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On this episode of CHATTIN CYBER, our host sits down with Michelle Schaap to explore the ever-evolving landscape and intersectionality of the cybersecurity field. Schaap currently serves as an Attorney concentrating in Cybersecurity, Construction and Technology Law at Cheisa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC (CSG), where she has advised on privacy & data security practices for over two decades. Michelle specializes on cyber preparedness and IT disaster recovery planning as well as structuring commercial transactions and negotiating project agreements. A diverse strategist with over thirty years of practice, Ms. Schaap has also honed her skills in renewable energy projects, software industry development.

After receiving degrees from Cornell University and Rutgers Law School, Ms. Schaap started her career at a law firm that gave her the opportunity to be on rotation and gain a large breath of experience across multiple specialties. Eventually focusing on Land Use law, she credits this with allowing her “to learn what her client’s immediate needs were and potentially long-terms needs” in order to prepare for the future. In practicing general law internationally and at large corporations like Toys R Us, she developed proficiency in many of the aspects that cyber law touches including HR, supply trains, upstream obligations, and more.

In this interview, Michelle uses this vast experience to predict the developments in the field over the next decade. She warns that cyber response has yet to catch up with state-of-the-art software, and suggests that some of the most effective and cost-efficient methods of cyber security have existed long before those technologies came on to the scene. Tune in as she explores how to gauge what level of security is right for your business and a few fast tips to bring your business and personal security up to speed. Catch up on all this and more on this episode of CHATTINN CYBER with Marc Schein!

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In this episode of CHATTINN CYBER, Marc Schein interviews Kenneth Rashbaum, a Queens native who has led the way in developing and navigating the broad field of cybersecurity and data privacy. Pulling from his diverse portfolio of education and experience, Rashbaum uses his background to involve himself comprehensively within everything that the cybersecurity world touches. Kenneth has served on e-discovery councils advocating for best practices in the exchange of international digital evidence within complex litigation. While making advancements within this field, Rashbaum was appointed to several leadership roles.  He sat as faculty for the Federal Judicial Center and for the Georgetown Advanced E-Discovery Institute, and also acted as a special consultant to the New Jersey Assembly in preparation for the state’s first comprehensive privacy and cybersecurity bill. Additionally, Ken testified before the New Jersey Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee, using his expertise in cybersecurity and privacy to serve his current home state.

Kenneth Rashbaum’s involvement within the financial field occurs most frequently when the Fordham law professor educates leaders and CEOs concerning the relationship between digital security and information privacy. Rashbaum works with these companies and organizations to ensure that internal policy meets state and national law in addition to client safeguard requirements for data protection and privacy expectations. With an expertise in organizing and negotiating technology contracts, Kenneth has helped many companies gain profitable business opportunities.

In the interview, Rashbaum discusses his approach to a well-implemented cybersecurity plan primarily as an offensive move and secondarily as a defensive one in response to a data incident. A company or organization should assess the potential risk of an attack and implement preventative actions before any red flags appear. In his expert opinion, a mature cybersecurity program includes the following core elements:

1. Taking inventory of and understanding the reason for current data
2. Noting where data is stored
3. Assessing whether it is protected by specific law
4. Knowing who has access to it
5. Creating a plan to safeguard the data

While some companies are only beginning to actualize a plan as Rashbaum advises, Marc Schein’s interview reveals that Kenneth has been an eye-witness to the relationship between cybersecurity and data privacy since HIPAA enacted compliance laws decades ago. “HIPAA,” explains Rashbaum “is where privacy and cybersecurity regulation in the United States started. It is the only nationwide comprehensive privacy and cybersecurity law with implementing regulations that we have—[t]he U.S. is very sectoral while the rest of the world has overall privacy and security regulation.”

Marc and Kenneth chat about some of the current political issues that cause a divide on cybersecurity ideology. “[Both Democrats and Republicans] think federal privacy and cybersecurity law is a necessary,” begins Rashbaum. “So there is no debate about the ends, there’s a debate about the means.”

Will the country come to a consensus on universal cybersecurity implementation? Does your company have in place an updated and effective policy for data protection and breach prevention? Consider these questions as you listen to Marc Schein’s interview with Kenneth Rashbaum in this episode of CHATTINN CYBER.

 

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Marc Schein spends this episode of CHATTINN CYBER introducing podcast listeners to the former Superintendent of New York State Department of Financial Services, Maria Vullo.  From 2016-2019, Ms. Vullo spent her years in service working to implement DFS cybersecurity regulations in an effort to prevent economic turmoil that could result from a data incident within financial services. Maria Vullos’ drive to enact NY state-wide cybersecurity regulation was, in part, realized from the devastating effects of the 2008 financial crisis. At a time where our nation’s economy experienced the biggest downturn since the Great Depression, both the private and public sectors felt the crushing effects of recession.   

Ms. Vullo’s career first began after graduating from NYU’s School of Law. Obtaining a federal clerkship with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in 1988, Ms. Vullo was promptly asked to return as a litigation partner where she continued to work in the private sector for 27 years. While invested in cases concerning civil, criminal, and regulatory matters (many of which involved financial services), Ms. Vullo also devoted herself to women’s and human rights through pro bono litigations and leadership roles in NPOs. 

But the pinnacle of Maria’s professional career so far is found in the 23 NYCRR 500 regulation, also known as part 500. In March of 2017, the state of New York enacted a series of policies specific to all DFS-regulated institutions, including state-chartered banks, certain money transmitters, and all insurance companies and agents licensed to do business in NY.  Part 500 requires entities to meet standards for cybersecurity protection in areas such as policy, programs risk assessment, and incident response. 

“I did it because my job as Superintendent was the protection of the safety and soundness and the fiscal health of the institutions that I was responsible for overseeing. Cybersecurity is such a risk that I thought it was important to set out certain minimum standards that they all have to comply with.” 

Since many New York insurance companies and banks operate throughout the nation as well, the country has seen a spread of cybersecurity regulations across states, making strides towards a national model. 

“We went through a very elaborate process and had a lot of professionals looking at what was the best regulation to do and I think we accomplished that, and I also think it’s important for these principles to be more widely dispersed both for the protection of the industry and also to provide a consistent framework for companies to have to follow.” 

Retired from the DFS and now consulting at her own firm, Maria Vullo sees that there is a lot of work still to be done within the country. She believes that a lot of good can come out of both the private and public sector as long as people and their welfare are always the compass that drives endeavors. To learn more about Ms. Vullo’s impact throughout the decades and how she believes the field of cybersecurity still needs to advance, listen in to this episode of CHATTIN CYBER with Marc Schein.