We Are the Cavalry

Today when computer systems fail, they can cause real, physical harm. In just the last few years, we’ve seen cyber attacks interfere with our food supply, tamper with city water supplies, and disrupt gas pipelines. While cheap consumer electronics often have poor security, medical devices like insulin pumps and pacemakers are also vulnerable to attack – and the consequences of failure can be lethal. The free market doesn’t reward better security. Regulations are weak or nonexistent, regulators are understaffed and underfunded. Targeted organizations lack sufficient funding, training and personnel to prepare and respond. They need help. I Am the Cavalry aims to engage technologists and hackers to ride to the rescue.

Joshua Corman is VP of Cyber Safety Strategy at Claroty, Founder of I am The Cavalry, and formerly served as Chief Strategist for CISA regarding COVID, healthcare, and public safety.

Interview Links

• I Am The Cavalry: https://iamthecavalry.org/ 
• BSides 2022 Cavalry presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3egJej7so 
• The Cavalry Isn’t Coming (DEF CON 21 talk): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMGdkOMSK0 
• Rugged Software Manifesto: https://github.com/rugged-software/rugged-software.github.io 
• CISA Bad Practices: https://www.cisa.gov/BadPractices 
• CISA Information Sharing and Awareness: https://www.cisa.gov/information-sharing-and-awareness 
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html 
• Click Here to Kill Everyone: https://www.schneier.com/books/click-here/ 
• SBOM interview: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2021/07/19/its-time-to-drop-the-sbom/ 
• My Jeff Moss interview: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2022/08/29/the-night-the-lights-went-out-in-vegas/ 

Further Info

• 300th episode promotion: https://fdsd.me/ep300 
• Patron promotion: https://fdsd.me/coinpromo 
• Send me your questions! https://fdsd.me/qna 
• Subscribe to the newsletter: https://fdsd.me/newsletter
• Check out my book, Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons: https://fdsd.me/book 
• Become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons 
• Donate directly with Monero! https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/contact/ 
• Would you like me to speak to your group about security and/privacy? http://bit.ly/Firewalls-Speaker
• Generate secure passphrases! https://d20key.com/#/

Table of Contents

Use these timestamps to jump to a particular section of the show.

• 0:01:28: Giveaway and promotion update
• 0:02:46: Holiday gift ideas
• 0:03:59: Interview preview
• 0:08:35: How did I Am the Cavalry get started?
• 0:16:52: How does focusing on physical harms change your approach to cybersecurity?
• 0:20:33: Why is it so important to ‘meet people where they are’?
• 0:23:40: How do you best help organizations that are target rich but cyber poor?
• 0:31:47: What is the crawl, walk, run progression?
• 0:34:33: Why is it so important to compartmentalize systems?
• 0:35:56: How do we do a better job of designing security in from the start?
• 0:39:01: Is it safer for small companies to use managed services?
• 0:42:17: What role should the government play here?
• 0:52:57: If I want to get help for my organization, where should I go?
• 0:58:18: What’s next for the Cavalry and how can I get involved?
• 1:05:09: Interview wrap-up
• 1:06:35: Book recommendations
• 1:07:43: Preview of upcoming shows