Got a Social Media Security Problem? CSO’s Have to Focus on Recruiting Specially-Trained Personnel to “Read the Tea Leaves” of Social Media Cybersecurity
Security leaders need specialized talent to detect threats hidden in social media activity before damage spreads
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Key takeaways
Security leaders need specialized talent to detect threats hidden in social media activity before damage spreads
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The battlefield of corporate security has extended far beyond firewalls and anti-virus software. It’s now moved into the realm of social media, where a simple post can be destructive. Decades ago, many corporations struggled to understand the gravity of cyber threats. This led to boardroom shakeups and company downfalls. While there is more protection now, corporations are still facing another cyber security concern by way of social media manipulation and online attacks.
There are foreign and domestic antagonists taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of public opinion. Subsequently, tarnishing company brands and their employees online. It’s not merely a PR problem as it’s also a security issue that necessitates a collaboration. The Chief Security Officers (CSOs) and marketing heads at today’s corporations are in a unique position to neutralize cyber threats. Understanding what these threats are is crucial for modern companies to protect many aspects of their organizations.
Paul Goldenberg is the Chief Advisor for Policy and International Policing at the Rutgers University Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience. An expert in the field of corporate security, Goldenberg has spent decades studying technology and global threats. Regarding social media and security, he offers tips to businesses and governments alike looking to navigate modern-day security challenges. Speaking recently at a GSX event, he dissects where the evolution of cybersecurity has fallen short, and implored CSOs to reassess their security plans to combat online attacks.
Goldenberg's Thoughts on Online Attacks
The Evolution of Cybersecurity
“They didn’t quite understand what the impact of cyber attacks would be against their companies. It took us, nearly twenty years and the down four of board rooms, the downfall of chief executive officers, and in some cases, even the downfall of companies themselves to understand that they were not doing what they needed to do to protect their clients, their systems.”
It took us, nearly twenty years and the down four of board rooms, the downfall of chief executive officers, and in some cases, even the downfall of companies themselves to understand that they were not doing what they needed to do to protect their clients, their systems.
— Paul Goldenberg, Chief Advisor for Policy and International Policing at Rutgers University Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience
The Current Challenge: Social Media Threats
“We’re in the same place today with social media. Around the world, there are adversaries in foreign countries. There are extremists. There are people who are anti corporation, anti capitalists that wanna do harm to corporations. They wanna do harm. Not only corporations of governments themselves. They’re using social media for for the purposes of, sending misinformation and disinformation, about these corporations impacts not only the company’s well-being, but potentially could impact the employees themselves.”
The Role of Chief Security Officers and Consultation
“So really the takeaway is for the chief security officers and others in the business this, they need to understand to read the tea leaves. They have to have people that are specially trained or they have to rely on outside consultation that will provide them with an understanding of what is being set out there in in the social media realm. There are some very bad adversaries that are hoping to do some very bad things, and they’re no longer doing it to their physical infrastructure, but they’re doing it to their brand. They’re attacking in some cases employees of the company.”
They need to understand to read the tea leaves. They have to have people that are specially trained or they have to rely on outside consultation that will provide them with an understanding of what is being set out there in in the social media realm.
— Paul Goldenberg, Chief Advisor for Policy and International Policing at Rutgers University Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience
The Need for a Holistic Approach
“They’re attacking in some cases the executives of the company. And unless we understand now, we’re almost in the same place we were as twenty five years ago with cyber security. We need to have a conversion of the branding, those that are responsible for marketing, those who are responsible for physical security, to come together and address the hostile social media attacks these companies are facing.”
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About the author
Paul Goldenberg is a highly decorated 30-year criminal justice and global security professional named by the industries leading publication as America’s 2021 Most Influential Person in Homeland Security. Through his work at Rutgers University’s Miller Center, Distinguished Visiting Fellow for Transnational Security, University of Ottawa, and as a former ranking member of the United States Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), he was appointed by members of Congress and the US Secretary of Homeland Security to lead several highly sensitive national security efforts such as the DHS Cyber Security Task Force, Subcommittee on Foreign Fighters, CVE Working Group, Racial and Religious Violence Task Force, Countering Foreign Influence Task Force and Youth Radicalization and Engagement Subcommittee. Working internationally, he directed the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) transitional policing mission where he worked on the ground in Kosovo, Bosnia, Ukraine, Sweden, Belgium, France, Croatia, Poland and Hungary, to assess police response to growing extremism and development of policies in furtherance of capacity building between police and vulnerable communities. Paul’s government positions included being appointed the first state chief of the NJ Attorney General’s Office responsible for the investigation and prosecution of hate crime and domestic terrorism, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the nation’s 6th largest social service and juvenile justice system, lead agent for the Prosecutors Office Organized Crime Task Force and five years as deep undercover agent where his efforts led to his selection as South Florida’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year - after infiltrating major criminal cartels resulting in the prosecution and arrest of over 150 members. Paul has testified before the U.S. Congress, Presidential Commissions, the British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Hague, EU, Helsinki Commission in Warsaw, Poland, and appeared as an expert panelist and guest speaker at transnational security forums, both in the U.S. Mideast and abroad. He has been profiled, interviewed, and has also contributed to leading television shows and publications worldwide, including Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Der Spiegel, Jerusalem Post. He has received numerous honors and special recognition for his work in human rights from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, African American and Asian Indian advocacy groups and organizations here in the USA and abroad.
