Running Away From Zombies and Better Protecting Infrastructures

In this live episode of the Virtual CISO Happy Hour, our cybersecurity experts discuss the critical steps companies must take to navigate the complex landscape of data privacy. They discuss the importance of establishing regular data inventories and minimization efforts to ensure that only business-critical information is retained, thereby reducing the attack surface for threat actors.

The conversation shifts to the pitfalls of treating privacy audits as one-off events rather than ongoing processes. Our experts argue for the automation of data control operations and the continuous evaluation of their effectiveness, which is crucial for maintaining compliance and achieving certifications like ISO or SOC 2.

The episode also tackles the misconception of ‘cyber risk,’ advocating for a broader understanding of business risk and its real-world consequences. The discussion highlights the importance of aligning cybersecurity strategies with business KPIs and KRIs to effectively communicate the value of security measures to executives and boards.

Furthermore, they explore the role of CISOs in control design and effectiveness, emphasizing collaboration with CFOs to leverage their experience with regulatory compliance for more nuanced and effective control strategies. They also touch upon the significant cost savings that can be realized by reevaluating and updating corporate risk registers in response to changes in data storage and access patterns.

This episode is a must-listen for any professional involved in data privacy and cybersecurity, offering practical insights into making informed decisions that align with both security and business objectives.

Another way to thwart cyberattacks is to increase the number of cybersecurity experts, McGladrey says. According to the 2017 cybercrime report from the Herjavec Group, cybersecurity firms estimate such crimes are going to cost about $6 trillion annually by 2021. Companies are experiencing shortages in qualified applicants for cybersecurity jobs. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates there are now about 350,000 unfilled positions, and that number is only going to increase. McGladrey says.

“Businesses and organizations would need to … educate their workforce on how to validate that a certificate was correct,” he says. “And there would need to be a substantial educational investment to combat the inevitable phishing campaigns that’d spring up, such as fake websites to collect personally identifiable information and fake security alerts associated with these digital certificates.”

Tune in live to WCCO-AM (Minneapolis, MN) at 10:10 AM Eastern. I’ll be discussing artificial intelligence and cyber security with the host, John Hines.

In the past few years, security researchers and advanced persistent threat actors have demonstrated attacks on the BIOS, said Kayne McGladrey, IEEE member and director of security and IT at Seattle-based Pensar Development.

These rare attacks can provide a persistent and hidden bridgehead into an enterprise network, McGladrey said.

In this episode of the EM360 Podcast, Analyst Richard Stiennon speaks to Kayne McGladrey, Field CISO at Hyperproof to explore: Automating compliance controls vs SOAR automation, Helping CISOs, and if one master set of controls cover multiple frameworks