Contact: icas@tuj.temple.edu

Temple University Japan ICAS/Center for Rules-making Strategies Tama University
Ransomware, Cybercrime, and Cyberattacks: Understanding the Situation for Japan and overseas
Speakers

Dr. Lior Tabansky
Head of Research Development
The Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center
Tel Aviv University

Scott Jarkoff
Director, Strategic Threat Advisory Group APJ & EMEA
CrowdStrike Japan

John Kirch
Senior Vice President
Uppsala Security Japan



Moderators
Robert Dujarric
Co-Director, ICAS, Temple University Japan
Tom O'Sullivan
Mathyos Advisory

Tuesday 29 June 2021
16:00 - 17:30 Tokyo | 8:00 London | 9:00 Brussels | 10:00 Tel Aviv | 21:00 Hawaii

Overview

Recently several private and public institutions in Japan and overseas have suffered devastating cyber and ransomware attacks on their technology systems. The most recent attacks include the Colonial Oil Pipeline in the USA, Air India, Toshiba, Sony, and Fujitsu in Japan, and the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE, Ireland's public health care system) to name but a few. These attacks have highlighted the impact of technology assaults on critical national infrastructure in a variety of countries. Early incidents in Iran, Israel, the United States involving suspected state-organized attacks were seen as examples of the development of new weapons to undertake sabotage and intelligence gathering, activities that have been around for millennia. But the attacks on vital government and corporate entities by what appears to be criminal gangs adds another dimension to the equation (though ties to governments are not outside of the realm of possibilities). The demand for ransoms to be paid in cryptocurrencies also adds a new dimension to this escalating cycle of devastating international cyber terrorism. Japan is also slated to host the Olympic Games in July, an event that could attract significant attention from the cyber terrorism community. North Korean actors are also playing a major role in this illegal activity.

Speakers

Dr. Lior Tabansky offers a unique cybersecurity grasp, combining a Political Science Ph.D., business experience in formulating cyber strategies, and 15 years of IT-pro work. Dr. Tabansky is the Head of Research Development of Tel Aviv University's Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center, where he leads two research projects:

1. PROGRESS: Promoting Global Cyber Resilience for Sectors and Societies.

Leveraging the science of networks and complex socio-technical systems, the new Cyber-Capability Maturity Model analyses a sector of the economy as a whole. Moreover, the expert-led assessment results in actionable ‎ Progression Paths tailored for the sector. Large-scale sustainable development projects adopt the PROGRESS model for cross-border Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP.)

2. Hostile Influence Operations via Social Media: evidence from Western-Russian encounters. The research focuses on the gaps in assessing the presumed effects on behavior.

Lior's doctoral dissertation uncovered the failed peacetime defense adaptation, which exposed nations to cyberattacks on strategic homeland targets.

"Cybersecurity in Israel," Lior's 2015 book co-authored with Professor Isaac Ben-Israel, is the first comprehensive "insider" account of decades of Israeli cyber policy and its origins.


Scott Jarkoff directs CrowdStrike's Asia-Pacific & Japan (APJ), and EMEA threat intelligence business, serving on a global team entrusted with empowering sales of CrowdStrike's world renowned, best-of-breed, government-grade intelligence and 24/7 threat hunting capabilities across the Falcon X and OverWatch platforms. He advises and guides customers on methods for operationalizing and integrating threat intelligence and threat hunting within a holistic cyber security and intelligence strategy. He also demonstrates the value actionable threat intelligence and threat hunting provides in today's threat landscape.


At Uppsala Security, John Kirch, based in Tokyo, manages sales and business development efforts of Sentinel Protocol, a proven, award-winning suite of software tools and services developed by Uppsala Security and powered by artificial intelligence, blockchain, and machine learning technologies, enabling organizations to deploy advanced software solutions for Cryptocurrency AML "Anti-Money Laundering", Regulatory Compliance Analytics, KYC/KYT Risk Analysis, Transaction Monitoring/Tracking, and Cyber Security protecting cryptocurrencies and other digital assets from malicious attacks, scams, and fraud; in addition, Uppsala Security provides victims of crypto crime with forensics services analyzing incidents related to crypto exchange hacking, investment fraud, and other illegal transactions.


Webinar Access

To register, please RSVP to icas@tuj.temple.edu
Registration not required but helpful for organizers.
Join for free with the following link:
https://temple.zoom.us/j/96597841213
Meeting ID: 965 9784 1213


Sponsors
ICAS
Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies
www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/

CRS
Center for Rule-making Strategies, Tama University
https://crs-japan.org/en/about-us/