-- Calvin and Hobbes courtesy of Bill Waterson

None of us wants to be judged by our worst act on our worst day, and we consistently judge Burr for that. He was not a perfect man, but he's not a villain. He's a dude, just a guy.

 -- Leslie Odom, Jr.

What if the worst day of your life ended up being just another Zoom meeting on someone else’s calendar? What if that day ended up being a part of a data breach due to a cyberattack from someone half a world away who didn’t know or care anything about you or the impact it would have on your life and the lives of those around you? How important are the people who are protecting the mechanisms of judicial branch of government? It may not be something that we cared about when everything worked the way we were used to… but when anyone with a good internet connection and a a few hacking tools can become part of the justice system… things get a bit more complicated.

On this week’s No Name Security podcast Matt Stephenson welcomes New Jersey Courts CISO Sajed Naseem for a chat about what it takes to secure an operation that affects the daily lives of over 10,000 employees, 100,000+ attorneys, police officers and government officials… and, not for nothin’… the entire population of the state of New Jersey. Think a CISO’s job is tough? How about being the CISO who is protecting the data of an entire state… while being a Knicks fan.

About Sajed Naseem

Sajed Naseem is the Chief Information Security Officer of New Jersey Courts. Saj has over 20 years of experience with information security and information technology. As the CISO of the New Jersey Courts, Naseem has focused on cybersecurity readiness and performance, information governance, and network security. He holds master degrees from St. John’s University and Columbia University. Saj is routinely a speaker at cybersecurity conferences across the country, Europe, and with the New Jersey Bar Association. He is also an Adjunct Professor at St. John’s University in information security since 2010 and a native of New York City. Saj is a Knicks fan and thinks that they may have actually turned the corner… but… he is also a realist, so he’s waiting to see what happens next.

About Matt Stephenson

Matt Stephenson (@packmatt73) leads the Social Media team at Forescout, which puts me in front of people all over the world. Prior to joining Forescout, I hosted podcasts, videos and live events all over the world which put me with experts on every corner of the cybersecurity landscape. The new No Name Security Podcast will continue and expand upon that tradition as we seak out the leading minds in the security industry as well as those may break things every now again. And… just for fun, there will be some wildcard guests as well.

In 10 years in the ecosystem of Data Protection and Cybersecurity I have toured the world extolling the virtues of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and how, when applied to information security, these technologies can wrong-foot the bad guys. Prior to the COVID shutdown, I was on the road over 100 days a year doing live malware demonstrations for audiences from San Diego to DC to London to Abu Dhabi to Singapore to Sydney. One of the funniest things I've ever been a part of was blowing up a live instance of NotPetya 6 hours after the news broke... in Washington DC... directly across the street from FBI HQ... as soon as we activated it a parade of police cars with sirens blaring roared past the building we were in. I'm pretty sure they weren't there for us, but you never know...

Whether at in person events, live virtual events or podcasting, I get to interview interesting people doing interesting things all over the world of cybersecurity and the extended world of hacking. Sometimes, that means hacking elections or the coffee supply chain... other times that means social manipulation or the sovereign wealth fund of a national economy.

Wherever I go, my job is all about talking with the people who build, manage or wreck the systems that we have put in place to make the world go round...

If you tuned in to any of my previous podcasts, there’s great news! The No Name Security Podcast is here! I will be bringing the same kind of energy and array of guests you know and love. Best part? We’re still at the same spot. You can find it at Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music & Audible as well as, GooglePlay, Gaana, Himalaya, I Heart Radio and wherever you get your podcasts!

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