Security Automation for Risk-Based Decisions

Security automation involves the use of technology to carry out routine IT security tasks, like endpoint scans and incident responses, while minimizing human intervention. Given the vast, intricate, and dynamic nature of cyber environments, coupled with the proliferation of vulnerabilities and persistent cyber threats, automation is essential for bolstering cybersecurity.

While automation is already integrated into numerous cybersecurity operations, it confronts ongoing challenges in achieving comprehensive security monitoring capabilities, encompassing real-time threat detection, incident response, and risk-based decision-making. This blog seeks to explore the significance and constraints of security automation and its potential contribution to the process of making risk-based decisions.

Understanding Security Automation

Security automation refers to the automated execution of security tasks, encompassing the detection, investigation, and mitigation of cyber threats independently or with minimal human intervention. Automation offers numerous advantages in an ever-evolving threat landscape marked by constant security risks and attacks. It diminishes human errors, enhances operational efficiency, improves accuracy, reduces overall risk, expedites incident response, and fortifies an organization’s future defenses.

Critical cybersecurity capabilities often center on threat intelligence, where experts must analyze risks and strategies for risk reduction. A risk-based approach to cybersecurity entails the evaluation of cyber threats and prioritizing defensive measures. This proactive and adaptive approach assists in identifying genuine cyber risks to an organization’s most valuable assets, effectively allocating resources and security actions to mitigate those risks to an acceptable level. A security strategy guided by risk-based decisions empowers organizations to set practical, achievable security objectives and utilize resources more efficiently.

Several approaches exist in automation, particularly in network defense design. “Low-Regret” and “High-Regret” approaches are what those are called. As the name implies, it refers to choosing whether to execute automated actions by using a benefit vs. regret assessment. Because of this, companies now prioritize when to automate a task rather than whether it should be done in the first place. The notion of regret in relation to automated responses derived from cyber threat intelligence is as follows (Ekin, 2023):

• “Low-Regret”: Whether or not the intelligence assessment is accurate, it is highly unlikely that automated action taken in response to this intelligence will cause operations to be disrupted.
• “High-Regret”: Operations may be impacted if automated action is taken in response to this intelligence.

Need for Security Automation

In recent years, cyberattacks have surged in frequency, sophistication, and the subsequent cost of mitigation. Notably, many attackers now harness automation to orchestrate multiple concurrent attacks, amplifying their chances of success. Simultaneously, the IT landscape has grown more intricate for numerous organizations, particularly in the past three years when businesses rapidly expanded remote work capabilities in response to the pandemic. This expansive, boundary-less network, coupled with the proliferation of personal devices, has substantially heightened risk and complexity for IT and security teams. 90% of all businesses globally are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), numbering close to 400 million. The most recent study, in which senior executives leading SMEs from several nations took part, found that these businesses are vulnerable to malware attacks, phishing attacks, insider threats, webattacks, ransomware, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, and similar kinds of other threats. Because all employees use laptops, desktop computers, or servers, and most operations are manually performed by human beings, operations performed in networks or even at endpoints are more susceptible to cyberattacks for any mistake or negligence towards defined processes. It is also time-consuming due to manual efforts (Pawar, 2022; Pawar & Palivela, 2023; Pawar, 2023).

Organizations must significantly enhance their incident detection, response, and remediation capabilities to mitigate the risk of cyberattacks and minimize potential damage in the event of a breach. This imperative necessitates the adoption of security automation.

Role of Automation in Enhancing Risk-Based Decisions

Security automation plays a pivotal role in enhancing risk-based decisions within cybersecurity. When integrated into security processes, automation brings several significant advantages, such as streamlining the collection and analysis of vast amounts of data. This enables security operations to identify potential risks more swiftly and accurately. Automated tools can continuously monitor networks, identify anomalies, and respond to threats in real-time, reducing the window of vulnerability.

Furthermore, automation enables the implementation of risk-based decisions through intelligent algorithms and machine learning. It can assess the severity of security incidents and their potential impact on the organization and recommend appropriate responses based on predefined risk thresholds. Automation can also facilitate consistency in decision-making by eliminating human error and bias, ensuring that risk-based decisions are consistently applied across the organization. However, this process also requires large groups of working samples for the machine learning model to analyze and develop.

Challenges Associated with Security Automation

While security automation offers substantial benefits, it comes with its challenges. In addition to the privacy and compliance issues linked to data-dependent learning models, several key technical challenges include:

◉ Complexity: Heterogeneous systems, geographically dispersed networks, bandwidth constraints, varying data formats used by collection tools, and a need for standardized architecture all add to the difficulties of ongoing automated data collection.

◉ False positive: Network and vulnerability scanners do not consistently yield precise information and may not offer a comprehensive identification of all vulnerabilities. The aggregation of data from various vulnerability scanners and compliance validation checks into a unified database should be carried out meticulously to eliminate duplicate alerts.

◉ Resource: Security automation demands substantial processing power and may necessitate storage capacity beyond a system’s capabilities. In geographically distributed networks, security tools might generate excessive network traffic, potentially disrupting system operations.

◉ Interoperability: Security automation might encounter integration issues, with variations in output and the methods used to link risk scores to vulnerabilities. Adding to thecomplexity of security automation is the dynamic nature of network environments, the ever-shifting landscape of threats and vulnerabilities, and the continuous flux of endpoints, configurations, and connections.

Implementing Security Automation

While various security tools may operate differently, a typical process for an automated security system includes:

• Receiving alerts from security tools, correlating them with additional data or threat intelligence, and determining whether the alert represents a genuine security incident.
• Identifying the type of security incident and selecting the most suitable response from a security playbook.
• Implementing containment measures using security tools to prevent the threat from spreading or causing further damage.
• Eradicating the identified threat from affected systems may involve isolating infected systems from the network and performing system wipes or reimaging.
• Escalation by utilizing predefined rules to assess whether automated actions effectively mitigated the threat. Conversely, if further action is unnecessary, the system can close the ticket and generate a comprehensive threat report.

Automation can take various forms, including process automation, Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR), or Extended Detection and Response (XDR). These approaches share core processes while differing in their overall capabilities and scope of application.

