Weekly Security Sprint EP 164. All-Hazards, pathway to extremism, and more!

Welcome back to Security Sprint. You all know the deal. We'll go through a couple rounds of topics, lay out the security and risk news that we think might be interest of you. Andy, I slightly vary that every week to week.

I mean, other than, you know, you all know the deal. Yeah, no, I like the subtle changes, but also the somewhat consistency. You know, it's like getting your favorite meal, you know, like it's always the same, but there's always a little something different slightly because, you know, done a different time and it's still good. It's still delicious.

So happy, Dave, happy 4th of July Independence Week Security Sprint to you. And happy Security Sprint 4th of July edition type of thing as well. Great, great, great time. It's 250 years, Andy.

A lot to celebrate here for our great democracy. A lot of things going well. So it is. I mean, as we talk about, you know, taking time every day to focus on securing America's people, places, data and dollars.

We do that so we can celebrate all the things that make America awesome every day without having to worry about security, right? As security professionals, we're trying to keep the rest of this nation safe and secure so we can enjoy all the things we love to do in this country, such as all of those fans running around right now celebrating the World Cup, some amazing games yesterday, Dave. And so it's great to be here with you, to be doing the work that we get to do, What a privilege it is to continue to serve our nation.

We have a lot of veterans on our team, a lot of people with hearts for this country on our team. We do everything we can to secure us physical, cyber, health, severe weather. We're going to touch on a lot of those things today. It's great to be here with you.

Happy Fourth of July week. What a great nation and a great time we live in. Yeah, look, I think there's a lot of similarities between security and our country. Look, we have faults.

Security has faults. Our country has faults. We're open to acknowledge those faults and things throughout our history, but we strive every day to get better and better, and we try to become a more perfect security team. And that's why this podcast exists, Andy.

So just like we strive to become a better democracy every year, despite our differences and despite some failings in the past, we strive to get better as a security team as well. How do you like that? Do you like how I pulled that in, Andy? I did like how you pulled that in as well.

Well, then I'll just kind of dovetail off of that. We've talked about being the best security team we can be, trying to get better every day, Dave. It's something I truly believe in. Hats off to Preston Wright, one of our young analysts, and the fantastic post that he just put out last week, the end of routine patching.

And he talked about the transition we're in with patching, risk appetite, making some key decisions on how we handle things in organizations. some great thoughts and perspective well done by our young analyst who's helping make gate 15 in all the organizations that we support better every day just like you were talking about Dave and Dave great nerd out with you and Alec thoroughly enjoyed it love the serious stuff always love Alec's thoughtful deep dive perspective to go along with everything you share and as you guys nerd out that was awesome it was awesome to talk with one ISAC again in this month's gate 15 interview that was a blast based ISAC just got their monthly newsletter like there's so much good information out there right now.

Glad to do that with you. Yeah, no, a lot of really great stuff. And I had a good time with Alec on that nerd out. Please take a listen to it.

We get into deep dive on a couple of different, really important things. Uh, then, and again, you're nerd, you're a gay 15 interview very well. I struggle keeping up with Alec, not so much with you, but like Alec is in there and yeah, but you, it's like, I can, I don't have to do any preparation and just get in there and do it. That's fair.

That's it. That's a fair assessment. I mean, Alec does his homework and I just talk. But Dave, let's get into it, man.

There's a lot happening this week. I know there's a lot of things we want to get into. Let's dive in. Andy, let's start.

We haven't led with this in a while, but the weatherman, Andy, and we are an all-hazards team. You mentioned that earlier. We're an all-hazards team, and it's really important to consider environmental, weather, health, all of that part, as well as security or cyber and physical things. Andy, on the East Coast and actually moving through the country, there's a heat dome again coming through.

This is a recurring theme now, and it is going to be hot, hot, hot in many parts of the country. And in fact, many parts of the world are experiencing really record high temperatures. France just had a lot of activity. There's a lot of things that then cascade from here.

We're seeing an increase in wildfires. And again, over time, with wildfires happening year in, year out in certain areas, there's not a whole lot to slow them down anymore. And it causes a lot of disruption in many areas. So, Andy, with the heat, a couple things will really be important.

There's individuals and families who are taking kids to summer camps and being outdoors. There's organizations and groups that are planning big outdoor activities, festivals and picnics. Andy, you mentioned the World Cup already. There's going to be some really high level soccer this weekend or football, as they call it around the world, this weekend in extreme high temperatures.

