Sponsored by Offit | Kurman, Attorneys at Law, KatzAbosch, CPAs & mindgrub

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Forecasting the next decade of global opportunities and challenges in emerging technology

Alec Ross is a technology policy expert, former Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and author of the New York Times bestselling book The Industries of the Future. Drawing on its author’s years working in both the private and public sectors on issues involving innovation, public policy, international relations, and communications, The Industries of the Future maps out the sweeping global changes we can expect to see over the next ten years, addressing opportunities, challenges, and difficult questions along the way. Now in its sixth printing, the book covers emerging technologies in fields such as robotics, cybersecurity, genetics, banking, and defense. The New York Journal of Books lauded it as “a riveting and mind-bending book,” and Google CEO Eric Schmidt called Alec “one of those very rare people who can see patterns in the chaos and guidance for the road forward.” Alec is also currently distinguished visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins University.

Alec Ross spoke with citybizlist publisher Edwin Warfield for this interview.

EDWIN WARFIELD: As an advisor for Secretary Clinton, you must be well acquainted with the bleeding edge of weaponry and cyber threats. Can you give us a sense of the nature of those threats and how they are poised to grow or change over the next ten years?

ALEC ROSS: I think the weaponization of code is the most significant development and conflict since the weaponization of fissile material—the difference being that creating a nuclear weapon requires access to transuranium elements and the scarcest of scarce scientific talents. By contrast, for the creation of very powerful malware, the barrier to entry is far lower. I saw this in way too many meetings inside the White House Situation Room, being witness to both what very powerful malware was doing, as well as that which we averted. One of the things that I would use to frame this is that there are really three kinds of cyber attacks: confidentiality attacks, availability attacks, and integrity attacks.

Confidentiality attacks are cyber attacks that get inside our network surreptitiously and gain access to data that it ought not. An availability attack in many respects is the most mundane form of cyber attack: it’s like overwhelming a website with traffic, like in a DDoS attack, and rendering the site unusable.

The third kind of cyber attack, an integrity attack, is the most powerful form of cyber attack. This is the kind of attack that doesn’t just get surreptitious access to our systems and our data but it can break the systems and it can alter the data. We saw this, for example, on August of 2012 with a cyber attack launched against the world’s largest company by market cap, Saudi Aramco—an attack with its point of origin coming from Iran where the malware they got into Saudi Aramco systems wasn’t just trying to steal data; it was trying to manipulate data and break the systems, so much so that 30,000 Saudi Aramco computers ended up in a landfill.

The future of the weaponization of code for me is not just, “Oh, somebody got access to my accounts,” it’s, “Oh, somebody got access to my accounts and they actually changed the numbers—they actually manipulated and broke the systems. They just didn’t get illicit access to the systems.” And so I do think that these kinds of attacks I think portend a somewhat dark future in the cyber domain.

Today, in April of 2016, as I sit here, we live in a world of 16 billion networked devices. Four years from now, in April of 2020, that number is going to be 40 billion. So, as we go from a world of 16 billion to 40 billion networked devices, as we are creating all of this digital data, the cyber threats that grow will grow correspondingly.

Connect with Alec on LinkedIn

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Founded in 1969,  KatzAbosch is one of the largest CPA and business consulting services in the Mid-Atlantic region. Our mission is to provide the highest quality accounting, tax, financial and management consulting services to our clients. We understand the needs and challenges of our clients and we have made it our obligation to create, grow and protect asset value. The experts at KatzAbosch offer a full service solution while maintaining a tradition of ethics and incorporating the latest technology and unique business practices. Excellence in an industry often begins with how those closest to the company—its clients and employees—feel about it. For these individuals, KatzAbosch is a place where people and businesses excel and prosper. Our advisors can meet all of your service needs including; Audit & Accounting, Business Valuation & Litigation Support, Consulting, Estate Planning & Administration, Financial Institution Services, Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examinations, State and Local Tax (SALT), Taxes & Planning.

Mindgrub was founded in 2002 by a teacher-turned-technologist, and since then we have devoured every project to come across our plate. We are a team that solves client challenges by harnessing the newest technologies. We are not here to churn out code and pixels, we are here to pioneer new methods of learning and user interaction. You can see us leading the way at conferences like SXSW, TEDx, and NAB.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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