RPA

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology excels at automating routine, rule-based tasks that don’t necessitate advanced analysis. RPA services employ software “robots” that emulate human actions, using mouse and keyboard commands to automate operations within a virtualized computer system. These robots are capable of executing security-related activities, including vulnerability scans, the operation of monitoring tools, saving results, and undertaking fundamental threat mitigation tasks, such as configuring firewall rules.

SOAR

Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) systems are consistently integrated into Security Operations Center (SOC)

capabilities to empower organizations to gather data related to security threats and automate responses to security incidents. They play a pivotal role in establishing, prioritizing, standardizing, and automating incident response procedures. SOAR platforms excel in orchestrating actions across various security tools, facilitating automated security workflows, policy enforcement, and report generation. These systems are frequently employed for the automated management and resolution of vulnerabilities.

XDR

eXtended Detection and Response (XDR) solutions represent the next stage in the evolution of endpoint and network detection and response systems. These solutions aggregate data from various parts of the security environment, encompassing endpoints, networks, and cloud systems. This comprehensive

approach enables the detection of elusive attacks that may otherwise go unnoticed, hidden within security layers and silos. XDR excels at autonomously collating telemetry data into a coherent attack narrative, providing analysts with a complete toolkit for investigating and responding to incidents.

Furthermore, it seamlessly integrates with security tools to carry out automated responses, making it a holistic automation platform for incident management. XDR’s automation features include machine learning-based detection, correlation of linked alerts and data, a centralized user interface, response orchestration, and dynamic learning capabilities that continuously improve over time.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Why Conducting Cyber Risk Assessments Is Critical for 21st-Century Businesses

Cybercrime is on the rise around the world, with thousands of cybersecurity breaches occurring each day. In 2020, the FBI reported that its Cyber Division was receiving as many as 4,000 complaints about cyberattacks per day (MonsterCloud, 2020).

To help prevent such attacks and associated financial losses, many companies and their IT teams conduct cyber risk assessments. Cyber risk assessments are a well-proven way to protect organizations’ networks and data. Read on to learn why cyber risk assessments should be an important part of business strategy.

What Are Cyber Risk Assessments?

Cyber risk assessment is the process of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating the risk associated with an organization’s current cybersecurity setup (IT Governance, 2017). A cyber risk assessment aims to properly evaluate the security of a company’s network, systems, and sensitive data, highlighting any existing weak points within the security framework.

In addition, cyber risk assessments highlight which of an organization’s assets are most at risk of being successfully targeted by malicious hackers and cybercriminals. These assets may include:

◉ Hardware

◉ Systems

◉ Devices, such as laptops

◉ Customer data

◉ Intellectual property

Understanding the Importance of Cyber Risk Assessments

Protecting networks, data, and sensitive information is vital to the success of an organization. Regularly conducting risk assessments can help mitigate the risk of costly cyberattacks. While cyber risk assessments alone aren’t a complete defense against cyberattacks, as cybercrime is an ongoing battle, conducting risk assessments can help increase a company’s overall security.

Security incidents and data breaches can be quite costly for companies to handle. If you want to safeguard your company and ultimately save money over the long term, regularly conducting cybersecurity risk assessments should be an important element of your overall business strategy.

How Do Cyber Risk Assessments Benefit Organizations?

Given the number of cyberattacks that happen daily, protecting sensitive organizational data is a necessity. Conducting cyber risk assessments offers a plethora of benefits for companies. Some of the top benefits that cyber risk assessments provide for organizations include:

◉ Systematic and efficient identification of existing cybersecurity vulnerabilities

◉ An understanding of the organization’s current ability to combat existing security threats

◉ The creation of an actionable, step-by-step guide for improving the organization’s security system and preventing malicious hacks

Read More: EC-Council Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO)

Source: eccouncil.org

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How to Effectively Manage Cybersecurity Risk

Cybersecurity issues are becoming more problematic for businesses of all sizes: According to PurpleSec (2021), cybercrime surged by 600% during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the costs of cybercrime are increasing at a startling rate. Implementing an effective risk management program is an essential component of defending against cyberattacks. In this article, learn how to develop a cybersecurity risk management framework and why doing so should be a top priority for chief information security officers (CISOs) and organizations as a whole.

What Is Cybersecurity Risk Management?

Cybersecurity risk management is the process of identifying, analyzing, and addressing an organization’s IT security risks to prevent future cyberattacks and account for ongoing cyberthreats. To prevent cybercrime, IT professionals must develop a robust cybersecurity framework that adheres strictly to relevant guidelines, standards, and best practices.

Why Does Cybersecurity Risk Management Matter?

Maintaining an effective cybersecurity risk management program is complex but essential. Examining risks and their potential impact enables organizations to create strategic goals and lessen the risk of cyberthreats. When a risk management framework is implemented correctly, it allows organizations to better understand the full range of risks they face. The greater an organization’s understanding of these risks, the better it will be able to implement proactive measures.

Creating a cybersecurity risk management plan increases awareness of cyberthreats across your entire organization. Having a preventive strategy in place can:

◉ Mitigate cyberattacks and the damage associated with cyber risks

◉ Reduce operational costs

◉ Protect business assets and revenue

◉ Improve organizational reputation

Developing a Cybersecurity Risk Management Framework

This risk management program checklist will improve your cybersecurity risk assessment and ability to prevent malicious attacks, including those involving malware, phishing, and ransomware.

1. Understand the Security Landscape

Security teams need to have a clear overview of their organization’s security landscape. Knowing everything from the location of servers and devices to the location of pathways leading to fire exits is essential. Without a clear perspective on your organization’s security architecture, tackling security issues will take longer.

2. Identify Gaps

Prioritize the most pressing security risks by using penetration testing methodologies to identify cybersecurity weaknesses. Risk assessment involves identifying security gaps and flaws before a breach happens. This assessment (and follow-up actions taken) will help reduce the severity of potential consequences.

3. Create a Team

Building a cybersecurity team to address emerging threats is challenging, mainly because ongoing cybersecurity risk mitigation requires a committed, highly experienced group of security professionals. It’s generally best to improve cybersecurity starting within your organization. To do so, build your internal staff’s skills through risk management training and programs to enhance productivity, rather than hiring skilled workers externally.

