Intelligent CISO Issue 58 | Page 45

industry unlocked
Cybercriminals also take advantage of millions of stolen credentials being sold on the Dark Web .
The following fundamental measures can help education institutions minimise their exposure to cyberattacks :
• Implement cybersecurity awareness training to educate staff and students on how to recognise and avoid spear-phishing attacks .
• Patch operating systems , software and firmware as soon as manufacturers release updates . This applies to both endpoints and servers .
• Implement application and remote access controls to only allow systems to execute programs known and permitted by the established security policy .
• Regularly update antivirus and antimalware with the latest signatures and perform regular scans . Leverage application resilience technology to assure that those security tools are always functioning as intended .
• Back up data regularly to a nonconnected environment and verify the integrity of those backups .
• Establish cyber-resiliency across endpoints , applications and your network .
How do these sorts of attacks impact the wider threat landscape ?
Unfortunately , those organisations that fall victim to a cyberattack always serve as a reminder to their peers that there is no ‘ 100 % protection ’. To make a real difference to the impact of cybersecurity incidents , cybersecurity priorities must shift from defensive strategies to the management of disruption through cyber-resilience .
On the other hand , successful cyberattacks in a specific vertical such as the education market often embolden other cybercriminals to target similar organisations . This typically leads to a spike of cyberattacks in the same vertical . In turn , more sophisticated organisations join so-called Information Sharing and Analysis Centers ( ISACs ). These are non-profit organisations that provide a central resource for gathering information on cyberthreats as well as allow two-way sharing of information between the private and the public sector about root causes , incidents and threats , as well as sharing experience , knowledge and analysis . If they learn about cyberattacks on one of their peers early , they might still have a chance to prepare for the worst-case scenario – falling victim to an attack .
Why is having a resilient Zero Trust approach in place necessary in instances such as these ?
The growing threat of cyberattacks has underscored that organisations can no longer depend on conventional perimeter-based defences to protect critical systems and data . www . intelligentciso . com
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