Tech Refresh - Ambient Computing and the IT "new normal"

Ambient Computing and the IT “new normal” Tech Refresh
West Point
26 September, 2019
James Stanger, PhD
Chief Technology Evangelist

Copyright (c) 2019 CompTIA Properties, LLC. All Rights Reserved. | CompTIA.org
We’ll be talking about:
• Major trends in the IT industry
• The “northward drift” in expected skillsets
• You need to know the fundamentals – and a lot of
advanced stuff, too!
• The primary IT industry challenge: Workforce “Quality”
and “Quantity” and issues
Our Agenda

James Stanger, PhD
Chief Technology Evangelist – CompTIA A+, Network+,
Security+, MCSE, LPI LPIC 1, Symantec STA
Works with IT pros, managers and executives worldwide
• Cloud deployments
• Security analytics
• Penetration testing
• Vulnerability management
• Intrusion detection
• Linux and open source
• SIEM configuration
• Network administration
• Blockchain
• Web technologies
(e.g., HTTP, Web browsers)
• Help desk / service desk / tech support issues
Your Presenter…
CompTIA Web page: https://tinyurl.com/y94u3v7j
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jamesstanger
Twitter: @jamesstanger
Twitter:
@jamesstanger

Major trends in the IT industry

Ambient computing
• Context-aware computing: “Presencing 2.0”
• Information you generate and use moves
from:
• Environment to environment
• Machine to machine
• Classroom to classroom
• Technology monitors you
• Automated changes, based on AI and
Machine Learning (ML)
• The result? Hyper-personalization

Unprecedented connectivity
• Operational Technology
• Industrial Control
Systems (ICS) and SCADA
• Distributed Control System
• AV over IP
• Internet of Things (IoT)
ICS
DCS
SCADA
OT

Cloud adoption and implementation
• After much talk,
we’re seeing actual adoption
over the past 5 years
• Part of the “fourth industrial revolution”
• Pre-defined services, containers and
orchestration
• Requires significant integration experience
that few organizations have
• You need savvy admins and developers
• No credible cloud services can completely automate
AI, ML, blockchain, or security
Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum

Automation
Automation
• The use of tech to automatically:
• Launch, under
conditions
• Improve itself
• Respond to situations
• Communicate with other
machines and other people
• Containers
• Orchestration
• Intended and unintended results
Artificial
Intelligence
Machine
Learning
Deep
Learning
KubernetesDocker

AI and its uses
 What is AI good at (so far)?
– Brute force computing
– Sifting through data / research
– Quick connections
– Suggesting trends
 What is it bad at (so far)?
– Emotional intelligence
– Drawing inferences
– Contextualization
– Persuasion
– Unexpected issues
– Summarizing and writing
Humans happen to be really good at
these things – given that:
• They have the support
• They have enough time
Or, are we all going to need a
Univeral Basic Income (UBI)?

Network tech
• Distributed technology models
• Capturing data where it is generated
• Edge
• 5G
• Strategic IT
• Powerful technology available to groups
and individuals on an unprecedented scale
• Rapid deployment
• Digital-human hybrid models

Databases / Search / data science
 Databases
– SQL
– NoSQL
 Search
– Methods
– Monetization
 Data science
– Analytics
– Business intelligence

Data science / business intelligence
 The commoditization of
– Business intelligence
– Analytics
 Considerations
– Learn about data science / business
intelligence
– Spend time learning the business
– Identify transactional job skills
– Focus on consultative approaches

Linux 2.0?
 Drives the cloud
 The tool of choice for
– Pen testers / red teamers
– Security analysts
– Data scientists (e.g., Hadoop)
 Mobile development (Android)
 You need to secure Linux systems,
too
– Web
– CRM

What does all of this change mean
to us?

A “leftward shift” in skills found in IT job roles
 Notice the
specific skills
 More are
necessary than
ever before
– Cloud
– Troubleshooting
– Emerging tech
 And don’t forget
soft skills!
A “drift northward”

Common trends
• Skipping steps in the software
development cycle
• Shadow IT / Bring your own IT
• Not managing devices properly
• No encryption
• No or poor authentication
• Rapid deployment of new technologies
workers don’t fully understand
• Organizations receiving data that they
aren’t properly securing

The result?
• Upstream issues
• Privacy issues
• Penalties (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA)
• Loss of consumer confidence
• Attacks
• Ransomware, credential harvesting
• DDoS
• Forms of “technical debt”
• Organizations often can’t fix problems that they
have created by using IoT, Cloud, and other
solutions
• Security workers are asked to fix this problem
Toxic IT?
In addition to
the positives . . . . Code
Complexity Monocultures

The primary IT industry challenge:
Workforce “Quality” and “Quantity”
and issues

Fundamentals
• I often hear from CIOs, CISOs, and hiring managers that
potential hires “just don’t have the fundamentals.”
• How today’s “end points” work
• Troubleshooting
• MAC addresses . . . . ARP
• Network knowledge
• Subnetting
• VLANs
• DNS resolution
• Databases and search
• People skills “You’ve got to know the territory!”