4. Assign Responsibilities

Maintaining cybersecurity is not something that IT teams should handle alone. To effectively prevent breaches, every employee in an organization must be aware of possible risks. Assign policies and tasks to different departments to create an optimized strategy that outlines which teams are responsible for which actions in the event of an intrusion. Clearly delineate duties and responsibilities to safeguard against cybersecurity weaknesses associated with the human factor, particularly employee negligence.

5. Prioritize Risk Management Training

Risk management training ensures that employees know how to use the necessary systems and tools to mitigate cybersecurity risks. Implementing a cybersecurity plan at the organizational level requires experienced staff. An employee who is not security aware is a liability.

6. Implement Cybersecurity Awareness Campaigns

After assessing risks, enforce information security policies to prevent disruptions such as security breaches and network outages. Present these policies in a document to ensure that all employees are aware of relevant cyberthreats. The goal is to increase employee awareness of ongoing risks to maintain an optimal security posture.

7. Implement a Risk Management Framework Based on Industry Standards

Enforcing a suitable cyber risk management framework is critical. Cybersecurity risk management frameworks should be based on industry standards and best practices. Remain mindful of the guidelines and penetration testing methodologies presented in common risk management frameworks, such as the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI Security Standards Council, 2018), ISO/IEC 27001 and 27002 (International Organization for Standardization, 2013a, 2013b), the CIS Critical Security Controls (Center for Internet Security, 2021), and the NIST Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2018).

8. Develop a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Program

Cybersecurity risk assessment programs help organizations evaluate their vulnerabilities. Risk assessment programs also define the parameters for organizational configurations, assets, responsibilities, and procedures.

9. Create an Incident Response and Business Continuity Plan

An incident response and business continuity plan covers what actions an organization needs to take to ensure that critical processes continue in the event of a disruption. This plan should be frequently tested, developed, and improved to ensure that your organization has recovery strategies in place.

Source: eccouncil.org

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What Is Cyber Forensics and Why Is It Important for Businesses?

Cyberattacks are increasing with each passing day costing billions of dollars to organizations all over the world. Therefore, to ensure that the same vulnerabilities are not exploited again, organizations need cyber forensics experts to investigate and determine the root cause of cyberattacks while implementing much-needed security measures to prevent such attacks from happening in the first place.

This article will discuss cyber forensics, different types of cyber forensics, and the importance of cyber forensics in cybercrime.

What Is Cyber Forensics?

In simple words, cyber forensics is gathering, analyzing, and investigating data from a computer or mobile device, which is then converted into proof to be presented in court. The primary goal of cyber forensics is to determine who is responsible for cyberattack while documenting the evidence and subsequently performing a thorough investigation.

Cyber forensics is a necessary and integral tool in the fight against cybercrime. The list of cyber threats has exponentially grown in the last decade and includes various acts such as identity theft, cyberbullying, terrorism, and much more. Cyber forensics experts’ responsibility is to use different cyber forensics tools to investigate such cyberattacks and present actionable insights that the organization can use to take corrective actions.

Types of Cyber Forensics

The following are the different types of cyber forensics that you must know about if you are interested in having a career in cyber forensics.

1. Network Forensics

Network forensics is one of the types of cyber forensics that deals with monitoring and analyzing computer network traffic to collect legal evidence and important information that can help with the investigation process.

2. Database Forensics

Database forensics is another type of cyber forensics related to the study and thorough investigation of databases and the related metadata.

3. Email Forensics

Another type of cyber forensics is email forensics, which deals with the recovery and analysis of emails. The investigation includes recovering deleted emails, contacts, and information from calendars as well.

4. Mobile Phone Forensics

Another type of cyber forensics is mobile phone forensics, which deals with analyzing and investigating mobile devices. It generally involves recovering SIM and phone contacts, incoming and outgoing SMS, audio, videos, and call logs, among other things.

5. Malware Forensics

Malware forensics is another type of cyber forensics that deals with identifying malicious code and involves the study of their viruses, payload, and worms, among other things.

Importance of Cyber Forensics in Cybercrime

Cyber forensics plays an important role in the identification of cybercrime. It is needed for the investigation of crime-related activities and law enforcement. There have been several instances such as hacking and denial of service wherein the computer system act as the crime scene. Therefore, in such scenarios, the proof of the crime is hidden inside the computer system. This proof can be emails, documents, browsing history, or anything else. Therefore, to investigate the crime scene and present proof in the court of law, cyber forensics plays a crucial role in eliminating cybercrime.

Growth of Cyber Forensics Jobs

Cybercrimes are only increasing by the day. Therefore, organizations need computer forensics or cyber forensics experts to solve various cybercrimes. Moreover, the future of the IT industry lies within cyber forensics. With people becoming more and more dependent on technology, cybercrimes will only increase in the future. Therefore, there will be a lot of demand and growth the cyber forensics jobs.

Source: eccouncil.org

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The Importance of Risk Management in Merger and Acquisitions

Although cybersecurity jobs can be very tedious, organizations will know how important it is whenever there is a breach. However, most organizations overlook risk management when it comes to Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). Furthermore, organizations will need the help of a cybersecurity professional to secure their IT infrastructure and data during mergers and acquisitions.

In this article, we will talk about the need for cyber risk management during the M&A process. Most of the organizations overlook the security aspects during merger and acquisitions. Thus, security leader should ensure the acquisitions are secure and follow the proper security protocols. It also helps to know the security changes to make after a merger and acquisitions.

What are Mergers and Acquisitions?

A merger is known as joining two or more business organizations to form a new entity. However, acquisition involves transferring ownership of an entity’s stocks, equity assets, or interests. Furthermore, mergers and acquisitions are made to increasing market share and plant size, diversifying product and services, geographic expansion, gain market power, and several economic benefits.

What are the cyber risks associated with mergers and acquisitions?

For risk management, an organization needs to know all the risks associated with mergers and acquisitions. Some of the common cyber risks associated with mergers and acquisitions are stated below.

