In this episode of CHATTINN CYBER, Marc Schein interviews Kenneth Rashbaum, a Queens native who has led the way in developing and navigating the broad field of cybersecurity and data privacy. Pulling from his diverse portfolio of education and experience, Rashbaum uses his background to involve himself comprehensively within everything that the cybersecurity world touches. Kenneth has served on e-discovery councils advocating for best practices in the exchange of international digital evidence within complex litigation. While making advancements within this field, Rashbaum was appointed to several leadership roles.  He sat as faculty for the Federal Judicial Center and for the Georgetown Advanced E-Discovery Institute, and also acted as a special consultant to the New Jersey Assembly in preparation for the state’s first comprehensive privacy and cybersecurity bill. Additionally, Ken testified before the New Jersey Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee, using his expertise in cybersecurity and privacy to serve his current home state.

Kenneth Rashbaum’s involvement within the financial field occurs most frequently when the Fordham law professor educates leaders and CEOs concerning the relationship between digital security and information privacy. Rashbaum works with these companies and organizations to ensure that internal policy meets state and national law in addition to client safeguard requirements for data protection and privacy expectations. With an expertise in organizing and negotiating technology contracts, Kenneth has helped many companies gain profitable business opportunities.

In the interview, Rashbaum discusses his approach to a well-implemented cybersecurity plan primarily as an offensive move and secondarily as a defensive one in response to a data incident. A company or organization should assess the potential risk of an attack and implement preventative actions before any red flags appear. In his expert opinion, a mature cybersecurity program includes the following core elements:

Taking inventory of and understanding the reason for current data
Noting where data is stored
Assessing whether it is protected by specific law
Knowing who has access to it
Creating a plan to safeguard the data

While some companies are only beginning to actualize a plan as Rashbaum advises, Marc Schein’s interview reveals that Kenneth has been an eye-witness to the relationship between cybersecurity and data privacy since HIPAA enacted compliance laws decades ago. “HIPAA,” explains Rashbaum “is where privacy and cybersecurity regulation in the United States started. It is the only nationwide comprehensive privacy and cybersecurity law with implementing regulations that we have—[t]he U.S. is very sectoral while the rest of the world has overall privacy and security regulation.”

Marc and Kenneth chat about some of the current political issues that cause a divide on cybersecurity ideology. “[Both Democrats and Republicans] think federal privacy and cybersecurity law is a necessary,” begins Rashbaum. “So there is no debate about the ends, there’s a debate about the means.”

Will the country come to a consensus on universal cybersecurity implementation? Does your company have in place an updated and effective policy for data protection and breach prevention? Consider these questions as you listen to Marc Schein’s interview with Kenneth Rashbaum in this episode of CHATTINN CYBER.