Shelter from the Storm

Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

Almost exactly two years ago, “Five Eyes” intelligence agencies discovered a successful and ongoing cyber attack on critical US infrastructure by a state-sponsored actor based in China. This group, associated with the People’s Liberation Army and known as Volt Typhoon, was tasked with quietly gaining persistent remote access to critical systems including water, power, communications, and transportation systems, as well as ports and government networks. The goal was to deter the US from interfering with a future invasion of Taiwan by China, either by crippling the US infrastructure or threatening to. Despite dire warnings from the four top cyber officials in a Jan 2024 Congressional hearing, the US is still woefully unprepared for such attacks. Josh Corman is leading an effort labeled UnDisruptable27 to greatly improve the resilience of our critical systems before 2027, the year China seems to be targeting to make their move.

Interview Notes

• UnDisruptable27: https://securityandtechnology.org/undisruptable27/
• Critical Effect conference (DC): http://critical-effect.org/
• Congressional hearing, CCP cyber threat to national security: https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-notice-ccp-cyber-threat-american-homeland-and-national-security
• Josh’s RSA talk (2024): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhJvslRRlFc
• UnDisruptable27 video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnozKc3gFsM
• UnDisruptable27 video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8UsrMRvt14
• Cyber Resilience Corps: https://cltc.berkeley.edu/program/cyber-resilience-corps/
• Cyber Volunteer Resource Center: https://www.cisa.gov/audiences/high-risk-communities/cybervolunteerresourcecenter

Further Info

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Table of Contents

• 0:00:00: Intro
• 0:03:49: Lingo explanations
• 0:07:26: What is UnDisruptable27 and why did you start it?
• 0:16:47: How does this relate to China’s intention to invade Taiwan?
• 0:22:00: What at the psychological impacts of this sort of attack?
• 0:25:31: How long might it take to recover from this sort of attacK?
• 0:33:12: If this threat is so dire, why aren’t we scrambling to address it?
• 0:37:24: Do Russia, Iran and North Korea pose similar threats?
• 0:41:32: How can we surface single points of failure from secondary sources?
• 0:49:21: Can’t we also do this to our adversaries? Is that a deterrence?
• 0:53:45: What should our government be doing about this?
• 0:58:39: How can we incentivze private companies to take action?
• 1:01:55: What can we do, at home and in our communities?
• 1:07:19: What’s next for UnDisruptable27?
• 1:10:47: Some final thoughts
• 1:15:03: Patron bonus content
• 1:15:29: Looking ahead