General Cyber Threats

The global cost of cybersecurity is estimated to reach $6 trillion by 2021. In fact, it is estimated that the global cost of cybercrime per minute will reach $11.4 million by 2021. Without due cybersecurity diligence, your existing portfolio and investment could become a part of this cybercrime ecosystem.

Executing the Deal

When executing a deal with a third-party, both buyer and seller must make a note to maintain all cybersecurity measures, especially during the transfer of data. Ensuring that both parties take safety precautions is a must.

Business Value Propositions

Technology is both a boon and a bane. While smart technology and robotic devices are built to ensure productivity, they also expand the cyber threat horizon. Ensure that all  assets are diligently secured before being brought into a secure system.

How to manage cyber risks in M&A

Analyze Your Cyber Landscape

Not all deals fit a pre-made mold. That is why it is important to first evaluate the current threat landscape to identify any bad actors, both internal and external, that may target both parties during the M&A.

Access Cyber Risks

Much like how one would assess security through a software development life cycle, it is important to assess cyber risks through the entire process of the typical deal life cycle. This will also allow for a benchmark of cyber readiness to be established that can be applied to different business portfolios created to assess new investments as well.

Source: eccouncil.org

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3 Steps to Ensure Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)

Creating an ideal Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) approach is crucial. The use of third parties is not a new concept. Almost every organization uses one third party tool or the other and third-parties seem like the most vulnerable links in an organization’s security policy.

Third-parties are a crucial and fundamentally risky element in the strongly-linked digital ecosystem. Considering the extensiveness and possible severity of risks that are fundamentally present with third parties, TPRM has swiftly evolved from a ‘point-in-time’ process to an iterative approach, complete with systems, policies, and procedures, in organizations that are determined to manage third-party risk.

What is Third-Party Risk Management?

To understand Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM), you must first understand what third-party means. A “Third-party” is an entity or organization which you have an agreement with to deliver a product or service to either you or your clientele on behalf of your company. A third party is also referred to as a supplier, service provider, or vendor.

Therefore, Third-Party Risk Management is an assessment of vendor risk presented by a company’s third-party relationships along the whole supply chain. TPRM involves recognizing, evaluating, and monitoring the risks depicted throughout the lifecycle of your relationships with third-parties. This often begins during procurement and reaches to the end of the offboarding process.

Gradually, the reach of vendor management extends to on-sourcing and sub-contracting and on-arrangements to lessen fourth-party risk. The risks to be evaluated are business continuity risk, security risk, reputational risk, operational risk, and privacy risk.

Why is Third-Party Risk Management important?

Cyberattacks are increasing in impact, frequency, and sophistication as cybercriminals are constantly advancing their efforts to compromise information, systems, and networks. Risks come in all forms and sizes for different companies. Third-Party Risk Management is mainly important for high-risk vendors who process intellectual property and other sensitive information.

Supplier risk management isn’t just about identifying and controlling cybersecurity vulnerabilities and offering compliance advisory services of third parties. While these concerns cannot be trivialized, TPRM consists of an entire host of other features including environmental impacts, ethical business practices, safety procedures, and corruption, among others. Monitoring your third-party suppliers and supply chain is important.

Other reasons why TPRM is important are:

• Reduced costs
• It lets you address potential risks with fewer resources and in less time
• Gives you an opportunity to concentrate on your core business functions
• Offers you a framework for your organization and your vendors
• Enhances the integrity, confidentiality, and obtainability of your services
• Drives financial and operational competences
• Guarantees that the reputation and quality of your services and products are not ruined.

Businesses are now investing deeply in a Third-Party Risk Management training program to better recognize and control risks before they escalate. As the importance of TPRM continues to increase, organizations are hiring qualified professionals more than ever before. Security and risk experts are continuously searching for certification programs in TPRM to refine their skills and authenticate their expertise.

Common Types of Third-Party Risks

Strategic Risk

Strategic risk arises from making adverse business decisions, or from the failure to implement appropriate business decisions that aligns with the organization’s strategic goals.

Reputation Risk

This type of risk arises from negative public opinion created by a third-party. Customer who are unsatisfied, security breaches, and legal violations are all examples that could cause a company’s reputation to fall.

Operational Risk

An example of operation risk is one where a software vendor is hacked, leaving the company with a downed system, or a supplier being impacted by a natural disaster.

Transaction Risk

Often, risks caused by third parties result in financial damage. An example could be a supplier delivering faulty material, resulting in poop sales.

Compliance Risk

This type of third party risk impacts compliance with laws, rules, and regulations. An example of this type of a risk is when a supplier violates a cyber law, the principle organization can also be found liable and face fines.

Information Security Risk

This is the most important type of third-party risk. An example of this type of risk is when a policy is signed with a third-party, sharing data, and the third-party is breached, thereby breaching the principle organization as well.

How do you do a third-party risk assessment?

To identify a third-party risk, an assessment may be performed by an independent or in-house cybersecurity expert. The evaluator will possibly use a vendor risk management framework from the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to evaluate your vendor risk management program. The following are the steps involved in conducting a third-party risk assessment

• Recognizing the probable risks presented by your entire third-party relationships.
• Organizing vendors based on their access to your networks, systems, and data.
• Appraising service level agreements (SLAs) to make sure that your suppliers perform as anticipated.
• Analyzing risks for each vendor based on their significance to your organization, the access to your digital network or system, and the level of sensitivity of the information they individually handle.
• Regulating compliance necessities for your organization counting the standards and regulations that must be met.
• Constantly checking for changes in their environment and yours, including changes in industry standards and regulations.
• Probing vendors with risk management questionnaires.
• Auditing certain vendors based on their responses to the questionnaires, probably with on-site visits

How do you mitigate third-party risk?

Implementing a holistic program is an ideal approach for handling third-party activities. Companies are now beginning to understand the rising risks that third-parties present to their business and are stepping up their Third-Party Risk Management endeavors appropriately.

Step 1: Identify third-party risk

Risks can be identified at different levels of engagement with third parties. Since third-party services and tools are given access to numerous resources, data, systems, applications, network appliances, and applications, and data, deciding their security risks can be complicated. You can identify risks by:

• Performing penetration testing and source code analysis to rank risks for third-parties
• Performing a threat model to assess crucial assets that a third-party tool can impact.
• Performing a red teaming assessment for the services offered by third parties to diagnose additional risks.
• Assessing exit and entry points for all third-party services and tools.

