During a time where hospitals are already strapped for resources, Mercy Iowa City hospital reported that an internal email compromise and phishing email incident led to the exposure of personal information of some 60,473 individuals.
In today's ever changing environment, no organization and enterprise is immune from violence. Whether it is a church, movie theater, mall, or healthcare setting the need to plan for an act of violence, including active shooter events, is of paramount importance. And while public safety situational awareness and vigilance is an absolute must in our modern world, much thought has been given to how to develop plans, procedures, training and technology to stop these acts of violence. Here, we talk to Tim Sulzer, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of ZeroEyes, about how physical security technology has evolved over the years to help make a difference in situations involving an active shooter or to reduce workplace and gun violence in various settings.
Working at home poses many challenges. One smart solution for enterprises that continues to help maintain business continuity is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). It enables IT organizations to deliver a corporate endpoint experience on relatively inexpensive hardware while maintaining strict IT standards that will provide benefits well into the future.
The Principle of Least Privilege is one of the longest standing principles of security. People (as well as applications) should only have access to the things they need to do their job, and nothing else. While being overly permissive may make life a bit easier in the short-term, it can easily come back to haunt you long-term, whether due to a malicious attack, misplaced credentials, or even an honest mistake.
Machines are better at speed and scale than humans. But humans have the edge over machines at thinking outside of the box, using their curiosity and creativity to come up with solutions, and reasoning that machines cannot define or replicate. When it comes to security operations, humans and automation are the duo that’s stronger and more effective in partnership than when they’re apart. Using extended detection and response (XDR) can bring these skills to the forefront of the Security Operations Center (SOC), leaving the repeatable, boring tasks to the machines and allowing for these human traits to shine.
No matter how much you spend on your security infrastructure, it won’t do a bit of good if the people you employ aren’t using it correctly. For example, you could install the best antivirus in the world, but if an employee falls for a spear-phishing scam and inadvertently gives their password to a hacker, it’s all for nothing. That’s why it’s more critical than ever to have a culture of security.
Basketball can teach us a lot about managing the cybersecurity of an enterprise: it takes teamwork. This is perhaps most evident as organizations seek to adopt zero trust principles. The zero trust concept is not new, but I hear more organizations discussing it than ever before — driven by a desire for greater security, more flexible access, and accelerated by the shift to remote work due to COVID-19. At its core, zero trust focuses on providing least-privilege access to only those users who need it. Put it this way: don't trust anyone and even when you do, only give them what they need right now. This security philosophy would make Jordan proud, but in that vein, zero trust would not work without another player: identity management (perhaps it’s the Pippen factor!).
On November 19 and 20, more than 200 industry and government officials exercised the energy sector’s response and recovery to a Wasatch earthquake during CESER’s Clear Path VIII. This year’s scenario impacted critical energy infrastructure within Utah and the surrounding states with cascading impacts across the Western United States. The regional, all hazards Clear Path Exercise series brings together energy sector partners on an annual basis to update policies and procedures, identify areas for collective improvement, and strengthen relationships and cooperation.
With cyber resilience, it is the same kind of philosophy: reducing your cyber incident risk and not just relying on one line of defense or one capability you think will be the one that finally stops the bad actors. Looking at the standards for cyber resilience in federal agencies will help businesses understand both the essentials and the additional steps they need to take to fully safeguard their assets.
Today's cyber environment is one of rapid and constant change. Stepping up in technological savvy, threat actors are using an arsenal of new and sophisticated techniques that make recognizing their attacks harder than ever. There are several thousand products and thousand different threats and risks. Cybersecurity seems as elusive and probably as impossible as the “happiness problem.”