Today’s infrastructure skills
• Analytics
• Modern pen testing
• Threat hunting
• Information management
• Ability to identify “rogue”
services and “shadow IT”
• Security Automation and
Orchestration
• Kubernetes
• Docker
• SIEM tools

Monitoring skills – an example
 Capture
– Network traffic
– Host traffic
 Slice
– Obtain only
relevant information
– Tools
 Dice
– Sort traffic
– Identify trends
– Visualize trends
– Issue alerts
Capture
Slice
Dice
tcpxtract
Tcpslice
sniffit
SSLsniff
Tcpstat
SIEM tools
AlienVault OSSIM
Security Onion

What we need – now
• We need individuals who understand
• System diversity
• Incident response
• How information flows from one
system to another
• How to identify false positives
• Complex, multi-vendor situations
• Teamwork is essential
• Complex reasoning
• Emotional intelligence
• Presentation skills
• Writing skills

The need for educational standards

Technical skills
• Device diversity
• Typical client/server, web
• IoT, SCADA, embedded, mobile
• Mainframes
• Security / cybersecurity
• Network operations
• Project management
Educational models
• Hands-on, practical training
• Multiple learning modalities
• Mentoring
• Apprenticeships
Soft skills
• Emotional intelligence
• Business management
• Complex thinking
• Time management
• Teamwork and Conflict resolution
• Adaptability
Business support knowledge
• How information flows through a company
• Analytics / business intelligence
• Consultative thinking
In-demand skills for tech workers

Education
Standards
• Courses
• Certifications
• Pathways
• Infrastructure
• Cybersecurity
• Based on input
from thousands
of subject matter
experts worldwide

https://certification.comptia.org/why-certify/roadmap

The Skills needed to combat today’s cybersecurity
threats (RSA)
Automated Pen Testing
(Admin Magazine)
Two sides of the same coin: Pen testing and
security analytics
What’s hot in network certifications
(NetworkWorld)
Escaping the Cybersecurity Metrics Matrix
(CompTIA)
Private Eye: Open source tools for automated
pen testing Admin Magazine
Thoughts about the help desk
(YouTube)
The Hunt for the Meaning of the Red team
(CompTIA)
The IT security disconnect (HP Enterprise)
A blockchain manifesto? A report from
the RSA 2018 Blockchain Focus Group
Cloud Orchestration with Chef
Admin Magazine
No more close shaves: Talking end
user security
How CIOs can optimize ITSM software
(SearchCIO)
Vulnerability management: How to target
bug bounty programs
(TechTarget)
My career change journey: The importance
of networking
The role of the service desk in the
cybersecurity kill chain (HDI)
How to prevent insiders from breaching
your data (Forbes)
Threat Hunting with Yara
Admin Magazine
10 critical security skills every IT team needs
(interview, CIO Magazine)
How AI can help you stay ahead of
cybersecurity threats (CSO Magazine)
Don’t hack me, bro! (Admin Magazine)
At the hop: Security testing with hping3
(Linux Magazine)
The Internet of
Things (IoT) and
Technical Debt: Why
It Matters
(CompTIA)
James Stanger, PhD
jstanger@comptia.org
+1 (360) 970-5357
Twitter: @jamesstanger
Skype: stangernet
My CompTIA hub:
https://certification.comptia.org/it-career-news/hub/James-Stanger
Thank You!
Latest articles and blog entries:
Putting AI and ML to work (CompTIA)
What is the difference between IT security and
cybersecurity? (CompTIA)
Observations at RSA San Francisco 2019
(CompTIA)
Moving to the Cloud:IT
Infrastructure and
Cybersecurity skills
required (CompTIA)
Where the Wild
Things Are:
Investigating
Browser-based Brute
Force Attacks
(Forthcoming –
October, 2019,
Admin Magazine)
How Technical Debt
Can Damage
Business
Agility and
Competitiveness
(ITPro, UK)
Cloud Seeding: A
Cloud Computing
Tutorial (CompTIA)

Tech Refresh - Ambient Computing and the IT "new normal"

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Tech Refresh - Ambient Computing and the IT "new normal"