Marcus Sachs

Marcus Sachs is Verizon’s Vice President for National Security Policy, and the Vice Chair of the Communications Sector Coordinating Council.  He serves on several other public/private working groups in Washington and was a member of the CSIS Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency.  From 2003 to 2010 he volunteered as the Director of the SANS Internet Storm Center.  He retired from the U.S. Army in 2001 following a 20 year career and was subsequently appointed by the President to serve in the White House Office of Cyberspace Security in 2002-2003.  He holds degrees in Civil Engineering, Computer Science, and Science and Technology Commercialization, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Policy at George Mason University.  He authored and teaches a three-day course in Critical Infrastructure Protection at the SANS Institute and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

AusCERT2011 Presentation

Security of Large Technical Systems

The Industrial Age of the 19th and 20th Centuries was marked by the development and growth of machinery and technology designed to simplify or replace manual tasks.  Early simple methods of mechanization and automation led to highly complex systems that required new techniques for control and management to prevent catastrophic failure or destruction.  The post-World War II era, especially the early years of the Cold War, were characterized by an explosion of Large Technical Systems (LTSs), a term coined by technical historian Thomas Hughes in his book "Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society 1880 – 1930".  This talk looks at modern LTSs and asks a simple question:  Can they be secured?  In particular, can the Internet - the ultimate LTS - be secured?  Or have we literally built a Frankenstein Monster that demands a change in how we define "security" in order to tame it?