Articles on guidelines and best practices that organizations follow to identify, assess, and manage cybersecurity risks, providing a systematic approach to enhancing their overall security posture.
Protect your organization against modern threats with Adlumin’s guide on EDR vs. XDR vs. MDR. Learn more about the differences between the three primary threat detection and response solutions and how to choose the right one for your organization’s needs with a limited budget and resources. Download your copy today!
In this episode of Cyber Tide, host Heather Engel from Cybercrime Magazine is joined by Adlumin’s VP, Chief of Strategy Mark Sangster, to explore the latest advancements in cybersecurity frameworks. The episode focuses on the newly released Version 2.0 of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), a widely adopted set of best practices.
Sangster provides valuable insights into the updates and their implications for organizations navigating the evolving cyber landscape. Tune in for a detailed exploration of key changes and recommendations to enhance your cybersecurity posture.
Cyber Tide is a Cybercrime Magazine podcast series brought to you by Adlumin. Working to revolutionize the way organizations secure sensitive data, Adlumin finds the newest cracks being exploited and shines a light on correcting the issue in real-time, with expert guidance.
Discover advanced cybersecurity solutions at INTERFACE’s educational conferences, where Adlumin is exhibiting at Booth #205. Engage with Adlumin’s experts, explore cutting-edge technologies, and enhance your organization’s security posture.
Date: March 19, 2024
Location: Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR
Booth: #205
Contact: marketingevents@adlumin.com
Protect your organization against modern threats with Adlumin’s guide on EDR vs. XDR vs. MDR. Learn more about the differences between the three primary threat detection and response solutions and how to choose the right one for your organization’s needs with a limited budget and resources. Download your copy today!
By: Brittany Demendi, Corporate Communications Manager
Knowing that the cybercriminal could’ve been in your IT environment for an average of 277 days or nine months can be unsettling for two reasons. One is that your environment was infiltrated, and two is that you don’t know what has been tampered with. To know if your critical assets have changed, it takes 24×7 monitoring. And when security teams are already stretched to their limits, it is best to seek tools that can do it for you, like file integrity monitoring (FIM).
This blog covers file integrity monitoring, how compliance can be solved, and how to find the right tool for your organization.
File integrity monitoring is a simple and easy security process to monitor critical assets, registry paths, directories, and files. It analyzes the solidarity of the assets and operating systems to determine if anything has been tampered with or corrupted. Monitoring customer data, information, and health records are just a few examples.
Additionally, FIM validates and verifies if files have been tampered with by comparing them to the latest versions as a trusted baseline. If there are any signs of manipulation, file integrity monitoring generates alerts for Continuous Vulnerability Management teams to investigate and, if needed, remediate the intrusion.
When cybercriminals enter your organization’s network, they can wreak havoc on your files by changing everything from configuration files to application data. To make things worse, they can delete event logs to hide their tracks, so you never would know.
FIM notifies security teams of unauthorized changes to all files within an environment, which speeds up threat detection, response, and remediation. This critical layer of security is required for many industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, financial institutions, education, and more. File integrity monitoring adds valuable security layers detecting the following:
File integrity monitoring is an essential part of security as it provides a layer of protection specific to devices, applications, and files by verifying the integrity of the files. Law and regulatory standards like PCI DSS, NERC CIP, FISMA, SOX, NIST, HIPPA, GDPR, and CIS controls require knowing who is accessing and modifying sensitive data files.
Fortunately, meeting those standards with a Security Operations Platform and Managed Detection and Response Services has become simple. FIM kick-starts your compliance efforts by offering detailed progress on compliance initiatives, which can provide a broad synopsis of your overall compliance. This allows you to create executive reports, analyze trends in events detected, look at graphical reports, and in-depth details about your network’s file integrity.
Security solutions must include tracking activity and behaviors in addition to stopping incidents from happening. This gives complete visibility into your network, leaving no gaps in your security posture. When searching for the right file integrity monitoring tool to fit your organization’s industry, size, and compliance requirements, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Four File Integrity Monitoring Must-Haves:
See how Adlumin’s Security Operations Platform and 24×7 Managed Detection and Response Services can become your IT team’s foundation. Schedule a demo today or contact an expert for more information.
