Lions & Tigers and Fancy Bears, Oh My! A Cautionary Tale
CISA Director Jen Easterly and Yale Professor Scott Shapiro discuss the history of major cyber intrusions and the necessity of Secure-by-Design engineering.
Summary
Lessons from Five Decades of Cyber Intrusions
CISA Director Jen Easterly and Yale Law Professor Scott Shapiro review pivotal historical hacks, tracing how systemic architectural vulnerabilities enabled widespread nation-state espionage.
Moving Beyond Blaming the User
The speakers argue that the cybersecurity industry has historically placed an unfair burden on end-users through security awareness training rather than demanding secure software development from vendors.
The Secure-by-Design Imperative
CISA’s Secure-by-Design initiative urges software manufacturers to eliminate entire classes of vulnerabilities (such as memory-safety flaws and default credentials) before products ship.
Building Public-Private Accountability
Fostering long-term systemic resilience requires policy frameworks that align market incentives with rigorous software transparency, corporate accountability, and open vulnerability disclosure.
Related talks
Policy Village·1 hr 48 min
International government representatives explore global strategies for software supply chain resilience, government procurement standards, and regulatory incentives.
Main Stage·48 min
Jen Easterly · Jeff Moss
CISA Director Jen Easterly and DEF CON founder Jeff Moss discuss cybersecurity policy, national defense, and community collaboration.
Main Stage·39 min
David Pekoske · Sean Lyngaas · Jen Easterly
TSA Administrator David Pekoske, CISA Director Jen Easterly, and CNN's Sean Lyngaas discuss modernizing cybersecurity regulations for US transportation infrastructure.