Dave Cullinane, CISO, eBay Marketplaces
Predictive Security Marketplaces
eBay Marketplaces CISO Dave Cullinane on Combating "Bot" Armies, Man-in-the-Middle Attacks, Organized Crime, and Other Malicious Cybercrime
Few could have predicted the degree of success eBay, Inc. has achieved. Originating in the home of co-founder Pierre Omidyar in 1995 as an online garage sale, eBay has over 13,000 employees, 2007 forecasted revenue in excess of $7 billion, and millions of members who buy and sell in 38 different marketplaces globally. When the data is tallied, eBay is one of the most successful, if not the most successful, Internet companies in the world.
Even fewer could have predicted the growth of cybercrime and its ascendance as a core business driver for eBay today. Just as the number of users and the number of goods traded on eBay are in the millions--there are over 100 million listings at any given point in time and approximately $14.5 billion in goods is traded quarterly by more than 240 million members--the number of security attacks run into the millions annually.
Enter Dave Cullinane, the chief information security officer of eBay Marketplaces and a modern-day IT security seer. Not unlike the augurs of ancient Rome who interpreted auspices as a means for predicting the outcome of all major undertakings, Cullinane and his team at eBay interpret the "auspices" of the security landscape in order to predict the types and nature of future Internet threats. This predictive security model helps ensure that eBay stays several steps in front of the cyber criminals, making them play from a position of weakness - a scenario of endless catch up.
"Livelihood-critical" security
The enormity of the security threat eBay faces is almost mind-boggling. "We see over four million security attacks annually, not run-of-the-mill but sophisticated attempts to break in," Cullinane says. "We've spent a lot of time analyzing what's happening in our own world of Trust and Safety, an area on the eBay Web site for keeping the Marketplaces safe. And we have some pretty phenomenal security protections in place. Indeed, of the millions of attacks we receive each year, only a couple make it past the first perimeter."
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Security in the 38 eBay marketplaces is a "livelihood-critical" activity for not only eBay but many of its members. Cullinane explains: "Of our 240 million users, over 1.3 million are what we call 'primary sellers' and 'secondary sellers', individuals and businesses that make all, or significant pieces of, their living off of eBay. As a result, maintaining the integrity of trading and communications in the eBay community is critical to these 'power' users."
"Tony Soprano" factor
Cullinane, who is widely recognized as a technology thought leader, has more than 30 years of experience in IT security, serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards for CSO Magazine and SC Magazine, and is a former International President of the Information Systems Security Association. Yet, because of an ever-changing security landscape and the accelerating severity and frequency of attacks, he must draw upon and continually expand the breadth of his experience and expertise.
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