And so it just going to be really important that if we not facilitating or integrating those weather plans into that and hydration plans into that the World Cup has already controversially added a water break into there I think that was a smart play People will look at it and say oh that just for more money so they can put more commercials in Andy it a smart thing to do Don worry about the tractors on some of those things. Really factor that in to your outdoor planning and preparation activities.

It's going to be, and it's only June, Andy. We're getting into July. It's going to be bad this summer. Thoughts here, Andy?

Yeah, I mean, Dave, you had a really important point. When it comes to sports fans, fans are going to complain no matter what, right? We saw the World Cup just yesterday, right? People cheering on, demanding technology for bad, rough decisions, then condemning technology if it doesn't make the right decision, according to the fans, right?

So fans are notorious for complaining, but hydration breaks, water breaks, keeping people healthy and hydrated. Look, it applies to sporting events. It applies to all of us as we go out and about. We're about the 4th of July, a lot of folks listening are going to be out one place or another with friends, family, on their own, outdoors in some severe heat, stay hydrated, stay limber, keep food in your system, right?

But also for our work events, as we might be having work events in the summertime, as we might be having social gatherings, whatever it is, like we've got to put these things in place and make sure we're thinking about people. Dave, we touch on weather and, you know, it's exciting to talk about ransomware, it's exciting to talk about extremism, And it's exciting to get into those things. As we've said many times, Mother Nature is still the most serious murderer there is. She takes more lives every year than any other threat.

And they were seeing it with the severe weather. I mean, France has had many deaths as a result of the severe heat that they're experiencing over there and not being prepared from an infrastructure standpoint for this type of weather as the environment changes around us. Dave, we saw absolute devastation in Venezuela with these back-to-back earthquakes. I mean, unbelievable devastation there right now.

And we're seeing in Asia, we're seeing extremely powerful hurricane systems, right? We saw Mikala, if I'm saying that correctly, the strongest June typhoon in 22 years, right? And we were talking about this a lot last year and the year before about rapid intensification and extremely high categories of hurricane systems. There is a lot happening that we have to prepare for because it's still extremely disruptive and it's still extremely fatal.

So as leaders, as security leaders, we can't just get caught up in the sexy topical issues. We need to also think about those routine but very serious threats, heat, hydration, an important part of that. Yeah, and we just cannot overlook it. And you mentioned the devastation that occurred in Venezuela.

You know, again, like back to back and over 1,500 people have already been ruled dead as a result of that. Many more cascading impacts there. We just have to really think about all that, the cascaded effects that happen as organizations in a lot of these different spaces. And how are you prepared for that?

So natural disasters, you mentioned about the cyclone in the Pacific, hurricane season here. We really have to plan for these things, these all hazards type of activities. So, all right, Andy, let's move and transition to another topic here. And Andy, we've talked a lot about extremism on a lot of different, whether it's the right side, the left side, whether you're in the center, there's extremism everywhere, Andy.

And there's, we'll often focus on when we think about some of these things, we often think about young men in many respects, and especially how some of these groups, terrorist groups or domestic extremists as well, are using various platforms and abnormal platforms, I would say, not your traditional places to spot and recruit individuals or to target them. Andy, new reporting come out of, this has been reported out of CBS News, talking about now how that's just That's not the case anymore.

And in fact, some of these white supremacist groups are also accepting women as well. And we're seeing this not only just within the United States, but also in Europe and other countries as well. So we're seeing the expansion in the rollout of these activities really broadly to get as many people interested in the methodology, as many people interested. And again, it's subtle engagement.

And before you know it, you get more and more extreme as you go along. They don't hit you with the hard stuff right away, but you start with one thing and then it slowly builds and builds. And then those individuals, that pathway to extremism, that pathway to violence doesn't just start at the beginning. It goes that long road.

Andy, a lot of concerning trends here, I'll say. Andy, thoughts here? Yeah, Dave, it's important. You know, it's really important.

One, I think, you know, as as more and more extremist recruitment and propaganda is available online, it does expand the recruitment pool. And I think threat actors are seeing women and young women and young people broadly as both targets to attack, as you see with self-harm groups and things of that nature, but also as recruits. And we still tend to assume the profile of the attacker is that young male which it typically still is We seeing incidents involving more females We seeing deliberate recruitment And that just one more complicating factor both to think through from a prevention standpoint identifying that ideation and progression down the pathway of violence and when we think about the attacker to be the cause that it could be a female.