Cybersecurity is an ecosystem of skills, experience, backgrounds and perspectives. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, “Over the eight-year period tracked, the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs is expected to grow by 350 percent, from one million positions in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021. And of the candidates who are applying for these positions, fewer than one in four are even qualified, according to the MIT Technology Review.” The last few years have taught us many things, but most of all, it has taught us how much our society depends on technology.
As a result, cybersecurity has become one of the most fast-paced and in-demand industries over the past year. And with greater demand comes greater responsibility. This blog will explore why redefining cybersecurity careers can benefit the industry’s future and what makes IT professionals vital within every organization.
Cybersecurity Culture is essential to organizational resilience to reduce the risk associated with human error. Human error is considered the number one reason for data breaches. Yet as aircrash investigation veteran Sidney Dekker writes in his book, The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error, “when we blame the people, we miss the chance to learn.”
Thus, cybersecurity culture needs to be a part of a broader corporate culture of daily actions encouraging employees to make mindful decisions that align with security policies, industry obligations and commitments made to customers. This involves breaking misconceptions about cyber attacks, providing business context (the why it matters), and offering the skills to identify threats and report them.
For example, the COM-B model is the bedrock of behavioral change. The model proposes that all three components (COM) are required to drive B, behavioral change:
The COM-B model is applied in critical industries like trauma medicine and is designed to push employees to automated, reflective response when facing a stressful situation, rather than panic or ignore the evidence.
By teaching and implementing proper precautionary actions like understanding the benefits of using a password manager and dispelling existing myths around password manager security and ease of use could help employees understand the role they play in protecting themselves and your organization’s security.
As cybercrime rises and the threat landscape continues to shift like dunes in desert and the responsibily to adapt often falls on IT professionals. However, all employees must adapt to this changing landscape and remain vigilant. One of the best ways for an organization to mitigate cybercrime and risk is to build a culture of cybersecurity.
Far too many business leaders fail to understand the risks posed by cyber threats, and it falls to the IT professions to build a business case and convince the non-technical stakeholders of the need in addition to securing resourcing and implement programs.
When it comes to buildng the case for a security culture, technical leaders must shift the conversation from the “ones and zeroes” of IT security to the “dollars and cents” of Finance leadership, or the “nuts and bolts” of Operations. A security culture should be measured in terms of business benefits and not simply the number of trained employees.
Many IT departments work with third-party companies to implement a Proactive Defense Program. This benefit is that IT professionals can put their efforts towards other duties needed within their organization and foster a security culture. A security culture is more than just awareness. It requires employees to learn from IT professionals what security risk entails and the process to avoid it. It is building and enforcing operating processes of tasks that keep an organization safe.
A Proactive Defense Program is a fully managed security awareness training and testing service designed to reduce the risk posed by the human component. It empowers employees with the knowledge and skills to identify and report suspicious activity using real-life de-weaponized attack campaigns. All results are tracked through a Managed Detection and Response Platform. This allows IT professionals to view every employee’s analytics, program reports, and performance.
The type of culture that IT professionals build directly impacts every organization’s success. If security is not a part of every department, it will likely fail. IT professionals already carry the heavy weight of ensuring an organization is secure, so why not hold every employee accountable for their actions?
If we are going to have a chance at changing the narrative and creating thriving cybersecurity careers, companies need to invest in their employees. Here are a few tips to consider:
Seek Partnerships: : Partner with community organizations, high schools, and non-profit businesses to bring IT programs to minority students and individuals seeking to learn more about the industry. This will create access to resources that offer support and industry knowledge to diverse candidates as they prepare to enter the cybersecurity field at different stages. Providing resources to those who might not have direct access is a prominent way to expand an IT professional’s experiences and skillsets.
Offer Training Programs: Invest in programs that update your employees on the latest cybersecurity skills, threats, and tools. Offering certificate programs or other incentives for completed trainings will encourage them to participate.
