Michael Hayden Quotes

The question is, really, does the nonexistence of another attack prove that the programs that are in place are working?

You have to have as many defences in place as you possibly can. But even then of course - and it's important to stress this - you cannot guarantee being able to prevent every attack or every kind of attack.

I don't expect an overnight change of all desktops to what the US Military used to call B3 level security. And even that would not stop users from shooting themselves into the foot.

We have a reliable computerized network devoted to counterterrorist activities.

You can't defend. You can't prevent. The only thing you can do is detect and respond.

Use a personal firewall. Configure it to prevent other computers, networks and sites from connecting to you, and specify which programs are allowed to connect to the net automatically.

'Firewall' seems both scary and protective at the same time. And how often does that happen within one word besides 'military' and 'government?'

Personally, I tend to be more interested in security and performance-related issues than other things.

The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards -- and even then I have my doubts.

Too many public and private entities simply don't take advantage of tools already at their disposal to protect themselves from hackers. No amount of information sharing will help solve that problem.

Terrorists remain determined to find a weakness in our defence... To stay ahead of the terrorists, I call on the international community, the private sector, and academia to share knowledge, expertise, and resources to prevent new technologies becoming lethal terrorist weapons.

The threat landscape continues to expand, while cyber threats are continually becoming more sophisticated. This has convinced organizations to expand their security policies and deploy more security solutions.

Every single company knows that there is more that they can do to keep themselves safe from cyber-crime.

We need to do whatever we can to defend ourselves against hacking.

There are major funding gaps for security research generally, particularly when it comes to defensive security practices and tools that will contribute to the protection and defense of the Internet.

If you are a big company, a big website, and lots of users come to your website, you will have attacks, and you have to deal with that. It just cannot be a reason to take actions to exit certain markets.

I keep my stuff updated all the time. Being in the security industry, I keep up to date with securities.

Most people assume that once security software is installed, they're protected. This isn't the case. It's critical that companies be proactive in thinking about security on a long-term basis.

I get hired by companies to hack into their systems and break into their physical facilities to find security holes. Our success rate is 100%; we've always found a hole.

While there have been terrific advances in the state of technology around heuristics, behavior blocking, and things like that, technology is only a part of the approach to solving the problem with the more important aspect involving putting the right process in place.

It was immediately clear to me that security was a cross-cutting issue, so rather than dividing the space up in parallel with each of the other areas, I wanted security cut across the areas in addition to having its own content.

I learned the technology and tradecraft of electronic security in self defense, with a lot of expert help.

I am regularly asked what the average Internet user can do to ensure his security. My first answer is usually 'Nothing; you're screwed'.

It is impossible to work in information technology without also engaging in social engineering.

McAfee's No. 1 strength is that they have a fantastic R&D team, engineering, as well as research at the core of security: database threat management.