So it's an important article I think we're seeing, and we're seeing, you know, extremist groups reaching out more broadly. It's important. They start just put out a report last week talking about from January 2023 to December 2025, the two-year period, almost 3,000 terrorist attempts, right? Attacks, plots that were disrupted, almost 3,000 attempts, some successful, some not, for terrorist activity.

That's a lot. That is a lot, right? We understand how complex and pervasive this threat is. And I was just, you know, on the socials, a prominent voice on the socials was banned from the Blue Sky platform temporarily because a comment was made that was very suggestive of violence.

Right. And while I don't think he was actually promoting harm to the individual, we've seen this. we've talked about a lot with politicians who will say things like someone should the only way to stop this person is to kill them or something suggesting like violence should happen here and while the person saying that might not actually intend to take that action can that seed the idea with others that are maybe not in a healthy mental place that will then take action absolutely and we've seen that with political violence time and time again we've seen with faith-based violence time and time again.

And so whether we like a certain voice or don't like a certain voice, the same standard has to be maintained that we will not accept and promote that kind of rhetoric online, nor should we accept it in our workplaces. Right. You just got to think about like, what are the rules for the road as we navigate increasingly complex and changing environment, recruitment of females, recruitment of other groups we might not think about. Right.

And the way we're conducting ourselves in the workplace during, as we said, summer months leading up to a divisive election season when we're thinking about these things now. Yeah. And Andy, I just want to read a quote here from one of the individuals in the article. Again, we'll have the show notes here, the CBS News Report.

When you feel as though your life is outside of your own control, when you're stripped of your agency, you're willing to accept there is some kind of system or force from outside that is the one that is the fault. Andy, that's our political landscape today. I mean, that's what it is. So we have to be mindful of this type of thing.

That's the driver here. We have to condone that type of rhetoric in that talk as you were just going through. So really good points on that. I just wanted to slam that home.

Andy, we're an awesome podcast, I have to say, but I have late breaking news here, Andy. I just want to report this because I want everybody to read this report. This is really important. But Andy, I just got in my inbox, the Proofpoint 2026 AI and Human Risk Landscape Report.

This is the inaugural report. And so I think it's really important that we start seeing some of these organizations do it. It's a free report to sign up with your Proofpoint and get it. Andy, a couple key stats here, and I know you haven't had time to digest it.

So just cover this real quick and we can move on. 63% report having AI security controls in place. That's good, not great. 52% are not fully confident that their controls would detect a compromised AI group.

And then 42% report a suspicious or confirmed AI-related incident. Andy, it's not in the future. It's now. It is happening now.

As we are deploying AI, which we should be, we should be doing it responsibly. We should make sure our controls and governance is in place first. Yeah. And then bring it into the system.

You have to make sure your risk is identified and your risk is being mitigated before it's too late. And Andy, it can happen very quickly. So I'll just pause there. Any thoughts on there?

And we can talk other things. No, I'm excited to see the report because I haven't seen this yet. So I appreciate you bringing that to our attention and looking forward to diving into that. And Proofpoint puts out a few reports on a regular basis and it's good, thoughtful perspective.

So looking forward to this. Yeah, I appreciate that. And we'll go on to I just want to hit one other quick hit here, Andy, and then we'll turn it over to you. Oh, the last couple of weeks now, Ukraine has really been taking the fight to Russia by using a lot of drone warfare, going deep into Russia.

And Russia is now acknowledging the impacts is having on fuel supplies and many other things. But targeting Moscow, Crimea, and other key military sites, Andy, we talked a lot about drones on the Nerd Out podcast. So go and listen to Alec and I go on about that for a little bit. But Andy, drone warfare is just like AI.

We're not talking about things that are going to be potentially impacting. When you're doing security planning and preparedness, you have to consider the drone risk as well, especially as we talk about outdoor events and activities. Thoughts on this and then other quick hits you may have, Andy. Yeah, I'll say, I mean, we've seen the proliferation of drones on the battlefield.

We've seen it in Ukraine and Russia. I mean some very serious attacks being conducted by Ukraine on Russia using drone technology We saw Iran employ it We seeing it in other parts of the world right And so this is a part definitely of the broader military combat operations that I know our military is looking at both from an employment standpoint and a response standpoint, which changes the battlefield. But as the FBI has just warned, like seeing the type of battlefield drone attacks we've seen overseas potentially happening in complex coordinated attacks here in the United States is increasingly likely and increasingly approaching.