Review Job Descriptions: When writing job descriptions, really consider what skill sets are needed for a professional to thrive in the role entirely. Setting realistic expectations for different job levels is the best way to ensure that opportunities are available to rookies and vets, regardless of background or experience.
When it comes to demonstrating the value of Cybersecurity culture, it’s about measuring behavioral change and business-impacting outcomes, rather than the traditional focus on learning metrics. According the Kirkpatrick Model of Leveraging and Vallidating Talent Inverstments, there are four level:
When it comes to reporting, focus on the top two levels. The first two are interesting but are poor proxies for outcomes. Understanding the business impact will motive the C suite and thus create a continuous cycle of security culture from the top.
Accessibility and education are vital pieces of the puzzle to consider when creating a more inclusive industry of high-functioning IT professionals. While the three tips above are not a complete solution, they are a great place to start. Remember, the most significant change begins internally, and once the groundwork is laid, the external results reflect the process. To change the narrative, we all must change ourselves, thoughts, ideas, and perceptions and think of the bigger picture. After all, baby steps are still steps.
88% of data breaches are caused by an employee’s mistake, researchers from Stanford University found. Balancing technical and social elements of an organization can address the most significant cybersecurity vulnerability: people.
Security awareness is crucial, and it must be integrated into everything a company does. Still, the harsh reality of cybersecurity awareness is that security culture has not been able to keep up with the threat landscape. When people are left with the responsibility of their own devices, do they make the right decision when faced with a malicious link? Well, let’s see.
Cybersecurity awareness training is a form of education that security and IT professionals use to mitigate employee risk. Practical security awareness training causes employees to feel accountable for their actions and understand the security risks associated with their efforts in identifying cyberattacks. Lessons and programs help employees and users understand their role in their company’s security plan to help combat malicious activity.
In 2021, data breaches cost on average $4.24 million, a 10% rise from 2020, according to IBM’s 2021 Data Breach Report. These costs can cause many organizations to fold. As a company, you are responsible for equipping your employees as your first line of defense by setting them up for success. Below are a few ways to build a productive and proactive security culture for your employees and organization.
Cybersecurity has evolved and become an essential part of your organization. Security belongs to every employee regardless of department. All parties are accountable and actively contribute to the organization’s security culture. This can be achieved by equipping each person with security basics and the knowledge to judge threats.
Cybersecurity awareness is an ongoing activity, while training is a proactive action that needs to be taken on behalf of your organization. Grow your security culture by having teachable moments through mock threat campaigns, training, and teachings using real-world examples. After employees have been provided with the proper awareness and knowledge, then comes accountability.
Actively seek out opportunities to celebrate employee success. When an employee completes mandatory cybersecurity awareness training, give them something in return. A simple reward or gift card motivates people to get their training done and will cause them to remember the cybersecurity lesson that gave them $50 to their favorite retail store. When the goal is to proactively defend your employees from falling victim to cyber schemes, the return on investment outweighs the cost of the reward.
The other side of a sustainable reward is career growth for team members in dedicated security roles. This will motivate your team to remain dedicated to your organization’s values and overall mission, which will protect your brand reputation and security protocol. If cybersecurity is necessary for your company culture, prove it by providing your security professionals with good and long-standing growth opportunities.
Practical cybersecurity awareness training emphasizes engaging your employees to reduce user risk. It is best to implement a robust training program that doesn’t just deliver a one-off session that overwhelms employees with information that they will soon forget until the next training. For training information to become salient, it needs to be persistent and delivered in small doses (quarterly is suggested) to fit every employee’s busy plates.
Proactive defense programs use real-life de-weaponized attack campaigns to test employees, including phony email phishing attacks. They also implement training to ensure your organization complies with set policies and industry regulations as well as track and continue to train high-risk users who fail attack campaigns. According to the Foundry Security Priority Report, 62% of organizations have planned to outsource some of their security functions over 2022; with employee awareness training being a top reason, third-party options are considered the most cost-effective solutions.
The type of culture that you build at your organization directly impacts your success. If security is not a part of that culture, it will likely fail. The suggestions above are just the beginning—there’s so much more to securing your organization, but this is a great place to start. After all, wouldn’t you rather be proactive instead of reactive?
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