Step 2: Evaluate third-party risk

After identifying third-party risks, you need to carry out a careful evaluation to assess and account for the impact. You cannot successfully mitigate risks without evaluations and assessments. You can do the following to effectively evaluate third party risks.

• Rank the assessment of critical third-party services and tools to supervise the additional evaluation cost to the security program.
• Perform periodic evaluations concerning access to authorized and unauthorized resources for third-party services and tools.
• Evaluate the general possible business impacts of individual critical third-party tool risk.
• Assess the third-party services or tools using balanced resources.

Step 3: Mitigate third-party risk

To effectively mitigate third-party risks, risks must be assessed in a time-and-cost manner. This approach helps to lessen the seriousness of the recognized risks and resolve them. Risks must be communicated to the third party via an open channel to mitigate them. Best practices for mitigation include:

• Keep an inventory of your entire third-party assets, alongside their exchanges with downstream and upstream assets in the organization.
• Promote asset ownership for each third-party tool or service in the inventory.
• Communicate the risk management strategy to the third party and prospects before integrating the service or tool.
• Create an open channel for communicating risks and threats to the third party.
• Apply mitigating controls for safeguarding all third-party exits and entry points.
• Integrate and review changes from a third-party before distribution to customers and employees.
• Scrutinize both authorized and unauthorized access to systems from third-party assets.

Why Choose EC-Council’s CCISO Certification Program?

Besides the fact that the CCISO is designed for information security executives who want to be CISOs by refining their learning and skills to align information security programs with business objectives and goals, CCISO is crucial for the following reasons:

Written by seasoned experts

The CCISO Advisory committee consists of seasoned CISOs who designed the program using their daily tasks as a guide and both management and technology firms. Likewise, the board consists of security leaders from Universities, the City of San Francisco, Amtrak, HP, Lennar, the Center for Disease Control, and other consulting firms. These boards have shared their immense knowledge to produce this program to deal with the absence of a leadership training program in information security.

Accredited by ANSI

EC-Council’s CCISO certification program is approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which is one of the numerous certification bodies primarily focused on ensuring the information security expert meets the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 Personnel Certification Accreditation standards.

Concentrates on C-Level Management through the Five Domains

By focusing on these five domains, EC-Council is not only able to guarantee that their beliefs align with those of the NCWF, but they are also able to meet business and organizational demands across the globe.

Recognizes the Importance of Real-World Experience

The information security officer must have prior knowledge before they can secure a C-Level job, as it allows them to acquire a holistic understanding of what to expect while in the area. This is why the CCISO certification program is made up of numerous real-world events confronting modern CISOs across the globe.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Is Cyber Incident Response better than Risk Insurance?

Cyberattacks are continuously evolving. They are rising exponentially and affecting businesses and users as never before. From the network infrastructure to sensitive data and applications, nothing is safe from the reach of cybercriminals. Large corporations, government agencies, as well as SMEs are struggling to protect their critical infrastructure from the wrath of threat actors. To successfully fight against cybercriminals, enterprises need a reliable solution that can save them from losing customer trust, dropping of stock value, disrupted business operations, bad impact on brand integrity, and guaranteed financial loss.

In the wake of hundreds of security breaches, organizations are stepping up their game with skilled security professionals. But cyberattacks being inevitable, businesses need a backup plan – cybersecurity insurance. It indeed offers protection from financial losses that occurred due to data breaches, including the provision of services like security audits, customer credit monitoring services, and legal expenses. Yet, it is incapable of covering the reputational loss. Interestingly, the incident response process is designed to safeguard not only a firm’s potential revenue, but also its sensitive data, reputation, and customer trust.

Here are a few pointers to help you decide which of the two is right for your organization.

Cybersecurity Risk Insurance Vs. Incident Response Team 

Cyber insurance provides coverage for – business liabilities for a data breach, remediation costs while responding to cyberattacks, and legal proceedings. After analyzing the size and scope of frequent security incidents, enterprises start adopting cyber insurance as a part of their risk management strategy. Besides all the benefits of cybersecurity risk insurance, it can’t replace the need for data security and protection.

On the other hand, if the reputation, revenue, and customer trust of the organization are at stake due to destructive security events, firms should build a robust incident response plan and hire a dedicated team to execute it. These professionals work to detect, respond, recover from the consequences of security incidents. They follow a procedure with six major phases – Preparation, Identification, Containment, Eradication, Recovery, and Lessons Learned to handle the incident. 

An incident response team can defend the organization from the dramatic effects of a security breach. At the same time, cyber insurance majorly focuses on recovering the financial losses the firm faced after hitting by the breach. Even adopting a combination of both will strengthen the defense system of the organization. But for that, the firm needs professionals with relevant hands-on experience.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Cyber Risk & Data Breach Insurance

CYBER RISK INSURANCE GUIDE

With data breaches occurring on a weekly basis, cyber security has consistently ranked among the top risk concerns for executives over the past few years. And cyber criminals are only becoming more sophisticated with intrusions becoming more frequent. While there is no substitute for a strong cyber framework and security controls, cyber liability insurance often serves as an organizations last line of defense when all else fails. However cyber policies are often misunderstood.

WHAT IS CYBER INSURANCE?

Simply put, cyber risk insurance (also known as data breach insurance) provides protection for cyber risk and cyber related events. Data breaches and theft of personal information are simply one segment of cyber risk, there are many. Cyber policies provide 2 main coverage components. The first component is first party coverage, which is essentially balance sheet protection – the organization suffers financial damage such as lost income, an extortion demand, required notification costs (or credit monitoring costs), or network/data restoration costs, and the insurer reimburses the company for the damages sustained. The second coverage component is third party coverage, which provides defense costs (attorney’s fees), damages, and settlements for claims and lawsuits that result from errors and security failures (among other incidents). These damages can result from employee or privacy violations, transmission of a virus to another party or in the form of a regulatory action, to name a few. Cyber policies can either be purchased as a basic endorsement added onto a general liability policy, providing limited coverage, or they can be purchased as a stand-alone policy which provides significantly broader coverage. When purchasing a stand-alone policy, companies can select their coverages of interest in order to match their risk profile. Available insuring agreements include.

