Webcor, a provider of commercial construction services throughout California needed a way to find and mitigate threats, and reduce the company’s cyber risk profile. The company implemented a managed services approach to augment its existing IT and security staff and improve its security posture.
Meet Ian Thornton-Trump. He is the Chief Information Security Officer at Cyjax, and an ITIL certified IT professional with 25 years of experience in IT security and information technology. As CISO Cyjax, Ian has deep experience with the threats facing small, medium and enterprise businesses. His research and experience have made him a sought-after cybersecurity consultant specializing in cyber threat intelligence programs for small, medium and enterprise organizations. In his spare time, he teaches cybersecurity and IT business courses for CompTIA as part of their global faculty and is the lead architect for Cyber Titan, Canada's efforts to encourage the next generation of cyber professionals.
With more commerce occurring online this year, and with the holiday season upon us, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) reminds shoppers to remain vigilant. Be especially cautious of fraudulent sites spoofing reputable businesses, unsolicited emails purporting to be from charities, and unencrypted financial transactions.
The risk level to the global workforce has reached its highest since 2016 according to the findings of the International SOS Risk Outlook 2021. Unsurprisingly, around eight in 190 risk professionals believe the health and security risks faced by the workforce increased in 2020 (specifically for “domestic employees” (85%), “assignees” (81%), “student and faculty” (80%), “business travelers” (79%) and “remote workers” (77%)). Around half believe that this will increase further in 2021.
For organizations experiencing data breaches, the consequences are considerable, especially for security operations. IBM reports that over 25,000 data records are stolen with the average data breach, and costing the targeted company as much as $8.64M per breach in the United States. And it takes on average a staggering 280 days between identifying and containing a data breach (known as the breach cycle). So why is it so hard to fight this digital war, and why is the breach cycle so long?
Stories about cyberattacks and security breaches are popping up more and more frequently in the news and it seems as though no company is immune to the sophisticated strategies hackers use to obtain high value confidential data. These data hacks result in bad PR, lost customer trust, possible fines, and potentially ruined reputations. Needless to say, it should have you questioning whether or not your data is properly protected, and the answer is — it’s probably not.
Among the top threats to businesses are theft of property, theft of data and workplace violence. When it comes to preventing these commonplace scenarios, a fence can be the first step to designing an effective access control program. By starting at the perimeter, entities can create a physical barrier that deters infiltration and denies entry. So, what kind of fencing offers an uncompromising solution? An astute option is a fence classified as high-security. Several factors determine whether a fence is considered high-security, including the material it’s made from, how it’s constructed and the features that the construction enables.
There is an opportunity here for IT teams to stabilize their work-from-home situations while also preparing for the future back in the office, or for many, supporting a hybrid model. Long term solutions are needed for organizational success. There are many steps that can be taken to ensure infrastructure is properly cared for and ready to be used when teams are able to return to the office.