Shehzad Charania, Director at GCHQ, discusses responsible cyber power, workforce diversity, and commercialization of spyware. The podcast also covers cybersecurity policy recommendations, historical rules at GCHQ, embracing diversity in intelligence agencies, and promoting responsible behavior in the cyber industry.
Workforce diversity is crucial in cyber policy discussions.
Responsibility in cyber power is essential to prevent misuse of offensive cyber weapons.
Deep dives
Targeting Critical Infrastructure in Hacking Incident
In 1997, the Department of Justice prosecuted a juvenile for hacking, targeting phone systems for about 600 customers. The crux of the prosecution stemmed from disrupting the communication system of an air traffic control center at an airport, illustrating the attack on critical infrastructure.
Importance of Printer System in Air Traffic Control Tower
The juvenile's disruption included impacting the printer system used in air traffic control towers to print flight details. This disruption within the air traffic control system highlighted the significance of printer functionality for coordinating flight information among controllers.
Continued Use of Vulnerable Systems in Air Traffic Control
Despite the hacking incident in 1997, the air traffic control towers still utilize the same printer-based flight information system, suggesting a lack of substantial changes or improvements in cybersecurity measures within the aviation sector over the years.
Lessons Learned and Persistent Vulnerabilities in Aviation Sector
The incident involving the disruption of air traffic control systems underscores the ongoing challenges and vulnerabilities in ensuring secure and resilient communication systems within critical infrastructure, particularly within the aviation industry.
In our latest Distilling Cyber Policy podcast episode, Alex Botting and Jen Ellis from the Center for Cybersecurity Policy & Law are joined by Shehzad Charania MBE, Director of Legal Affairs and International Relations at the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
The jam-packed discussion delves into the importance of workforce diversity, the notion of responsible cyber power, and the commercial proliferation of offensive cyber weapons like spyware. In addition, this week’s episode features cyber policy recommendations from the Cybersecurity Coalition’s EU Policy Roadmap 2024 - 2029. Our Mystery Trivia Master is the wonderful Liz Wharton (@lawyerliz), founder and CEO of Silver Key Strategies.