◈ NETWORK SECURITY & PRIVACY LIABILITY: This agreement provides coverage for defense costs, damages, and expenses arising from theft or improper disclosure of confidential information in your care, custody or control (or in the custody of a cloud provider). Contrary to what many companies think, that data is not limited to credit cards and social security numbers, it also includes employee information (such as tax forms), health information, and corporate confidential information such as intellectual property and financial data. The data also also does not always have to be in digital form and stolen by hackers, a privacy incident may arise from paper records being improperly disposed of. In fact, human error accounts for a large percentage of privacy incidents. Lastly, coverage can also be included for failing to disclose a breach and claims related to improper privacy policies or data collection practices.

◈ MEDIA LIABILITY: A form of coverage for advertising and publishing injury, this insurance provides defense costs and damages for claims asserting copyright infringement and negligent publication of media (among others) while publishing content online and via social media channels.

◈ ERRORS AND OMISSIONS (E&O): While not included in all cyber policies, some carriers include an E&O insurance component which provides coverage for financial damages sustained by third parties (such as clients and customers) when your services fail. Examples might include software and service failures or poor advice by IT consultants. It is however important to note that E&O coverage differs greatly. Well structured E&O policies should extend coverage to include claims resulting from breach of warranty, breach of contract and/or claims asserting failure to deliver.

◈ REGULATORY DEFENSE AND PENALTIES: This insuring agreement provides attorney’s fees and costs associated with formal regulatory or administrative investigations. It also provides coverage for any resulting fines or penalties. With regulators such as the FTC, SEC and OCR increasing cyber enforcement, regulatory defense coverage is increasingly important. Enforcement actions can result from any of the below.

◈ Security failures such as failure to protect data (including employee information)
◈ Improper data collection practices
◈ Failure to disclose a breach
◈ Deceptive privacy practices

◈ EXTORTION / RANSOMWARE: Provides coverage for associated costs, lost income and extortion demands resulting from ransomware attacks that might hold a website, data or software “hostage”.

◈ DATA BREACH RESPONSE COSTS: The costs incurred with responding to a data breach can be significant. Some figures estimate between $100 and $200 per infected record. Data breach response coverage provides coverage for the costs of any required forensic investigation, identity restoration costs, notification costs and credit monitoring costs.

◈ CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXPENSES: Data breaches can inflict significant damage to a company’s reputation. Restoring consumer confidence can be difficult. As a form of reputation insurance, this agreement provides coverage for the organization to hire a PR firm in order to help rebuild the organization’s brand and reputation. It should be noted that lost income resulting from brand damage is however, never covered.

◈ BUSINESS INTERRUPTION & DATA RESTORATION: Data breaches, DDOS attacks, ransom attacks and system failures can often result in lost profits, especially if sustained for a prolonged period. These attacks can also result in the theft or corruption of critical data and network damage which may need to be restored. This insurance agreement provides coverage for the resulting lost income and costs to restore data and networks. Some insurers limit this coverage only to security incidents, while others will also provide coverage for lost income resulting from a system outage. Some will limit coverage only to attacks directly affecting your networks, while others will extend coverage to incidents that might affect a cloud provider or business service provider.

WHAT TYPE OF CLAIMS ARE COVERED BY CYBER LIABILITY INSURANCE?

◈ Extortion and Ransomware attacks resulting in lost income, extortion demands and data and restoration costs
◈ Virus infections of computer systems that destroy or corrupt data and networks requiring restoration.
◈ DDOS attacks resulting in lost income and financial damages to clients that might not be able to access data or utilize services.
◈ Data breaches and/or clerical errors (such as loss of a laptop with protected data) resulting in notification costs, credit monitoring, identity restoration costs, potential regulatory investigation and penalties, and potential consumer or shareholder class action.
◈ Improper privacy policies and/or data collection practices resulting in regulatory investigation and penalties and potential consumer or shareholder class action.
◈ Transmission of a virus or malware to a client or vendor resulting in defense costs and damages sustained by the injured party.

HOW DO CYBER POLICIES DIFFER?

Network insurance contains too many variables to outline here. Some provide only third party coverage, where others include full first party coverage. Some contain numerous exclusions where others are more liberal. Exclusions also do not have be explicitly scheduled, often exclusionary language is contained deep within the definitions and conditions of the policy. Below are just a few examples of some of the coverage variables:

◈ PAPER FILES: All policies provide coverage for digitally stored data, however many companies also may utilize paper files as well, such as applications, tax forms, employee records, health records, etc. Some policies contain exclusions for losses arising from the theft or disclosure of paper records.

◈ ENCRYPTION: While data encryption is a wise recommendation, some companies may choose not to encrypt, or occasionally transmit or store data that is unencrypted. Some policies contain an encryption requirement, precluding coverage for any claims that arise from breaches that affect unencrypted data.

◈ SECURITY STANDARDS: Some cyber risk insurance policies contain a condition precedent to coverage, requiring that the organization employ a certain level of security measures. Failure to do so can nullify coverage.

◈ VIRUSES: Viruses can wreak havoc on a network resulting in lost income and significant restoration costs. Some coverage contains a specific exclusion for damage caused by viruses and/or any “self-propagating code”

◈ BODILY INJURY AND PROPERTY DAMAGES: Many cyber policies contain broad exclusions for any intrusions that result in bodily injury or property damage. These exclusions can be particularly problematic for the healthcare, technology and manufacturing sectors. If your company has any such exposure it is important to seek coverage with a carrier that provides coverage for any contingent BI/PD claims.

◈ VENDORS & OFFSITE COMPUTERS: Most companies rely on third party software in one form or another. Whether it be a cloud provider, SAAS software or compliance program. Security incidents that affect your business service provider or off site computer systems can result in claims against your company. Ranging from lost profits to privacy violations. It can also result in lost business income. Some carriers include within their definitions, coverage for breaches that affect service providers and offsite computer systems while others intentionally preclude such language.

