Imagine your coffee machine brewing your perfect cup just as you wake up, your office lights adjusting automatically to optimize productivity, or your delivery truck predicting traffic jams and rerouting for a faster journey. This isn't science fiction; it's the power of the Internet of Things (IoT), and it's poised to explode in 2024.
Navigating the dynamic realms of technology and cybersecurity, businesses often grapple with a maze of misconceptions and outdated notions. Yet, failing to discern between myth and reality can expose your business to significant security risks.
Drawing from expert insights, including findings from CompTIA's 2024 global State Of Cybersecurity report, we'll debunk three prevalent misconceptions that could jeopardize your success in 2024.
The NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR 500) represents a comprehensive framework established by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to impose cybersecurity standards on all covered financial entities. Introduced on February 16th, 2017, following extensive feedback from industry stakeholders and the public, these regulations encompass 23 sections delineating the obligations for developing and executing an effective cybersecurity program. Covered institutions are mandated to assess their cybersecurity risks and devise proactive strategies to mitigate them. The regulation follows a phased implementation approach, allowing organizations ample time to fortify their policies and controls.
In the realm of small business cybersecurity, the rising tide of cyber incidents presents a formidable challenge, particularly for enterprises lacking the resources to defend against sophisticated attacks such as ransomware. As a small business proprietor, you've likely encountered a plethora of security advice that may be outdated or insufficient in thwarting prevalent compromises. For instance, you may have been cautioned against online shopping via a coffee shop's Wi-Fi network—a recommendation rooted in a bygone era of cyber threats. However, the contemporary security landscape demands a fresh approach, one that evolves in tandem with emerging risks.
In today's digital realm, regulatory compliance, underscored by mandates like GDPR, CCPA, and data residency, poses a formidable challenge for organizations. Meeting compliance standards not only demands substantial effort from compliance teams but also necessitates seamless integration of best practices and rigorous audit preparedness.
Ransomware has long been a significant threat to businesses, causing disruptions, financial losses, and reputational damage. However, cybercriminals are constantly evolving their tactics, and the recent emergence of Ransomware 2.0 presents businesses with new challenges and necessitates a reevaluation of their security posture.
Zero Trust has emerged as a prominent strategy for safeguarding digital assets, drawing considerable attention for its efficacy in modern cybersecurity. This paradigm, which diverges from conventional security models reliant on perimeter defenses, is also recognized for its potential impact on workforce productivity. Delving into this methodology illuminates its principles and potential to fortify employee performance.
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Emily Reed is responsible for safeguarding the digital assets of a thriving healthcare organization renowned for its advanced digital technology solutions.
On a busy morning, Emily’s routine was disrupted by an urgent message from her security team. They were made aware of other healthcare organizations that had recently succumbed to a critical vulnerability that attacked their MOVEit Transfer systems. A remote command execution flaw, this vulnerability can allow escalated privileges and potential unauthorized access to MOVEit server environments. Emily quickly gathered her team to examine the evolving situation.
Fortunately, Emily was aware of this vulnerability. She had preemptively purchased Ridge Security’s RidgeBot automated penetration testing product, recently upgraded with new plugins that automatically detect and exploit the MOVEit vulnerability.
A cyber incident always creates a certain degree of chaos and confusion—that is, until the organization’s response team can snap into action.
An effective response requires the precise coordination of different departments and stakeholders from IT to executive management, all in the face of fast-evolving information.
Source: Center for Internet Security
Author: Don Freeley, VP of It services, CIS
In the process of moving to the cloud, you need a security-first cloud migration strategy that considers both your security and compliance requirements upfront. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how you can use resources from the Center for Internet Security® (CIS®) to create such an approach.
To create a cloud security program, you have two main options to consider. As your first option, you can choose to manage the security of your workloads yourself. The advantage of choosing this route is that you will implement a custom fit to your organization and the needs of your business. However, you might not have knowledge of cloud security best practices, in-house expertise, or the desire to spend significant resources towards cloud security management. Cloud security is complex, requiring different technical skill sets and tooling than on-premises security programs.
Alternatively, you can buy pre-configured or managed services to create a comprehensive cloud security program. In doing so, you'll get to use a partner or product as a force multiplier that will enable you to safely operate in the cloud without incurring unnecessary technical debt and expense. This option can be especially helpful if you're in the beginning stages of wanting to keep your cloud secure.
Neither of the two options discussed above is better than the other. It's about identifying your organization's needs and selecting a method that works best for you to achieve them.
At CIS, our mission is to make the connected world a safer place. We have numerous tools and resources that can help organizations of every size make their cloud migration journey simpler and more secure. Let's go over them below.
The CIS Controls consist of prescriptive, prioritized, and simplified security best practices that you can use to strengthen your cybersecurity posture across your environments, including in the cloud. The CIS Controls v8 Cloud Companion Guide provides context around how each Control applies not only to the cloud but also to individual service models, what your responsibility looks like for a Control within applicable service models, and what products, tools, and threat information (if any) you need to consider. In that way, you can plan your implementation efforts to maximize your time, effort, and efficacy.
