and CISOs at organisations
everywhere are looking for the best
way to handle these challenges
while keeping employees safe
and productive. As they navigate
this ‘new normal’, there are three
fundamental areas that are emerging
as key priorities for security leaders
across critical people, process and
technology dimensions.
One is securing people. Attackers
have launched a wave of phishing,
ransomware and social engineering
campaigns, taking advantage of the
confusion and distraction. Some
cyberattack attempts are seemingly
work-related – like a phony email
from IT asking the user to click on
a link as part of a set-up process –
while some make emotional
appeals looking for support of
a ‘noble cause’ use government
stimulus or other financial
incentives as the hook.
Secondly, devices and applications
must be secured. Some employees
were able to take their office
computers home with them while
others set up shop with their own
technology. This surge in new and
personal device use has created a
host of new challenges, particularly
for those organisations that did not
have an existing BYOD policy in
place. In the rush to get connected,
misconfigurations abound and
leaving new devices in their default
(insecure) factory settings can put
companies at risk. Attackers look for
these situations to gain a foothold
into the organisation.
Finally, connections and
access must be secured. Many
organisations face both security and
availability challenges as hundreds
of thousands of employees try
to connect using virtual private
networks (VPNs) to send and
receive data.
Compounding the issue, employees
logging into their VPNs are using
home Wi-Fi networks, which are
often unsecured, unmonitored and
overloaded as multiple people try
to work and learn remotely.
Attackers can easily infect these
Wi-Fi routers with malware, making
all of the household’s connected
devices vulnerable – from TVs and
smart thermostats to cell phones
and computers.
What advice would you offer
CISOs looking to improve
their strategies to enable a
secure, smart workforce?
Organisations need to adopt a
proactive rather than reactive
approach to cybersecurity to reduce
their risk management concerns. On
an organisational level, this means
training staff to think like an attacker
and identify potential security
vulnerabilities before they are
exposed by outsiders with malicious
intentions. From a proactive security
perspective, engaging in Red Team
services is a valuable exercise to
simulate a cyberattack.
These ‘ethical hackers’ can exploit
discovered vulnerabilities to
penetrate company systems and
networks and remain undetected
for as long as possible to determine
what sort of damage could be done
under a real attack.
By doing this, organisations will not
only discover how vulnerable they
are to an attack, but it also gives
them an opportunity to play out risk
mitigation techniques and prioritise
assets for protection.
Knowing how an attack could impact
the business and establishing a
game plan for response is critical to
gaining a greater understanding of
risk exposure. u
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Issue 26 | www.intelligentciso.com