Cyber Intelligence and Security after the OPM Breach

The data breach of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management that exposed millions of records about current, former and aspiring national security clearance holders has underscored the value of an effective cyber intelligence program. As the federal government and its industry partners act to remediate the short- and long-term consequences, panelists will discuss the importance of cyber intelligence and other security measures to address vulnerabilities potentially exploited by the breach, such as social engineering, and mitigate the considerable post-breach risks that remain.

Focus Questions

• Is the OPM breach a touchstone moment for the incorporation of cyber intelligence in federal and contrator IT practices?
• How can organizations better defend their networks from the "inadvertent insider threat" via a spearphising attack or other means of social enginering?
• What must be done to restore integrity to the online components of the security clearance application system, and how can cyber intelligence help protect these components in the future?
• What is the "one big thing" that must be remedied from the OPM breach to ensure similar mass-scale intrusions and exfiltration of critical data are prevented or minimized?

About the lecture series 

The Cyber Intelligence Discussion Series, co-hosted by The Institute of World Politics (IWP) and the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA), will examine the emergent discipline of cyber intelligence as an integral component of organizational cybersecurity and how the public, private and academic sectors are fostering the development of this nascent field. The discussions, to be held each Thursday in October in recognition of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), will include remarks by leading professionals from government, the private sector and academia. IWP and INSA encourage attendees to continue the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag #cyberintel.