◈ DATA: The definition of data is an important consideration. Especially for organizations that work more with corporate information. Some policies take an extremely narrow stance on defining data, simply as, drivers license information, dates of birth and social security information. Others contain more liberal definitions which include health information and corporate confidential information. Purchasing a policy with a narrow definition can significantly compromise coverage.

◈ FAILURE TO DISCLOSE A BREACH: Your employee lost a laptop with thousands of records on it, do you report it? With all of the breach notification laws differing state by state, and cross border laws posing an even greater challenge, knowing when a breach must be disclosed can be difficult. However, failing to do so can result in additional damages and regulatory enforcement. Some policies provide coverage for such claims, others do not.

◈ UNAUTHORIZED COLLECTION OF DATA: Most companies collect some degree of consumer data. But ensuring that your privacy policies and opt-in and opt-out practices are all accurate and transparent can be difficult. When data is collected improperly, claims can be close behind. Most policies contain some sort of exclusion for claims arising out of data collection practices, however a few insurers contain no such exclusion. Even when coverage is included terms can vary.

WHAT OTHER COVERAGE DO I NEED?

◈ D&O INSURANCE: When cyber breaches result in consumer or shareholder class actions, a properly structured directors and officers insurance policy may be the best protection. Depending on the claims asserted, policy language, and specifics of the loss, a D&O policy may or may not extend coverage, however due to the wide range of coverage provided by D&O policies, it is generally a wise placement nonetheless.
◈ CRIME & SOCIAL ENGINEERING INSURANCE: An often overlooked component of a strong cyber program is crime coverage. Crime insurance (with a properly structured social engineering endorsement) is particularly critical for protection against social engineering attacks and funds transfer fraud which are increasing in frequency and severity.

RECENT TRENDS INCREASING CYBER RISK

◈ With larger organizations investing more resources into their cyber security frameworks, and smaller organizations lacking proper security, cyber attacks are trickling down to mid -sized and smaller companies with greater frequency.
◈ Ransom demands have historically been on the lower side, however these demands are expected to increase which will result in greater damages for companies affected by extortion attacks.
◈ In addition to attacks becoming more sophisticated, malware is becoming smarter and the underground cyber crime marketplace (dark-web) is growing with more available code and a greater number of users, which will result in an increase in data breaches.
◈ Regulatory agencies such as the SEC and FTC are increasing their oversight of cyber security, bringing a greater number of enforcement actions against companies that: fail to prevent against a breach, fail to disclose a breach, or improperly collect consumer information. They have also voiced interest in pursuing actions against smaller companies.

WHO NEEDS CYBER LIABILITY INSURANCE?

◈ Public companies including micro cap and nano cap companies and those trading OTC.
◈ Professional firms of all sizes - particularly professionals that work with public companies, including consultants, accountants and lawyers
◈ Companies subject to regulatory oversight such as financial institutions and government contractors
◈ Smaller & mid-sized businesses. It is estimated that 60-80% of breaches affected smaller the SME sector. In 2015 alone there were 781 breaches as reported by ITRC.
◈ Higher risk industries such retailers, financial firms, healthcare, technology companies, educational institutions, hotels and hospitality companies, manufacturers and professional service firms.

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Cyber risk: Why cyber security is important

Cyber risk is now firmly at the top of the international agenda as high-profile breaches raise fears that hack attacks and other security failures could endanger the global economy.

The Global Risks 2015 report, published in January by the World Economic Forum (WEF), included this rather stark warning: "90 percent of companies worldwide recognize they are insufficiently prepared to protect themselves against [cyber attacks]."

Cyber crime costs the global economy over US$400 billion per year, according to estimates by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In 2013, some 3,000 companies in the United States had their systems compromised by criminals, the Center reports.

High-profile US retailers Target and Home Depot were among many organizations that lost customer data and credit card information. In other companies, cyber criminals stole money from accounts, carried out industrial espionage and in some cases even took over company systems and demanded ransom money to unlock them.

It's not surprising that governments and businesses around the world are searching for better cyber defense strategies. The European Network and Information Security Agency held a cyber security exercise in October 2014, involving 29 countries and more than 200 organizations, including government bodies, telecoms companies, energy suppliers, financial institutions and Internet service providers.

The tests included simulating more than 2,000 separate incidents: denial of service attacks, website defacements, access to sensitive information and attacks on critical infrastructure. Software and hardware failures were judged the biggest security threats.

In February, President Barack Obama addressed the Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University. It was attended by senior US political leaders, CEOs and representatives from computer security companies, major retailers, law enforcement and technical experts, to "collaborate and explore partnerships that will help develop the best ways to bolster our cyber security."

There is clearly still much work to be done, and the people behind the attacks have a significant head start. For those playing catch-up, cyber security has become a matter of urgency.

The consequences of cyber crime

Cyber attacks fall into two broad categories: breaches in data security and sabotage. Personal data, intellectual property, trade secrets and information relating to bids, mergers and prices are tempting targets for a data security breach. Sabotage can take the form of denial of service attacks, which flood web services with bogus messages, as well as more conventional efforts to disable systems and infrastructure.

In addition to commercial losses and public relations problems, disruption of operations and the possibility of extortion, cyber attacks may also expose an organization to regulatory action, negligence claims, the inability to meet contractual obligations and a damaging loss of trust among customers and suppliers.

Most cyber crime incidents go unreported, and few companies come forward with information on their losses. That is not surprising given the risk to an organization's reputation and the prospect of legal action against those that own up to cyber crime. Few of the biggest cyber criminals have been caught—many have yet to be identified.

A significant proportion of cyber crime also goes undetected, particularly industrial espionage where access to confidential documents and data is difficult to spot. There is a danger that a business might trade at a disadvantage for months or even years as a result of a continuing, but undetected, security breach.

"Criminals operate across borders, so must companies and the experts that assist them, including their lawyers,". "Responding to cyber attacks requires both a global vision and a fine knowledge of local regulations and law enforcement agencies."

Vulnerability is on the rise

Cyber crime is only likely to increase, despite the best efforts of government agencies and cyber security experts. Its growth is being driven by the expanding number of services available online and the increasing sophistication of cyber criminals who are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with security experts.