And that's a complex threat for security leaders, a very complex threat, because it crosses jurisdictional boundaries, organizational boundaries. It necessitates deliberate, cooperative, public-private planning, hometown security, engaging with other organizations around you. It's complicated. There's a lot of exercise, a lot of discussions happening around the country from a lot of people looking at this threat cross-border with Canada and otherwise.

If you're a security leader, if you're managing property, if you're looking out for people, like this is something you've got to start talking about and thinking about. Start with your local neighbors. Start with your local fusion center. Start with local law enforcement.

Start having a conversation. What are our policies? What can we do? How do you want us to respond?

What guidance do you have? Start thinking through it and talking about what is your role and responsibility? Should there be these types of to manifest themselves in our environment. We're going to see it.

We're going to see it more and more. We're already seeing a lot of concerns around drones occurring as they fly around different areas. They will be employed in attacks. It's a complex set that we really do have to understand.

It's happening just like AI very, very quickly. Well said. Well said. All right, Andy, let's wrap up the pod.

Any quick hits before we do my token sign-off here, Andy? I'll just say a couple of things. Water, water everywhere, Dave. Water ISAC released their TLP clear version of their quarterly water sector incident summary, looking at January to March, the executive summary.

Great infographic type product, really sort of captures the threats facing America's most critical lifeline. Similarly, Domain Tools put out a very good report looking at nation states targeting water systems over the last couple of years. They're targeting water systems. Again, America's most critical lifeline.

And we've got to invest in securing the water sector. And as we talk about that, we talk about security and resilience. The EPA has just launched her 2026 national cyber drill to test water utility resilience during comms outages. Good to see that type of activity occurring.

So between the ISAC, public sector partners, other interested groups, individuals trying to support water sector security, such as Craig Newmark and his philanthropic organization supporting like efforts, really important to coordinate these activities. Great to see it. America's most critical lifeline is being threatened, is under attack. It looks like the claims by Iranian sympathizing groups to have attacked Cal Water were unsubstantiated.

There's no evidence of that. According to investigations, we're conducted by Cal Water and Mandiant together. But the fact that the water supply is being looked at by threat actors is very real. So again, everything we can do to support water sector security, water ISAC, great for that team, great for that mission.

And Dave, in ransomware, man, so much happening in ransomware. But most notably, I think just yesterday, we were reporting on an article that came out late Friday from the New York Times, looking at the Jaguar Land Rover attack that happened in the UK and the $2.5 billion loss affecting the national economy looks to be Russian threat actors behind that attack, not looking for a ransom payment, just looking for consequential disruption and destructive type activities. Again, we're going to see more of that over time.

Really good articles, some complimentary articles we share on the show notes went along with that one, looking at that same report and threat. There's a lot happening, man, a lot for leaders that are thinking about. If we can help anybody, reach out with your questions. We're here to help and support you.

Subscribe to The Grip. Get the information delivered to your inbox every day. Plug in, tie in, do the work, do the assessments, do the exercises, build the plans. Let us know we can help you help us secure America's people, places, data, and dollars, and hope you have a great 4th of July.

Yeah, very good. Andy, and I just want to wrap up real quick on an incident that happened near local here in North Carolina, in Thomasville, North Carolina. An individual was identified in his car, sitting in the car outside of a church parking lot. Individual said he had a gun and was wearing camouflage clothing.

The off-duty officer who's working at the church went to the parking lot. Other officers arrived. The individual had body armor, two flame floors, two crossbows, a lot of ammunition, duct tape, three knives, a lot of Oxycontin pills. You know, Annie, responsible reporting led to the disruption of a potentially very dangerous situation.

Kudos to that individual. Want to reinforce that type of behavior and show that that reporting matters. So use that as an example in your meetings, communications with your teams across the board. But with that, Andy, we'll wrap up for this week.

Happy 4th of July upcoming. Hope everybody has a safe holiday season, holiday season, holiday weekend, in a long holiday weekend for some. And we'll get back at it again next week. But until then, Andy, I want to remind everybody to check out Nerd Out and Gate to the 15 interview.

Two great podcasts. And until then, I will bid you all adieu.