Digital Defense ─ A Cybersecurity Primer

Drs. Pelton and Singh warn of the increasing risks of cybercrime and lay out a series of commonsense precautions to guard against individual security breaches. This guide clearly explains the technology at issue, the points of weakness and the best ways to proactively monitor and maintain the integrity of individual networks. Covering both the most common personal attacks of identity fraud, phishing, malware and breach of access as well as the larger threats against companies and governmental systems, the authors explain the vulnerabilities of the internet age. As more and more of life's transactions take place online, the average computer user and society at large have a lot to lose. All users can take steps to secure their information. Cybercrime is so subtle and hidden, people can ignore the threat until it is too late. Yet today about every three seconds a person is hit by some form of cyber attack out of the blue. Locking the “cyber-barn door” after a hacker has struck is way too late. Cyber security, cyber crime and cyber terrorism may seem to be intellectual crimes that don't really touch the average person, but the threat is real. Demystifying them is the most important step and this accessible explanation covers all the bases.

Indu B. Singh, Ph.D., is currently Vice President of Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA) and head of its Washington, D.C. Operations. His responsibilities include expanding LATA’s presence in the Security and Public Safety sectors, both domestically and internationally. He also serves as Executive Director of LATA’s Global Institute for Security Training (GIST). Indu served as Director for Systems Engineering and WMD for Deloitte USA. Previously, he served as a Managing Partner at Bearing Point, a publicly traded company, prior to its acquisition by Deloitte Consulting.

Dr. Singh is considered a pioneer in the designing and implementing Smart Cities and Safe Cities around the world as well as Urban Security. In 2009 he joined with Dr. Pelton in writing Future Cities as a project for the Intelligent Community Forum headquartered in New York City. In 2014 he again teamed with Dr. Pelton to write The Safe City: Living Free in a Dangerous World. Dr. Singh has published several books on communications, IT systems and security and is a former faculty member of Rutgers University. He is also a former Strategic Director for James Martin and Associates, a global information engineering corporation. Dr. Singh is a recognized expert on solution engineering, health IT, cyber security and public safety.

Joseph N. Pelton, Ph.D., is the principal of Pelton Consulting International. He is the former Dean and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Space University and Director Emeritus of the Space and Advanced Communications Research Institute (SACRI) at George Washington University. Dr. Pelton was the Director of the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado from 1988 to 1997, and at the time it was the largest such graduate program in the U.S. He previously held various executive positions at Intelsat and Comsat, including serving as Director of Project SHARE and Director of Strategic Policy for Intelsat. Intelsat’s Project SHARE gave birth to the Chinese National TV University. Dr. Pelton was the founder of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation and remains as the Vice Chairman on its Board of Directors. He was also the founding President of the Society of Satellite Professionals (SSPI) and has been recognized in the SSPI Hall of Fame. He has served as President of the Arlington County Civic Federation, as a member of its Long Range Planning Commission that initiated “smart growth” in Arlington and is also Chair of the IT Advisory Commission for Arlington County.
Pelton is a widely published award winning author with some 40 books written, co-authored or co-edited. His Global Talk won the Eugene Emme Literature Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He is on the Advisory Board of the World Future Society and also frequently speaks and writes as a futurist. Dr. Pelton is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a Fellow of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS).