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The recent breach of the Change Healthcare platform serves as a strong reminder that the healthcare sector remains extremely vulnerable to different types of attacks. In late February, a ransomware gang known as Black Cat claimed responsibility for hacking Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. The intruders disrupted operations and stole up to four terabytes of data, including personal information, payment details, insurance records, and other sensitive information. It is also reported that a ransom payment of $22 million was made. What is even more concerning is that Change Healthcare is being extorted again by another ransomware group. Incidents such as this jeopardize the survival of countless healthcare providers nationwide due to delays in patient care and delays in making reimbursements. This hack generated massive economic and legal shockwaves across the US healthcare industry, from major industry players to small-town, rural physician practices. In this episode, Amer Deeba, CEO and Co-founder at Normalyze joins me to review the state of cyber security and maturity of the healthcare industry and talk about proactive defense strategies to fortify sensitive healthcare data.
Action Items
Quantify the value of sensitive data assets and identify the highest risk areas.Implement continuous monitoring and controls where sensitive data resides.Connect data security priorities to organizational mission and goals to gain leadership buy-in.Innovate solutions focused on data visibility, classification, access controls, and continuous auditing.Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
03:18 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
04:19 -- State of Cybersecurity Maturity in the Healthcare Industry
9:01 -- Consequences of healthcare data leak
10:54 -- Challenges of securing healthcare data
12:03 -- Practical strategies for securing healthcare data
18:07 -- A proactive approach to securing healthcare data
21:55 -- Best practices
29:21 -- Making the business case
32:46 -- Closing Thoughts
Memorable Amer Deeba Quotes/Statements
"We're expecting that by 2026, about 175 zettabytes of data will be available across multiple types of cloud environments."
"It all starts by understanding where are your most important and critical assets, where are your crown jewels, and whether you are able to understand at any point in time where this information is, who has access to that information, how can they access that information? Do you have the right controls and mechanisms in place in order to secure it, to understand the value of it for your organization and make sure that it's fortified from such attacks."
"With data exploding and moving everywhere, between environments and between cloud and SaaS applications and on-prem, this is the new frontier for attackers."
"You're not boiling the ocean; you are prioritizing based on where your most sensitive information is, and you are making sure there are no attack paths to this data."
Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee and Subscribe to the Podcast
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Website:
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The fast-evolving quantum computing phenomenon represents a paradigm shift in how computers process data. Due to its ability to process vast amounts of data and solve complex problems at an unprecedented speed, quantum computing holds great promise for new material discovery through the simulation of physical systems, portfolio optimization in finance, and more. It also poses a significant threat to cybersecurity, requiring a change in how we encrypt our data. Even though quantum computers don’t technically have the power to break most of the current forms of encryption yet, we need to stay ahead of the threat and come up with quantum-proof solutions now. If we wait until those powerful quantum computers start breaking our encryption, it will be too late. I had the pleasure of discussing the quantum computing phenomenon and its cybersecurity implications with Duncan Jones, Head of Cybersecurity, at Quantinuum. We discussed the potential threats and opportunities of quantum computing for cybersecurity, as well as its potential to revolutionize various industries. We recognized the need for new algorithms resistant to quantum computing, staying ahead of technological innovations, investing in cybersecurity measures, and prioritizing the migration of sensitive data to quantum-resistant algorithms.
Action Items
Assess organizational risk exposure from quantum computing threats like "store now decrypt later" attacks.Prioritize migration of sensitive long-term data to quantum-safe encryption.Speak to vendors about their roadmaps for quantum-safe migration.Explore available quantum random number generators and other quantum cybersecurity technologies through pilot programs and starter kits.Choose credible service providers who are partnering with reputed organizations and prove their claims.Raise awareness of quantum computing implications among leadership and get buy-in for piloting relevant quantum cybersecurity technologies.Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
01:59 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
06:19 -- Overview of Quantum Computing
08:19 -- Commercially Leveraging Quantum Computing
10:51 -- Evolution of Quantum Computing and Cyber Attacks
12:55 -- Recommendations on Leveraging Quantum Computing Benefits and Securing Data from Quantum Computing Enabled Cyber Attacks
17:49 -- Roadmap for Proactive Safeguards
23:34 -- Can quantum computing enabled encryption ensure that even if a human is a victim of a phishing attack, it will be hard to get into systems? Is that a fair aspiration?
26:38 -- What recommendations would you make for organizations who are trying to explore and adopt quantum computing?
29:19 -- Cybersecurity Challenges and Hurdles
32:52 -- Challenges of Quantum-Safe Migration
34:09 -- Cryptographic debt
37:32 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Duncan Jones Quotes/Statements
"I think of my career as a series of very fortunate accidents, rather than some very carefully planned out thing."
"Quantum computing as a different form of computation, as opposed to necessarily always a better form of computation."
"Leading companies are now starting to engage with quantum computing because they know they have to build the skill sets, they have to develop the intellectual property that will begin to deliver value in the not too distant future."
"Quantum computers are becoming more and more powerful every year."
"We'll actually see Quantum as a as a big benefit for cybersecurity, but we've got some headaches to get through...
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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In this podcast, I enjoyed talking with Chirag Shah, Model N's Global Information Security Officer and Data Privacy Officer, about creating a security-minded culture. Infusing a security culture within organizations starts with leadership buy-in and support. Chirag highlighted the need for interactive and engaging training programs tailored to specific departments, involving real-world examples and practical scenarios. He stressed the significance of fostering a security mindset among employees through daily reminders and reinforcement and leveraging free or low-cost resources to implement effective security awareness programs. Chirag also emphasized the need for a strategic approach to security and a security-minded culture where employees are empowered and responsible for maintaining a strong security posture.
Action Items
Develop an interactive that delivers bite-sized security awareness content, quizzes, and scores performance.
Organize escape room and security hackathon events as hands-on learning initiatives.
Contextualize training for specific employee roles and responsibilities.
Incorporate security into employees' goals and recognize adherence to policies.
Lead by example and make security part of a company's vision and operations
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
02:38 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
04:14 -- Why do you emphasize the importance of infusing a culture of security?
06:35 -- How do you create a security-minded culture?
09:42 -- How do organizations create engaging and effective cybersecurity awareness training to develop security-minded cultures and cyber hygiene habits among employees?
15:49 -- Personalizing security
19:49 -- Dealing with common challenges and hurdles associated with creating security-minded cultures.
27:53 -- How do you get top management buy-in?
29:05 -- Creating a culture of accountability
36:35 -- Treating cybersecurity as a strategic enabler
37:57 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Chirag Shah Quotes/Statements
"Security belongs to everyone, not just the security team. It's about embedding security awareness and responsibilities into the vision, mission, and day-to-day operations of all departments and employees."
"Security should become part of the daily goals for the execution of the business."
"Focus on security awareness training that is engaging, fun, and rewarding for employees, and move beyond annual compliance training to create a continuous security learning culture."
"When anyone asks, how big is your security team, I say about 1300 some people, right, because that's what my company is. All of them are our security team, and they are the security champions, and they helped me manage and drive the security program to the next level."
"What you want to do is implement a phased approach to security awareness training, starting with basic concepts and gradually increasing the complexity of those concepts."
"90% of the employees in US companies use laptops to conduct personal transactions, whether they're paying the credit card bill or they're booking travel tickets, they're all doing it online, and using a company laptop."
"Appoint security champions within different departments to assist in training and awareness."
"The message has to be very simple and to the point, so employees can understand and have an open dialogue."
"Implement pre-and post-training assessments and measure changes in employee knowledge."
"Leaders and managers should lead by...
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Student-led cybersecurity clinics are increasingly playing an essential role in strengthening the digital defenses of nonprofits, hospitals, municipalities, small businesses, and other under-resourced organizations in our communities while also developing a talent pipeline for cyber-civil defense. Sarah Powazek, Program Director - Public Interest Cybersecurity at the University of California, Berkeley Center for Long Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), sheds light on this important development. One of the highlights of the discussion was the recognition that the cybersecurity field is such a melting pot of different skill sets. In Sarah's words, "it's actually one of the biggest advantages we have; threats are changing every day. If we don't have folks from different backgrounds and different life experiences, we're really not going to be prepared; we're not going to be able to adapt."
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
01:46 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
04:35 -- Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC) Initiatives
06:13 -- Training students
07:20 -- How do the cybersecurity clinics benefit students?
09:11 -- Resources for Non-Profits and Under-Privileged Organizations
11:01 -- Types of Clients for Student-Run Cybersecurity Clinics
11:42 -- Guidance to universities who want to create student-led cybersecurity clinics
14:29 -- Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics
17:20 -- Not-technical roles in cybersecurity
18:46 -- Cybersecurity field is a melting pot of different skill sets
21:12 -- Different Cybersecurity Roles
23:32 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Sarah Powazek Quotes/Statements
"Cybersecurity clinics are modeled after medical and law school clinics."
"We're running programs where students will learn how to provide a cybersecurity maturity assessment. We accept students from all different majors, at least at UC Berkeley, it's very interdisciplinary. They spend the first part of the course learning all about cybersecurity and about the basics, basic cyber hygiene, multi-factor authentication, regular patching schedules, incident response plans, etc."
"There isn't a real clear academic pathway into cybersecurity."
"One of the big student-run clinics is the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. They operate as a student club; the students train each other, create programming, and engage with the clients, and they operate year-round. They've got a really interesting model for clinics where they're working with clients, but the students are really the ones taking on that responsibility. And the faculty advises them."
"We have a toolkit on the Consortium's website that actually has step-by-step instructions on how to design a clinic. How do you pick out the curriculum? "
"There's a couple of things that we really encourage folks to have, if they want to start up a clinic program, the first is a faculty champion."
"So we've really switched the focus and formed the consortium a number of years ago around centralizing resources, making it easier for folks around the country to start up programs, making the programs even better and more effective at both training students and providing real value to clients. And we have a goal of having a clinic in every state by 2030."
"I think that there are many people worldwide who care about the mission and protecting their communities but haven't gotten some of those skills yet. And anyone can learn. Anyone can learn cybersecurity. I truly believe that, I think people from all backgrounds provide something really valuable to the field."
"Cybersecurity is really a trade. It's something that anyone can learn."
"I'm starting to meet a lot of...
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Developing and maintaining resilient and secure data centers is a huge part of cybersecurity readiness. Spiros Liolis, Chief Technologist and Managing Consultant, EYP Mission Critical Facilities, Part of Ramboll, joins me to discuss the challenges and best practices of creating and maintaining state-of-the-art data centers. Topics covered include a) elements and attributes of resilient data centers, b) creating and maintaining a resilient and adaptive data center, and c) the different types of risks – geological, meteorological, and human – that must be considered when building and maintaining the data centers.
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
00:49 -- Setting the Stage and Context for the Discussion
01:54 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
02:56 -- Overview of Data Center Resiliency
05:41 -- Criticality of Data Centers
07:53 -- Key Elements of a Resilient Data Center
12:06 -- Build Your Own or Co-locate
15:00 -- Assessing the Effectiveness of a Data Center
19:32 -- Significance of Simulated Exercises/Tabletop Exercises
21:46 -- Importance of On-Site Visits
23:56 -- Technical, Commercial and Operational Due Diligence
26:17 -- Adaptive Design
28:32 -- Data Center Facility Locations
30:15 -- Best Practices & Final Thoughts
Memorable Spiros Liolis Quotes/Statements
"Everything we do today, as professionals and as consumers, relies heavily on data centers."
"There's a cloud of course, but nothing up there, 35,000 feet above the ground, is hosting servers. The cloud is practically data centers on Earth, right."
"What do we mean by secure and resilient data centers? will refer to the ability of essential data center infrastructure to withstand and recover from disruptions and ensure their continued operations."
"When we talk about potential threats, we need to think of them in terms of geological, meteorological, accidental, or even intentional risks. These are primarily the risk types we talk about when it comes to data center resiliency."
"The moment you power up a data center, you practically cannot shut it down."
"So the resiliency of a data center must consider how to build enough redundancy by design and by implementation into these data centers."
"So our methodology is to look at the different risk factors that may have an impact on the facility itself, whether it is your own, or whether it is being hosted; you need to evaluate, and measure the impact of different risks and these are geological risks, meteorological risks and human risks, whether accidental or unintentional."
"Nothing beats an on-site visit to check a data center's resiliency."
"So the hybrid design is really all about building the necessary critical infrastructure that capitalizes on multiple sources of energy."
"Education awareness is absolutely paramount. And that is probably one of our faults as well, data centers today are considered to be the naughty neighbors. I mean, they say, Oh, they're energy consuming, they take our water, they take our power; we as an industry need to educate our communities, we need to tell them what is it that we do. And of course, we need to make sure that we build them in a sustainable way, we'll use renewables, we will become community friendly. All of that must happen."
Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee and Subscribe to the Podcast
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Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) play a vital role in modern software development, enabling the integration of services and facilitating the exchange of information. The ubiquity of APIs is a testament to their success in supporting many functions. However, their prominence has also made APIs a target for cyberattacks. Jeremy Snyder, Founder & CEO of Firetail.io, joins me in discussing how to secure APIs effectively. Our discussion revolves around the following questions:
What do we need APIs for? Why do we need API security? What are the consequences of lax API security?
What are the risks of APIs today? How can we remedy current API security issues?
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
00:49 -- Setting the Stage and Context for the Discussion
02:26 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
04:37 -- Overview of APIs
09:12 -- Common API Security Risks and Vulnerabilities
12:29 -- Design with security in mind
13:23 -- Securing APIs
13:36 -- Integrating Security into the Development Process
13:52 -- Different Ways of Security Testing APIs
17:08 -- Vulnerability Monitoring and Promptly Acting on Alerts
19:22 -- Role of Humans in Acting on Vulnerability Alerts
21:33 -- Staying on the Right Side of the Law
23:37 -- Significance of Maintaining Logs
25:36 -- Selecting Robust APIs
27:59 -- Key Takeaways
28:57 -- API Governance
30:25 -- Zero Trust Approach
32:10 -- Use of APIs in Leveraging Large Language Models (AI)
33:41 -- API Governance and Taking Ownership
36:12 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Jeremy Snyder Quotes/Statements
"Application Programming Interface (API) -- It's basically the way two pieces of software talk to each other, that can be to send data from system A to system B, or that can be for system A to request system B to process something for it."
"We've got sensitive data crossing the wires over an API, but we've also got critical business functions like processing credit card transactions over an API."
"API's are pretty much happening behind the scenes, they enable a huge volume of interactions and transactions every day."
"So we've been cataloging the API data breaches for the last couple of years, these breaches go back about a decade or started about a decade ago, or let me say started to be recognized about a decade ago. And as we've catalogued them, we've kind of categorized them as well, to try to understand in each of these breach scenarios, what was the primary error or breach vector? How was the API breached? And if there's a secondary cause, or things like that, we look at that as well. Two of the main things that we see are are really authentication and authorization."
"Authorization turns out to be the number one root cause of data breaches around API's. And this has been true for many years now."
"Proactive security is always much cheaper than reactive security."
"From the proactive standpoint, the number one thing that any provider of an API can do is actually just check the API's before they go live."
"You should actually pen test your API's before they go live."
"Very often, we find that API's get shipped into production environments without going through either the static code analysis, or the pre launch testing."
"The average time that a vulnerability existed in a production environment before being patched and updated, was around 180 days."
"The best practice that we recommend to customers about reacting to the logs or the alerts or the suspicious conditions that you're seeing in your logs
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Attackers have started increasingly targeting victims' backups to prevent organizations from restoring their data. Veeam's "2023 Ransomware Trends Report" found more than 93% of ransomware attacks specifically targeted backup data. My discussion with Gabe Gambill, VP of Product and Technical Operations at Quorum, revolves around the following questions:
• What vulnerabilities of data backups do ransomware hackers exploit?
• What are the common mistakes and barriers when recovering against a ransomware attack?
• How to successfully recover from a ransomware attack?
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
00:49 -- Setting the Stage and Context for the Discussion
01:41 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
02:16 -- Revisiting Ransomware Attacks
03:24 -- Phishing, the Primary Delivery Method for Ransomware
04:33 -- Ransomware Attack Statistics
05:34 -- Payment of Ransom
06:51 -- Protecting and Defending from Ransomware Attacks
08:07 -- Franchising Ransomware
08:51 -- Last Line of Defense against a Ransomware Attack
10:23 -- Data Backups and Prioritization
11:33 -- Data Recovery Best Practices
13:31 -- Holistic Approach to Tabletop Exercises
14:40 -- Significance of Practicing the Data Recovery Process
14:48 -- Common Mistakes and Barriers when Recovering from a Ransomware Attack
18:47 -- Being Appropriately Prepared For Disaster Recovery
20:38 -- Vulnerability Management
21:37 -- Reasons for Not Being Proactive
24:48 -- CISO Empowerment
25:54 -- Cross-Functional Involvement and Ownership
26:56 -- CISO as a Scapegoat
28:43 -- Multi-factor Authentication
29:47 -- Best Practices to Recover from Ransomware Attacks
31:26 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Gabriel Gambill Quotes/Statements
"The next logical step was ransomware, where they're taking your data, and they're literally encrypting it right from under your nose and holding you accountable, so that they can get money out of you to give you back your own data."
"More people are paying and not talking about it, which is the worst thing you can do in that situation."
"80% of people that are hit with ransomware are hit again. So if I'm the ransomware person, who am I going to attack? I'm going to attack Caesars Palace (hotel in Las Vegas) again, I know they're going to pay. So there's the trade off there between the right thing to do and the hard thing to do."
"The last line of defense are your backups. So it's like an onion, you're gonna have multiple layers of defense, you're gonna have security layers on your perimeter, you're gonna have antivirus, you're gonna have endpoint protection, you're gonna have things such as network scans. There's all kinds of things you can do to provide layers of protection into your environment."
"The ransomware attack is not through vulnerabilities as much as through phishing. And because of that, people are the weakest link in your security plan, inevitably, it's going to happen to everybody."
"The most common thing that I've found is when they recover from ransomware, they don't contact their insurance first. And the bad part about that, whether you're going to pay whether you're not going to pay, if you didn't contact your insurance first, chances are, they're not going to pay you back."
"The other big mistake I see is people rushing the recovery to get back online versus getting back online safely."
"On the technical side, the mistakes that I often see people make is they want everything to be integrated and simple. And there is a level for that in your production environment that is...
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While tabletop exercises (TTX) are considered a proven tool for finding gaps in an organization’s security posture, they can be painstakingly challenging to plan and implement effectively. In a time where information security teams are understaffed and overworked, are TTX still worth the time and resources? Or are there other ways of ensuring incident response readiness? Navroop Mitter, the CEO of ArmorText, a mobile security and privacy startup, sheds light on the various aspects of tabletop exercises and their effectiveness as a preparedness tool.
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
00:49 -- Setting the Stage and Compelling Stats
02:48 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
05:12 -- Overview of Tabletop Exercises
07:15 -- Comparing Tabletop Exercises to Simulation
11:12 -- Benefits of Running a Tabletop Exercise
12:36 -- Table Top Exercise Resources
15:18 -- Legal Representation in Tabletop Exercises
17:07 -- Doing Tabletop Exercises Right
23:20 -- Mistakes To Be Avoided
29:14 -- Building Resilient Communication Capabilities
34:28 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Navroop Mitter Quotes/Statements
"A tabletop is a tool for organizations seeking to enhance their cyber resilience and readiness. It helps you develop muscle memory and identify gaps in your existing plans or other opportunities for enhancement."
"Unfortunately, too often, tabletops are seen as something the cyber folks do alone in their dungeons. But they're just as essential for C-suite senior leadership and the board."
"When we're helping organizations think through tabletops, or the simulations they're going to run, whether it's a very quick, lightweight discussion around the table, or a much more nuanced, immersive simulation, we're asking them to assemble stakeholders like senior leadership board members, IT and security teams, public relations, communications teams, legal counsel, human resources and finance together. This is not about the technologist. It's not just about security. This is about operational resilience. And that means the entire organization."
"When you test your IR plan, even without having a formal team in place, just testing the IR plan alone was nearly as effective; you still had 48 days saved just by having rehearsed and tested your plan, just by having run the playbook before, and understanding what it was to be in that scenario, or something similar to it."
"I think the need of the hour is increased executive and senior leadership involvement."
"Done right, tabletops are actually there to help you prepare for managing regulatory litigation and reputational concerns that often follow these events."
Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee and Subscribe to the Podcast
Please subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any new episodes! And please leave the show a rating if you like what you hear. New episodes are released every two weeks.
Connect with Dr. Chatterjee on these platforms:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchatte/
Website: https://dchatte.com/
Cybersecurity Readiness Book: https://www.amazon.com/Cybersecurity-Readiness-Holistic-High-Performance-Approach/dp/1071837338
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As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies continue to evolve and be leveraged, organizations need to make a concerted effort to safeguard their AI models and related data from different types of cyber-attacks and threats. Chris Sestito (Tito), Co-Founder and CEO of Hidden Layer, shares his thoughts and insights on the vulnerabilities of AI technologies and how best to secure AI applications.
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
01:48 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
03:55 -- AI is both a cure and a disease
04:49 -- Vulnerabilities of AI
07:01 -- Hallucination Abuse
10:27 -- Recommendations to secure AI applications
13:03 -- Identifying Reputable AI security experts
15:33 -- Getting Rid of AI Ethics Teams
19:18 -- Top Management Involvement and Commitment
Memorable Chris Sestito Quotes/Statements
"Artificial intelligence systems are becoming single points of failure in some cases."
"AI happens to be the fastest deployed and adopted technology we've ever seen. And that sort of imbalance of how vulnerable it is and how fast it's getting out into the world, into our hardware and software, is really concerning."
"When I talk about artificial intelligence being vulnerable, it's vulnerable in a bunch of ways; it's vulnerable at a code level, it's vulnerable at inference time, or essentially, at real time when it's making decisions, It's vulnerable at the input and output stages with the users and customers and the public interacting with your models, it's vulnerable over networks, it's vulnerable at a generative level, such as writing vulnerable code."
"Hallucination abuse would be the threat actor trying to manage and manipulate the scope of those hallucinations to basically curate desired outcomes."
"We should be holding artificial intelligence to the same standards that we hold other technologies."
"The last thing we want to do is slow down innovation, right? We want to be responsible here, but we don't want to stop advancing, especially when other entities that we can be competing against, whether that's in a corporate scenario, or a geopolitical one, we don't want to handcuff ourselves."
"If we're providing inputs and outputs to our models to our customers, they're just as available to threat actors. And we need to see how they're interacting with them."
"If you're bringing a pre trained model, and and you're going to further train it to your use case, scan it, use the solution to understand if there is code where it doesn't belong."
"If we're providing inputs and outputs to our models to our customers, they're just as available to threat actors. And we need to see how they're interacting with them."
"Red teaming models is a wonderful exercise but we also need to look at things that are a little bit more foundational to security before we get all the way to AI red teaming."
"The threats associated with artificial intelligence are the exact same threats that are associated with other technologies. And it's always people. It's always bad people who want to take advantage of the scenario and there's an enormous opportunity to do that right now."
Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee and Subscribe to the Podcast
Please subscribe to the podcast, so you don't miss any new episodes! And please leave the show a rating if you like what you hear. New episodes release every two weeks.
Connect with Dr. Chatterjee on these platforms:
LinkedIn:
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The latest disaster recovery statistics reveal that modern businesses still face costly interruptions due to a variety of threats, ranging from ransomware attacks to sudden hardware failures. The monetary costs of disasters and outages can be significant. According to results from Uptime Institute's "Annual Outage Analysis 2023" survey, 25% of respondents reported that their latest outage incurred more than $1 million in direct and indirect costs. In addition, 45% reported that the cost of their most recent outage ranged between $100,000 and $1 million. Another research report reveals that just over half of organizations have disaster recover plans and around 7% of organizations never test their disaster recovery plans. It was a real pleasure having Sagi Brody, Co-Founder and CTO at Opti9 on the podcast to shed light on the various aspects of disaster recovery and how to do it well.
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
00:54 -- Disaster Recovery Statistics and Guest Introduction
03:08 -- Guest's Professional Highlights
04:40 -- Overview of Disaster Recovery
09:12 -- How do you ensure that the disaster recovery infrastructure does not become the next security incident?
11:51 -- Disaster Recovery Best Practices
15:23 -- Around 7% of organizations never test their disaster recovery plan. Why is that the case? Why wouldn't organizations want to ensure that whatever they have documented whatever they have planned actually works?
19:49 -- How effective are tabletop exercises in the context of rehearsing for disaster recovery? Should organizations be doing more than tabletop exercises?
22:09 -- Disaster Recovery and Outsourcing
25:09 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Sagi Brody Quotes/Statements
"When you think of backups, I like to think of the word RECOVER. When you think of disaster recovery, I like to think of the word RESUME, you're not restoring data, you're resuming your business operations after a disruption."
"I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make is they sort of build their entire production infrastructure, or their application, get it all up and running, make it perfect. And then later on, they want to focus on disaster recovery."
"Imposing disaster recovery strategy on an already built, let's say, application is much more difficult than having resilience be part of your thought process as you go along building your production environment."
"We need Runbooks (or Playbooks) for what we do during a disaster. Not only that, but we need Runbooks for different types of disasters. If we need to fail over one application versus our entire environment, we need a separate Runbook for testing."
"Today, a lot of people have their applications highly integrated with third party SaaS platforms. So let's be sure that when we test our disaster recovery infrastructure, we're testing the applications, we're not poisoning our production data sitting somewhere else inadvertently."
"You have to be super careful when making decisions on what platforms, what vendors, what software you're using to build your applications and your infrastructure. When you make those decisions, you have to weigh them against your resilience framework and your security framework."
Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee and Subscribe to the Podcast
Please subscribe to the podcast, so you don't miss any new episodes! And please leave the show a rating if you like what you hear. New episodes release every two weeks.
Connect with Dr. Chatterjee
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In a very thought provoking discussion, Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert, Tony Hoang, Ph.D., traced the evolution of Gen AI, highlighted the many benefits, and also shared his concerns about the irresponsible and abusive use of this technology. What got my attention were the following realities:
Innovators often prioritize speed over responsible AI development, leading to potential negative consequences.How easy it is to create a software-generated duplicate of someone's voice or video avatar without their consent, using online content such as images and videos.There are no current safeguards to prevent someone from exploiting AI-generated images of someone else, making it a challenge for parents to advise their children on how to protect themselves.Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
00:49 -- Dr. Tony Hoang's Professional Highlights
02:47 -- AI's evolution, data science, machine learning, and generative AI
10:05 -- Generative AI and cybersecurity
14:07 -- AI and cybersecurity threats in the enterprise
18:45 -- AI-generated explicit content and its impact on teenagers
22:48 --AI-generated content and its potential impact on society
30:05 -- AI-generated fake reviews and their impact on businesses
34:55 -- The potential dangers and benefits of generative AI
Memorable Tony Hoang Quotes/Statements
"Right now, there is a big emphasis on the on the client-side of obviously, privacy and security, on the development side, there isn't primarily because of the fact that everyone wants to rush to the top."
"So, what they're doing is they are taking all of the responsible AI committees, all of the privacy committees, and they basically just laid everyone off in the past six months. And that's kind of frightening to see, because what that means is when you fire your responsible AI committee, what that signals is they want to go fast, because these committees actually slow them down in order to accomplish their goal."
"The stuff that really worries me the most about Gen AI isn't phishing attacks, or any of that stuff; my biggest fear right now is the replication of human images, or video or voices."
"One of the ways that you could use Gen AI to take down a competitor, you would go on their website onto the product review, hit it with AI generated responses and just flood it with negative one star or two star reviews. So that's a way to destroy a company's reputation using Gen AI, and we're actually seeing that right now."
"There's no way for anybody to detect AI generated content right now in an automated fashion."
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchatte/
Website: https://dchatte.com/
Cybersecurity Readiness Book: https://www.amazon.com/Cybersecurity-Readiness-Holistic-High-Performance-Approach/dp/1071837338
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A 2023 State of Vulnerability Management Report finds that only half of the surveyed organizations (51%) have, at best, a moderate level of visibility into vulnerabilities. Several other vulnerability management metrics, such as maturity levels, frequency of vulnerability scans, and patch deployment speed, reveal an alarming and troublesome trend. In this episode, Ashley Leonard, CEO at Syxsense, joins me in reviewing the research report findings and discussing vulnerability management challenges and best practices.
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
02:20 -- Ashley Leonard's Professional Highlights
04:00 -- Scope of Vulnerability Management
06:34 -- Human Vulnerability Factor
08:57 -- AI-enabled Phishing Attacks
09:32 -- Vulnerability Management Objectives
15:50 -- Continuous Vulnerability Scanning and Remediation
18:24 -- Practicality of Continuous Vulnerability Scanning
22:37 -- Securing All Attack Surfaces, Especially IoT Devices and Cloud Assets
25:57 -- Vulnerability Management Maturity Levels
31:33 -- Apparent Disconnect Between Scanning and Visibility
36:15 -- Promptly Acting On Vulnerability Report Findings
41:49 -- Selecting Appropriate Vulnerability Management Tools and Solutions
43:55 -- Vulnerability Management Best Practices
46:30 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Ashley Leonard Quotes/Statements
"We try and train most of our users not to log in an unknown USB device. But there have been cases where threat actors will take the USB devices and drop them in the parking lot of companies they're trying to breach. People will often pick up these USB sticks, wonder what's on it, walk into the office, and plug it in. It's shocking."
"I would share that patching should not be a monthly process. Many companies do this kind of, "Oh, it's Patch Tuesday, so we're gonna go and deploy our patch Tuesday patches to our organization." It's not even a weekly process, this should be a continuous process."
"New vulnerabilities are being published constantly, we have a whole threat research team that is constantly publishing new content. And if you're not scanning on a continuous basis, then your organization's exposed. So you really need to find technologies and partners that can do this kind of continuous vulnerability management for you."
"In the past, after a vulnerability was publicly announced, it typically took three to seven days before you started to see attackers actually weaponizing these vulnerabilities and attacking, which meant you kind of had a week or so to get your act together, deploy the patches and make sure your organization was safe. It's now down to 24 hours. And that's a problem. That's a huge problem for most organizations, because, unless you are doing continuous vulnerability scanning and remediation, you're not going to be able to respond quickly enough, and your organization is going to be exposed. So you really need technology to step in here. And you need automation that you can use to deploy these patches to your most vulnerable assets as quickly as possible."
"Patches don't get tested normally as much as a full release of a product; that's also a risk."
"Automation can really help you respond quickly but also thoughtfully in the way that you go about remediating these patches."
"Think carefully about the data, categorize how important it is, and think about where it's stored. And that's a really good starting place."
"Threat actors are now using AI to analyze the exfiltrated data from the organization. And then using that data from the AI, for example, finding customer lists, and then contacting those customers, and getting those customers
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While cloud computing has become a great digitization enabler to enterprises, multiple clouds—especially when intersecting with on-premises systems and one another—can produce some challenges. Many organizations can end up with an "identity gridlock" of competing identity systems and protocols since each cloud platform cannot exchange access policy data with other cloud providers. It was an absolute pleasure having Gerry Gebel, Head of Standards at Strata Identity, join me to discuss the significance of standardizing identity management.
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
02:09 -- Gerry Gebel's Professional Highlights
04:15 -- Role of Standards in Identity and Access Management
08:14 -- Avoiding Identity Gridlocks
11:38 -- Competing Interests in Developing Standards
14:49 -- Role of Standards in Achieving Fine-Grained Access Controls
18:25 -- Rationale Behind Having Numerous Standards
21:02 -- Senior Leadership Involvement in Standards Setting Process
25:39 -- Streamlining and Standardizing Security
28:07 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Gerry Gebel Quotes/Statements
"Standards allow for interoperability between domains that different organizations run, and this can provide the user with a lot of convenience."
"Each of these cloud and computing platforms has its own way of defining and configuring access to resources. That's where the gridlock comes in because they're not interchangeable; they are not interoperable."
"Realize that you're not standardizing the whole offering; you're standardizing different pieces that have maybe become a commodity."
"It really comes down to having customers involved in the process, because they're the ones who ultimately, will, or will not purchase products. If there's a lock-in, or there's a lack of interoperability, the customer may choose to stay away from that product or solution."
"You can be an active participant (in the standards-setting process) and look out for your own interests, rather than delegating that to someone else who may not represent the same point of view."
"What is the purpose of creating these standards? And we've sort of alluded to that a couple of times here. I think that's where the enterprise perspective is very important. Because, as a programmer, as a developer, we can easily get lost in the weeds of the technology, you know, how do I write this Go routine? Or how do I write this API? And I think the enterprise perspective keeps the focus on what's the real business purpose for doing this. Does it enhance security? Does it give us vendor independence? Does it reduce risk in some way? Or does it enable new business? So I think it's important to have that [customer] voice in the conversation."
"I would say from the enterprise administrative perspective, there's more capability to properly govern the deployment, the configurations, if you have standards involved, because it gives you more visibility of exactly what is connected to what and who has access to what. It gives you better visibility or reporting capability to show, "Oh, well, I'm compliant with these HIPAA rules, or I'm compliant with, you know, some of their financial rules." So, that's where the standards can be of great benefit in overall governance."
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With the global cost of cybercrime expected to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025, cybersecurity has become a board-level imperative. According to the Diligent Institute survey 'What Directors Think,' board members ranked cybersecurity as the most challenging issue to oversee. Even though boards say cybersecurity is a priority, they have a long way to go to help their organizations become resilient to cyberattacks. Kayne McGladrey, Field CISO at Hyperproof and a senior IEEE member, sheds light on this important aspect of cybersecurity governance. The driving question being: How informed is the Board of Directors to provide effective oversight of cybersecurity governance?
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
03:06 -- Kayne McGladrey's professional highlights
04:01 -- 2023 Global CISO Survey Findings -- Do the Board of Directors have the necessary expertise to provide cybersecurity governance oversight?
07:24 -- CISO and Board of Directors Relationship
14:22 -- Effectively Empowering the CISO
20:07 -- Reasons for Board of Directors' Lack of Involvement
26:35 -- Board Members Cybersecurity Education and Training
45:27 -- Final Thoughts
Memorable Kayne McGladrey Quotes/Statements
"Interestingly enough, fewer than half of the board members regularly interact with their CISOs. This is an indicator of a communication gap, and potential alignment issues between board members and CISOs, which is really hindering progress in cybersecurity."
"I know a lot of businesses still see cybersecurity as a cost center. They don't see it as a strategic advantage."
"I can think of a CISO who I was just chatting with at Blackhat this year, who turned down a job they matched on salary expectations. But, they matched on job expectations, and they matched culturally. They will be reporting as the CISO to the Director of IT, not to the CIO, not to the CEO, but they're going to report to some down-level director, and they wouldn't be offered directors and officers insurance either. So effectively, they'd only be a CISO in title and C-level executive in title only, but not in practice. They recognize they were being hired in as a scapegoat. I think that's a persistent problem that we've seen associated with how companies are recruiting CISOs."
"I think CISOs should ideally report to the CEO or another C-level executive like the chief operating officer or chief financial officer. And that really allows for a direct line of communications to the top-level management and that emphasizes and underscores the importance of cybersecurity and strategic decisions."
"Cyber risk is a business risk. Cyber is just an influence."
"Boards think in terms of business risks. CISOs, unfortunately, don't often communicate in terms of business risks. CISOs often communicate a technical risk, like a risk of ransomware, or the risks associated with generative AI; those aren't risks; that's driving the communications gap. Literally how we talk as CISOs is part of what causes a lack of oversight on the part of the board because the board doesn't understand what it is that they should actually care about. And so, they disengage."
"Don't go to the board and say I have a problem, because they're not there to solve your problem. They want to know what you're doing about the problem. Also, they want to know if it's going to materially affect the business, I think if you go there with a problem, a solution and a proposal, you're probably going to have a much better time."
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According to a 2023 IBM report, companies take 197 days to identify a breach and 69 days to contain one on average. The delay between infection, detection, and containment can cost businesses millions of dollars. Only 45% of the companies polled had an incident response plan in place. In this episode, Markus Lassfolk, VP of Incident Response, Truesec, and Morten von Seelen, Vice President of the Truesec Group, who have extensive hands-on experience in dealing with major cyber attack incidents, shed light on this very important subject matter.
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
02:47 -- Markus Lassfolk professional highlights
04:28 -- Morten von Seelen professional highlights
06:17 -- What does incident response mean? Why is it important?
09:10 -- Extent of organizational preparedness
15:32 -- How should organizations prepare to help incident responders do their job better?
20:49 -- What are the different roles associated with major incident response engagements? How do you build a team to handle these engagements and how you retain the talent?
25:18 -- What are some of the most common mistakes that you see customers making?
30:27 -- How effective are tabletop exercises?
36:00 -- How important are security drills?
37:21 -- How should organizations go about looking to identify real expertise in incident response?
39:25 -- What kind of help can small companies get who don't have the budget? What would be your advice to them?
42:58 -- When I was reviewing some industry reports, one survey finds that while only 45% of the companies polled had an incident response plan in place, 79% of the companies have insurance. So they're almost implying that many companies could be of the view that let's not worry about the incident response plan. If we have good insurance, we are covered. Can you dispel that myth?
46:35 -- What's exciting, what's interesting, what are some challenges, what kind of mindset and skills one needs to have to pursue a career in incidence response?
51:23 -- Final thoughts
Memorable Markus Lassfolk Quotes/Statements
"If organizations gets hit by ransomware, they are usually down for three weeks, 21 days, on average."
"From a preparedness standpoint, it helps if the customer has secure and safe backups that we can use."
"In most of the cases, customers are either totally unprepared, or they're not prepared in the right way."
"During an engagement, having the log files will help us get answers of what's been going on in the breached environment. When we don't have the log files, it's so much harder, then we have to start looking at other things which takes more time, which sometimes does not provide the answers, and then we have to start guessing."
"The best thing that the leadership team can do is to give the incident responders and the IT department the support and room to do their job and and not expect to have status meetings every 30 minutes or every two hour because that does not give us time to work and actually produce stuff."
"We advise our customers to make sure that they identify the key personnel on their site and try to reduce the single point of failures in personnel as we call it, because in every incidents, when we come in and start working, we start to see a pattern; there is one person who has the answers to everything and who everyone points to. And that person is the single point of failure."
"They (customers) start restarting or...
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While large language models such as ChatGPT can be used to write malicious code, AI tools are increasingly used to proactively detect and thwart cyber-attacks. There is growing recognition of AI’s potential to fight cybercrime. Ian L. Paterson, CEO, Plurilock, sheds light on how AI has impacted the cybersecurity industry, especially how Generative AI is changing the industry. Describing the role of the AI as a co-pilot, he says, "The way I think about leveraging AI is typically having a human do the first 10%, and the last 10%, an AI is really good at doing the 80% in the middle. So it's not a replacement for the human, but it's an enabler for that human and allows them to do more with less."
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
02:26 -- Ian L. Paterson's professional highlights
04:56 -- What is generative AI and how does it work?
10:34 -- How can we protect ourselves from phishing attacks?
16:12 -- Leveraging AI for behavioral biometrics
21:21 -- What is generative AI? How are these tools being used to thwart cyber attacks?
24:45 -- How do we speed up detection and remediation?
28:20 -- Cybersecurity is a team sport and it is a team game
32:29 -- Guidance and recommendations
36:19 -- Final thoughts
Memorable Ian Paterson Quotes/Statements
"What we see today is that large language models can appear as if they are themselves intelligent."
"One of the chief dangers of this new (AI) type of technology is that you can now author convincing text at scale."
"What we are seeing today is both an increase in the volume of attacks and an increase in the severity and the convincingness of some of these attacks. I call them multimodal attacks because you're using not only the modality of text but you can also use the modality of video or audio. I think we're going to have to deal with these types of attacks, with these problems, for many years to come."
"You're not going to have a ransomware attack on Monday at 10 am when everybody's refreshed from the weekend; it's going to be Friday afternoon, it's going to be on Christmas Day, it's going to be when you don't want to deal with those types of situations."
"You can certainly use large language models to accelerate or help cut down on some of the minutiae when writing code."
"Large language models are being used as co-pilot in Security Operations Center, to do log analysis, to speed up monitoring, identification, and notification of potential threats."
"We've always had this need in cybersecurity to increase productivity because there are not enough people to do the work needed to stay safe. So, AI will help, it will be a productivity boon."
"The way I think about leveraging AI is you typically have a human do the first 10% and the last 10%, an AI is really good at doing the 80% in the middle. It's not a replacement for the human, but it's an enabler for that human and allows them to do more with less, and hopefully, highlight the area they need to focus on."
"The reality is that cybersecurity is a team sport, and you need a host of products and solutions working in harmony to adequately address the threats out there and reduce the attack surface."
"In summation, AI is good, we're certainly going to see cybersecurity-related innovations, but it's not going to replace the people it takes to deploy and leverage those solutions."
"It's really about having that defense-in-depth strategy. I think that makes a difference between somebody with pretty good security and somebody with great security."
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Cloud migration and remote work requirements are forcing organizations to modernize their applications and identity systems. Making the transition is both time-consuming and expensive using traditional software development practices. By decoupling applications from identity, orchestration can alleviate the burden while allowing companies to seamlessly mix and match different cloud providers as well as MFA and passwordless technologies. In this episode, Eric Olden, Co-founder and CEO at Strata Identity sheds light on identity orchestration strategies and best practices.
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
02:16 -- Eric Olden's professional highlights
05:11 -- State of maturity of identity management, and where does identity orchestration fit in.
08:13 -- When should an organization consider an identity orchestration strategy?
11:33 -- Identity orchestration, a plug-and-play approach
15:17 -- Use of the "adapter" metaphor to understand identity orchestration
16:50 -- Identity Orchestration and Single Sign-On -- What is the nature of the relationship?
18:47 -- Eliminating security vulnerabilities with application modernization and identity orchestration
22:06 -- Wide-scale implementation of passwordless authentication
25:47 -- Challenges and success factors in formulating and implementing identity orchestration strategies
30:24 -- Guidance in selecting service providers and vendors
34:31 -- Making a business case for identity orchestration
38:59 -- Final thoughts
Memorable Eric Olden Quotes/Statements
"I see identity providers themselves, the IDPs, are today's hardware in that customers need them, they have to run something, but they don't want to be locked into any one thing. So, we've created an abstraction layer that allows you to decouple the applications from the identity provider. So you can mix and match and do different things."
"Identity orchestration makes sense when you have more than one identity provider."
"If you find yourself trying to modernize applications and move from legacy to modern, that's another really important use case for orchestration."
"The abstraction layer allows you to avoid rewriting any of the applications because, from the application standpoint, the orchestration layer presents a facade that looks exactly like the application is expecting it before orchestration came in."
"We're able to bring modern security to legacy applications and do that without ever changing them."
"All of these five A's -- authentication, access, authorization, attributes, and audit, need to find their way into this new distributed environment."
"Today, with orchestration, you no longer need an application-specific connector because all of the patterns in the protocols that the applications need are already part of the abstraction layer in the orchestration."
"I told my developers, look, if you ever find yourself typing the word password in your code, stop, you're doing it wrong. So you need to back that up and figure out why someone was trying to bring a password in the first place and give them an alternative. So that is a bit of a heavy lift at the beginning, where you need to change people's mindsets."
"The world today is about self-service, and you want to have things bought and not sold."
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Recent cybersecurity workforce study reports reveal that a) there’s still a global shortage of 3.4 million workers in this field, and b) only 25% of the global cybersecurity workforce are women. In this episode, I had an engaging discussion with panelists Ashley Podhradsky, Vice President of Research and Economic Development at Dakota State University, and Kriti Arora, Security Global black belt, Threat Intelligence and External Attack Surface Management, Microsoft, North America, on attracting more talent, especially motivating and inspiring women to become cybersecurity professionals. One of the key messages that came out of the discussion was not to allow a certain stereotype or image to influence career decisions. A woman's innate traits and abilities, such as multitasking, problem-solving, organizational skills, curiosity, and the zeal to go above and beyond, will serve her very well as a cybersecurity professional.
Here are links to some useful cybersecurity training and awareness resources:
https://www.girlsecurity.org
https://www.sans.org
www.CybHER.org
Www.WiCyS.org
https://www.isc2.org
Time Stamps
00:02 -- Introduction
03:33 -- Ashley Podhradsky's professional highlights
04:59 -- Kriti Arora's professional highlights
08:22 -- Dakota State University's cybersecurity initiatives
11:30 -- Kriti Arora's exposure to cybersecurity education and her reflections on the learning experience
14:17 -- Holistic approach and human element in cybersecurity
17:21 -- Core cybersecurity offerings at educational institutions
19:23 -- Cybersecurity awareness and training throughout the organization
21:43 -- Gender discrimination in cybersecurity
25:23 -- Cybersecurity stereotypes
30:05 -- Cybersecurity skillsets
33:19 -- Why women are likely to be very successful in cybersecurity
37:38 -- Industry-academic partnership
42:55 -- How would you promote cybersecurity to your female friends?
45:08 -- Resources for cybersecurity education and training
53:22 -- Final thoughts
Memorable Ashley Podhradsky Quotes/Statements
"When I was in school, I was usually the only woman and I wanted to do what I could to help bring more women into this field. It's incredibly exciting and a wonderful environment to be in."
"As I have a seat at the (senior leadership) table, I scooch over and make a seat for someone else; I find great job satisfaction and take immense pride in helping promote, support, and advance women in this field and be their champion."
"Showcasing collegiate women to middle school girls in the near-peer mentoring model has been very positive for girls to understand that they can also be a part of this cybersecurity field and experience."
"I've heard "No" a lot. But the only thing that tells me is that I'm talking to the wrong people. And I need to try something different and talk with someone else. And then I can get to that, "Yes."
"If we're only focusing on the people who are in the right age group, right now, we're never going to solve the (woman in the cybersecurity workforce) problem, we have to...
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Research finds that there was a 44% increase in insider threat incidents across all types of organizations, and 56% of the reported incidents were due to negligence. Equally alarming is that the average annual cost to remediate a negligence incident was $6.6 million. Dr. Eric Lang, Ph.D., Director, Personnel and Security Research Center (PERSEREC), United States Department of Defense, draws upon his research to share some of the (science-based) commandments for understanding and countering insider threats. Emphasizing the criticality of human factors, Dr. Lang contends that "without individuals’ sincere commitments, the most extensive insider threat policies will fail."
Time Stamps
02:27 -- So Eric, let's first talk about yourself and your professional journey.
04:36 -- What motivated you to write the article Seven [ Science-Based] Commandments for Understanding and Countering Insider Threats?
07:51 -- The first commandment states that "Human factors are paramount. Thou shalt not worship technology above personal and social dynamics solutions." Tell us more about it.
15:16 -- Moving along to your second commandment, you say, "Employees are an organization's greatest strength, especially for identifying insider threats. Thou shalt improve supervisory and co-worker reporting." Many employees are reluctant to report potential threats they encounter. I would assume organizations recognize the challenges and have appropriate structures and mechanisms in place to encourage more honest reporting. Your thoughts?
20:45 -- Many psychological factors could come in the way of somebody alerting the organization about a possible insider threat. Thoughts?
26:36 -- I will be very surprised if great organizations, when they make decisions to improve cybersecurity, governance, cybersecurity readiness, those decisions are not influenced by experts in human psychology, the clinical psychologist, or whoever the right person is. Thoughts?
31:07 -- A reactive approach to cybersecurity governance doesn't cut it. Thoughts?
38:37 -- So let me ask you, what do you think are any of the top three things that most employees care about for their job?
43:33 -- Before we conclude, if you'd like to share a few final thoughts.
Memorable Eric Lang Quotes/Statements
"73% of the successful exfiltration incidents were conducted without using technology."
"Technology is necessary but not sufficient, humans will find a way around it. And in this case, 73% succeeded in the exfiltration."
"What was a common successful method for foreign adversaries to get sensitive US industrial information? The answer is they asked for it. It was a form of social engineering in very many cases."
"Technology [often] misperforms not because of malicious intent, but because it was ill-developed."
"So why do employees in an organization with a See Something Say Something policy, often hesitate to report? There are a number of social psychological factors such as 'don't be a snitch' cultural norm. They don't want a coworker to lose their job. They might have a fear of retaliation."
Social psychologists often note an effect called "diffusion of responsibility" when people don't report a potential exfiltration incident.
"If you are aware of something of potential concern, and there are many other people also in the environment, you might think that many people have the same awareness I do, I'm sure someone else will report it. This is called "diffusion of responsibility" in social psychological research."
"Policy is important, but the execution of it, and bringing employees into correct awareness and engagement is the most important...
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Significant fines in excess of $2 billion have been levied on organizations in the financial services sector for failing to capture, retain and supervise communications. This crackdown on non-compliant communications is the clearest indicator yet that regulators have lost patience with firms that still haven't addressed supervision and record-keeping risks that were exacerbated by the pandemic. In this episode, Garth Landers, Director of Global Product Marketing at Theta Lake, discusses how businesses can mitigate risks from unmonitored communication channels.
Time Stamps
02:20 -- Please share some highlights of your professional journey with the listeners.
05:10 -- Different types of modern communication tools.
12:05 -- The 2022 Modern Communications Compliance and Security report(produced by Theta Lake) finds that unmonitored communication channels remain the biggest risk. What are these risks?
21:19-- What are some best practices in securing the different communication channels?
28:47 -- Do you think an organization would be well served if they had written guidelines of the do's and don'ts when using certain channels and making that document readily available to all organizational members?
34:09 -- It's about helping individuals do the right things so that the communication is secure, as compared to gotcha, you made a mistake, and you should have done better. Thoughts?
36:51 -- I emphasize the importance of creating and sustaining a high-performance information security culture. Only when you create that culture, that work ethic, securing communication channels is sustainable in the long run.
40:43 -- We are talking about a proactive approach driven by a change in the mind shift where the leaders are looking at this apparent challenge (securing communication channels) as a strategic opportunity.
45:11 -- Can you address the archival and retrieval challenges?
52:00 -- If there were three or four takeaways that listeners should walk away with from today's discussion, what should they be?
Memorable Garth Landers Quotes/Statements
"Two-thirds of an organization believe that inside their organization, employees are using unmonitored communication channels."
"Unmonitored communication channels pop up because, in many cases, organizations decide not to empower their employees, they give them a Zoom, or a Cisco WebEx or a Microsoft Teams, or a RingCentral, or a Slack, etc., but they don't fully enable them. They don't turn on chat, or they don't allow file sharing, polls, or whiteboards. This forces employees to adopt and use unmonitored communication channels."
"From a process standpoint, don't take a top-down approach to implement modern collaboration platforms."
"Research shows that, on average, at least four different unified/modern communication tools are being used by organizations."
"Most end users are not engineered towards malfeasance and bad behavior, it's carelessness. And the greatest insider threat is that sort of carelessness, and lack of awareness."
"Policy works best when it's not some sort of abstract reality that you pull out when a bad thing happens."
"Technology is out there to get to that balance point of maximum productivity, productive IT but productive and efficient and compliant work as well."
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