ISC2 News & Resources

Uniting Women in Cyber Podcast: Breaking Barriers in Cybersecurity with Cybersecurity Girl

In this Special Edition episode, N2K CyberWire's ⁠Dave Bittner⁠ sits down with ⁠Caitlin Sarian⁠, widely known as ⁠Cybersecurity Girl⁠, to explore how storytelling, authenticity, and community are reshaping a more human-centered cybersecurity landscape.

Recorded live at ⁠The Cyber Guild's⁠ ⁠Uniting Women in Cyber (UWIC) Event⁠ last fall, this candid conversation highlights Caitlin’s unconventional path into cybersecurity and her mission to make the industry more accessible and relatable for all. 

Together, they explore how breaking down technical barriers can unlock new pathways into the field especially for those from nontraditional backgrounds.

URL to listen to the podcast: https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/special-edition/100/notes

Iran, Russia, China Target Water Systems for Sabotage

Nation-state attackers breach water systems through weak passwords, exposed PLCs, and poor segmentation — not sophisticated malware.

Nation-state threat actors continue to attack systems that regulate, distribute, and protect water, but adversary objectives in these attacks can be more complex than they might first appear.

That's according to threat intelligence provider DomainTools, which on June 25 published research concerning recent nation-state targeting of water systems as far back as 2024. The research carried particular focus on how and why cyber adversaries are going after the infrastructure.

The intersection of "cyberattacks" and "water systems" is inherently alarming, as it calls to mind "cyber Pearl Harbor" scenarios where criminals attempt to stop the flow of, or poison, a community's water supply. Causing civilian casualties is usually not a direct aim of these attacks and, like the 2021 attack on the Oldsmar, Fla., water treatment facility showed, many modern water systems have safeguards to ensure tainted water never reaches a community's populace. That, of course, doesn't mean it can't happen, nor that cyberattacks can't have an impact on human mortality.

Source: https://www.darkreading.com/ics-ot-security/iran-russia-china-target-water-systems-sabotage

Trump signs executive order to accelerate US quantum computing strategy

President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order aimed at accelerating U.S. leadership in quantum technologies, launching a coordinated national effort to develop next-generation quantum computing, sensing and networking capabilities while strengthening the nation's preparedness for the security implications of the technology.

The order updates the National Quantum Strategy and directs federal agencies to work alongside industry and academia to accelerate commercialization, strengthen domestic supply chains and expand the U.S. quantum workforce. It also establishes an ambitious initiative to develop the first quantum computer capable of enabling transformative scientific discovery beyond the capabilities of today's classical supercomputers.

While much of the order focuses on scientific research and economic competitiveness, several provisions have direct implications for cybersecurity.

The Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will also evaluate how advances in commercial quantum computing could affect U.S. national security, with particular attention to the nation's migration to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). As quantum computing advances, experts have warned that sufficiently powerful systems could eventually break widely deployed public-key encryption algorithms that underpin digital identities, secure communications and financial transactions.

Source: https://www.scworld.com/analysis/trump-signs-executive-order-to-accelerate-us-quantum-computing-strategy