December 18, 2012 — This week on “Federal Tech Talk”, Gigi Schumm, vice president and general manager Public Sector of Symantec, joins host John Gilroy to talk about how to protect your agency or company from cyber attacks.

Nobody can keep up the radical changes in computer security.

During the interview, Schumm discusses the changing concept of a virus being “in the wild.”

Years ago, organizations would be able to list the number of malicious exploits; today, the number changes so fast it is impossible to list them.

Symantec has several centers for monitoring cyber-attacks, one is located in Herndon, Virginia.

Schumm talks about how Symantec merged with a company called RipTide to get an overview of how attacks were developing.

This overview enables security professionals at Symantec to develop heuristic methods of warning about activities.

Most federal IT professionals have heard of the old exploit where a few thumb drives were “lost” in a parking lot and employees would take them inside and plug them into a computer.

Schumm talks about a similar exploit called “honeystick.”

Instead of “losing” thumb drives, Symantec “lost” smart phones that were loaded with apps and geographic tracking software.

Nobody has all the answers when it comes to security these days, it is always good to listen to a fresh perspective from a trusted vendor.

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