Top Cybersecurity News for September, 2023: Kayne’s 5 Under 5

Kayne McGladrey (@kaynemcgladrey), security architect/strategy and GRC practice lead at Ascent Solutions, recommends following the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0, which was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense. It offers a framework that incorporates “Zero Trust tenets that will help companies maintain regulatory compliance and ensure that data are adequately protected against evolving threats from nation states and advanced persistent threats,” he says.

As CISOs make plans to secure operating budgets for the new financial year, they face the age-old challenge of convincing stakeholders, who often see cybersecurity and privacy as a cost center, to invest in this area. It’s time to change the narrative. Discover how to drive more productive conversations about cybersecurity as a strategic growth enabler. Take home actionable ideas for proactively managing controls and risks, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

Learning Objectives:

Apply techniques and strategies needed to shift the perception of cybersecurity and privacy from cost centers to strategic growth enablers within the organization.

Employ methods for applying proactive control management and risk mitigation methods to enhance an organization’s cybersecurity posture and minimize potential threats.

Identify opportunities for efficiency gains and cost reductions in cybersecurity initiatives, in order to make impactful budgetary decisions for the coming year.

In this very entertaining episode of The Other Side of the Firewall podcast, we’ll learn Kayne’s amazing cybersecurity “origin story” and discuss the need for more diversity of culture and thought within cybersecurity. We’ll also go into upcoming Federal and State policy and how he and his team have developed the tools necessary to keep up with the future of Governance, Risk, and Compliance. Don’t miss out!

“Bob Gourley emphasized that despite the dark topic of cyberthreats, we all leave with optimism. Carol Tang addressed the importance of continuous learning as part of a business leader’s proactive approach to mitigating risk and providing safety for customers. Kayne McGladrey emphasized the dual responsibility of today’s corporate decision makers with regard to cybersecurity: understand the complexity but act with transparency and specificity. It’s important to integrate cybersecurity awareness into the fabric of the organization, not sequester cybertrust solely within the domain of technology.”

“Right now, there’s a bit of a Wild West mentality out there,” said Kayne McGladrey, field chief information security officer at security software company Hyperproof and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. “Companies are incentivized for being first to market, not necessarily most secure to market. Because security costs money and because it requires time and resources, naturally that becomes a lower priority.”

“Effective defense in depth is not just shiny overlapping technical controls,” said Director of IT and Security Kayne McGladrey. “Rather, it’s the combination of culture, documented and tested processes, policies, and technical controls. For example, an organization with a policy of least privilege, a process for approving account privileges, and a process for auditing and harvesting unused privileges does not need multiple technical controls to implement the desired outcome.” It’s best to start with policy and then enact that in culture, where feasible.