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[Dave Aitel <dave () immunityinc com>]

Like any professional in the cyber security industry I followed the
election closely - all the executives I know were facing an uncertain
future, and uncertain customers as a small business means "keeps you up
at night like a colicky baby".

I followed 2008 closely as well, and for all the whining by Hillaryland
after she lost the primary to Obama, the truth is that Mark Penn's
techniques work. His micro-targeting of specific important but small
groups of people with highly defined interests and motivations is what
wins elections when 2% difference is a modern landslide. But the key
word there is "specific". You can't woo people in a micro-climate with
vagueness.

And based on that, we now know that not emphasizing cyber security was a
huge mistake by at least one election team - Romney's. The scores in
Fairfax County were beyond lopsided in Obama's favor. A little
fear-mongering about cyber and the impact of defense cuts on the cyber
industrial complex could have gone a long way. (Obama visited George
Mason at least twice but his particular target in his speeches if you
listen to them was women's votes, not cyber, even though George Mason is
in a key area and tightly connected to the cyber security teams in the
area).

So what's next? One thing is clear from the massive amounts of
introspection which have occurred over the electoral season: Obama is
heavily engaged with the cyber world. From utilizing it as part of his
re-election campaign, to participating directly in FEMA's cyber
exercises, to proposing executive orders to help protect critical
infrastructure, to whatever "Olympic Games" is - America has never had a
President or Administration with this level of attention to detail on
cyber security. That can only be a good thing going forward another four
years for this industry.

So while the future is uncertain, there is at least, hope.
 

-dave


-- 
INFILTRATE - the world's best offensive information security conference.
April 2013 in Miami Beach
www.infiltratecon.com

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