Technical innovation throws up new online dangers. For example, the migration of data to third-party cloud providers has created a centralization of data and therefore more opportunities for criminals to misappropriate critical information from a single target attack. Similarly, the emphasis on mobile services has opened up corporate systems to more users—multiplying the opportunities to penetrate security measures.

Applications that involve the collection and analysis of data in large quantities—so-called Big Data—put additional pressure on security managers. Mountains of sensitive data about buyer decisions, their habits and other personal information must be kept safe, but until recently security was not a top priority in systems handling Big Data.

The development of an Internet of Things, which enables communication between machines, raises the possibility of appliances being manipulated by hackers. The widespread use of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is only likely to boost the possibility of information misuse.

Much of the world's critical infrastructure, controlling services such as power generation, transport and utilities, already depends on M2M. Protecting the networks that carry the communications that control these services is vital, especially since decision making is often done without human involvement.

Countering cyber risk

"Cyber security is regarded as a board-level responsibility,". "Similar to other compliance areas, board directors can be held liable for not discharging their duty to prevent harm to the corporation. In performing their oversight role, directors should stay informed about the corporation's cyber security defenses. They must ask what the risks are and determine what needs to be done to mitigate them. In today's connected world, it is unfortunately becoming a question of ‘when' rather than ‘if' some sort of data breach will occur."

Furthermore, under guidance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, public companies are required to disclose the material risks they face from cyber attacks and include specific detail to enable an investor to assess the magnitude of those risks.

US companies are also required to consider disclosure about the potential costs associated with preventing cyber attacks and any contingent liabilities or asserted claims related to prior breaches. In sum, a failure to make adequate disclosures can lead to additional liability in the event of a cyber attack.

There is no shortage of advice available to organizations to help them assess risks and develop suitable plans to counter them. Governments around the world are developing cyber security guidelines.

Last year, at the behest of President Obama, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States issued a Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Security. Critical infrastructure not only includes energy supply networks and telecommunications, but financial services and retail facilities as well.

The Framework is a set of standards and best practices drawn up with the input of thousands of security experts and designed to help organizations manage the risks of a cyber security breach. With the aid of the Framework, they chart their current security profile, work out what profile they should be aiming for and create a plan for reaching it.

"Similar to financial and reputational risk, cyber security risk affects a company's bottom line. It can drive up costs and impact revenue. It can harm an organization's ability to innovate and to gain and maintain customers," warns NIST.

The UK intelligence agency, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which provides advice and services to protect national voice and data networks, estimates 81 percent of UK businesses have experienced some kind of security breach. To help stem the tide, the organization has published detailed guidance for businesses, "10 Steps to Cyber Security."

The critical first step is to establish an information risk management regime that identifies the security risks it faces and the policy for dealing with them. Businesses should protect their information and communications technology by adopting standard security measures and managing how the systems are configured and used. They should also disable unnecessary functions and keep security patches up to date.

Malware protection is an important security consideration. Businesses should not only have policies that cover email, web browsing and the use of personal devices, but also install antivirus software and regularly scan for malware.

Networks are often a weak point in cyber defenses, so it's crucial for businesses to follow recognized network design principles and ensure all devices are configured to the security standards they have adopted.

Removable media policies that control the use of media for the import and export of information are vital. Not only should removable media be scanned for malware, but the type of media and the sort of information that can be transferred should be limited.

Users should only be given the privileges they need to do their job. Accounts used by system or database administrators should not be used for high-risk user activities. User activity should be monitored; particularly those involving access to sensitive information and account actions such as changing passwords and deleting accounts.

The same can be said for vendors, who are often not perceived as a threat or lacking in security measures of their own—many breaches in recent years were via vendors.

"The point is you can't just draft all these fantastic policies and apply them internally, but then not be strict with all vendors,". "You need to ensure that these cyber policies are also imposed on vendors by way of a contract."

Equally, security policies should be part of employment terms and conditions. All users should receive regular training on the cyber risks they face.

Businesses are also urged to scan inbound and outbound traffic continuously to detect suspicious activity. They should also monitor all ICT systems using specialized intrusion detection and prevention systems.

Legal aspects of cyber risk

Governments are tightening laws to ensure organizations take greater responsibility for cyber security and report cyber breaches. The reporting of breaches is important in that it enables government agencies to take action to strengthen security, allows individuals to mitigate harm and encourages organizations to adopt effective security measures.

In the United States, 47 states have enacted laws that require security breaches involving personal data to be reported. The US Congress is also considering various proposals, including one from the Obama Administration, concerning a national breach notification law. The Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2015 is a companion to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2015 unveiled by President Obama in February, governing the collection and dissemination of consumer data. According to a White House spokesperson, these will "provide customers with more control over their data, companies with clearer ways to signal their responsible stewardship over data, and everyone with the flexibility to continue innovating in the digital age."

While such legislative moves are welcome, they have their critics: fines are not particularly prohibitive and it's not clear how they would be enforced, and businesses would be allowed to draft their own codes of conduct, leaving room for loopholes.

The European Union and several of its member states have introduced similar regulations, some of which are specific to particular industries, with the result that organizations operating across different legal jurisdictions have the added burden of making sure they comply with the different laws.

Meanwhile, the EU is developing a proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation to replace and harmonize current data protection legislation. The new regime would require organizations to report data breaches promptly to both the competent authorities and the affected individuals. If it were up to the European Parliament, as one of the legislative bodies deciding on the proposal, failure to comply with this requirement could lead to penalties equivalent to 5 percent of an offender's global turnover.

Preparing for a breach in security, therefore, is particularly important when incidents can result in fines, legal action or measures by government agencies. An effective plan reduces the risks of financial losses and damage to an organization's reputation while ensuring compliance with the relevant legal requirements.

"Looking proactively, you should get input from IT professionals, lawyers, technologists and privacy experts. And it only makes sense that the same team that builds the plan should help prepare for a problem," says Orzechowski.

In the event of an incident, Orzechowski recommends that a lawyer be included on the team in charge of any fact-finding mission so that the company can claim attorney-client privilege and work-product protection. These protections, at least under US law, might prevent the disclosure of information that could be detrimental to their client if future litigation arises following an incident.

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