David Marcus Talks about the Blurred Lines in Cybersecurity

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TechSpective Podcast Episode 055

People tend to think of the world as much more binary–more black and white than it really is. In most cases, though, reality lies in the vast gray area between the extremes. When it comes to cybersecurity and digital privacy, the lines between the extremes are getting more blurred as time goes on–expanding the ambiguous gray area where the real risks lie.

David Marcus joins me for this episode of the TechSpective Podcast. If you believe his LinkedIn profile, David is an infosec and intelligence dude, builder and leader of teams, lifter of heavy objects, and rider of Harleys. I have known David for many years, and–like many throughout the community–I consider him to be a credible and practical voice on cybersecurity topics. I would take his opinion on most things related to lifting weights and Harley Davidson motorcycles as well.

It wasn’t really planned in advance, but it turns out that the running theme of my chat with David is “blurred lines.” We start off the podcast talking about the blurred lines between traditional malware exploits and more sophisticated nation-state attacks, and end with a discussion on the privacy implications of social media and the information people share and the blurring of the lines between what is a useful or valuable use of personal and behavioral data, and what crosses the line to infringe on the privacy of the individual. We also hit on the issues created by the algorithms that govern our online interactions–and the way they paint people into a corner and result in reinforcing points of view through confirmation bias while making it very difficult to get an unbiased perspective even if you try.

It had been too long since David and I had an opportunity to chat and it was long overdue. I enjoyed the conversation and finished the podcast smarter than when I started it–not sure I can say the same for David.

The podcast itself is audio only, but the video of our conversation is also available on YouTube if you prefer:

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