark Reading, Infosecurity Magazine, and ISACA Journal.
On the surface this book may appear not to be for organizational leaders, it actually belongs in the hands of your organization’s CIO, Finance, Legal, Risk Management and of course CISO. However this is for your leadership. Sarah has written a well researched book addressing key cybersecurity threats. This should be review by any organization’s entire technology division. In fact, this extends well beyond any organization’s IT Division or dedicated team. You’ll see why.
This is a perfect read for anyone studying or holding an interesting in cybersecurity career fields. Sarah provides in depth research from well established cybersecurity firms, Homeland Security, and research institutions both in private and public sectors.
Let’s go phishing….across your organization
The above group will benefit immediately. Sarah addresses in her opining chapter the impact of phishing amid the pandemic. This includes overviews to foreign campaigns that targeted American organizations. Perhaps the key lesson is the need for employee training specific to phishing that closes the gap utilized in chaos theory. Sarah expands to address Chaos theory in cyber threat mitigation and also the application fo chaos theory to the assessment of phishing attacks.
Master Bait Fishing, Bottom Fishing, and Jigging
Sarah further builds out the history of phishing mitigation practices in chapter two. This is addressing risks of phishing to federal healthcare agencies. Chaos theory’s impact and mitigation and the role of machine learning tools to prevent phishing are defined. With excellent research, readers will understand the persuasive factors used in phishing attacks. Perhaps most importantly is user awareness of email legitimacy verification techniques. Again, Sarah brings this critical topic into focus. A lack of understanding by organizations in the identification of malicious emails.
Indirectly Sarah addresses the issues of disinformation versus misinformation in our post pandemic world. These are addressed in chapters four and five and should be understood not only by the individuals above, but by every organization’s executive leadership. I would strongly place this next to Bruce Schneier’s excellent book Click Here to Kill Everybody.
In conclusion, Sarah is providing a well researched insights to any organization and their daily confrontation with cyber threats. Regardless of your market, your organization confronts similar if not the exact threats as your competitors. A well written and must read simply due to the modern world we engage today.