The CIS Benchmarks are secure configuration guidelines developed through consensus that you can use to harden your operating systems (OSes) across 25+ vendor product families. Their security recommendations don't just map back to the Controls; they are also referenced by several industry frameworks such as PCI DSS and HIPAA.
In the context of the cloud, the Benchmarks have several resources to help. These are the Foundations Benchmarks, the Compute Benchmarks, and the CIS Build Kits and CIS Configuration Assessment Tool (CIS-CAT)®.
The CIS Foundations Benchmarks are designed to help you create foundational security in the cloud by focusing on three essential areas: identity and access management (IAM), logging and monitoring, and networking. They consist of 50-60 security recommendations so that you can get started in the cloud and quickly set up essential security policies on a specific cloud service provider (CSP) platform.
Each CIS Foundations Benchmark includes sections that tell you exactly which CSP services we cover. Some are essential to your security. As an example, our CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark includes a section that says, "Ensure MFA is enabled on the root account." You need to use Amazon IAM to configure that recommendation. By contrast, other sections depend on the consumption of your service. If you don't use Amazon EC2, for instance, you can disregard those recommendations.
The Foundations Benchmarks' 50-60 recommendations intentionally make it easy for you to create foundational security on a CSP platform. From there, you can take additional efforts to holistically secure your could environment using the CIS Cloud Service Category Benchmarks, like the CIS AWS Compute Services Benchmark. These resources tell you which security recommendations to implement if you're using specific services that are beyond the scope of the Foundations Benchmarks. In that way, you can securely configure your use of cloud services for compute, databases, storage, and other services in a CSP.
The Benchmarks, including the Foundations Benchmarks and Cloud Service Category Benchmarks, are available in Word, Excel, and PDF formats. However with CIS-CAT, you can speed policy to implementation and automate your evaluation of your systems' configurations against other Benchmarks. You can also easily customize and rapidly apply the Benchmarks recommendations using the CIS Build Kits to remediate your system, which are available as Group Policy Objects and Bash shell scripts.
You're ultimately responsible for the security of a guest operating system (OS) on virtual machine images in the cloud. This can be difficult to do. As mentioned previously, the CIS Benchmarks are documents that point the way to system hardening, but without additional resources, you'll need to manually implement the 200-300 security recommendations in the cloud one by one.
Fortunately, CIS Hardened Images can help! These virtual machine images are pre-configured to the security recommendations of the CIS Benchmarks. In that sense, you can spin up a pre-hardened OS without having to spend time and money on manual hardening.
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n today's digital landscape, cybersecurity threats lurk around every corner. From phishing scams and malware attacks to data breaches and ransomware, businesses of all sizes are vulnerable. But amidst this rising tide of cybercrime, a powerful ally emerges: Artificial Intelligence.
AI-powered security solutions hold immense potential to revolutionize threat detection and prevention. From analyzing vast amounts of data to identifying intricate attack patterns, AI can bring unparalleled speed and accuracy to your cybersecurity defenses. However, as with any powerful tool, trust in AI is paramount for its successful implementation.
The healthcare industry holds the most sensitive data imaginable: our personal health information. Protecting this data from cyber threats is paramount, and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) just took a major step towards that goal. As part of their new cyber initiative, HHS has laid out specific cybersecurity goals for healthcare companies, including doctors, billing companies, and medical SaaS providers./
One of the most critical goals emphasizes vendor and supplier cybersecurity requirements. This means healthcare businesses must proactively identify, assess, and mitigate the risks associated with third-party products and services. Your EHR vendor, cloud storage provider, and even your email system are all part of your digital ecosystem, and their security vulnerabilities can become your own.
Companies that have settled lawsuits for millions of dollars under the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act are now having to battle their insurance providers to get their costs reimbursed.
Facebook agreed to pay $650 million in 2021 to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that the app violated the state’s biometric privacy law by using facial recognition technology until November 2021. In similar cases, Google agreed to pay $100 million, TikTok $92 million and Snapchat $35 million.
Your website is more than just a virtual storefront - it's a gateway to your brand, a hub for customer interactions, and a potential minefield for data privacy breaches. Whether you're a bustling manufacturing plant or a local legal firm, navigating the ever-evolving landscape of data privacy regulations can feel like walking a tightrope. But fear not business owners! Partnering with Vector Choice can be your key to achieving compliance and peace of mind.
Corvus Insurance, the leading cyber underwriter powered by a proprietary AI-driven cyber risk platform, today released its Q4 2023 Ransomware Report. Featuring data collected from ransomware leak sites, the report shows that while Q4 attacks were down slightly from Q3 2023, ransomware activity for the year surpassed 2022 totals by 68 percent.
The shift towards remote work has transformed business landscapes forever. While companies reap the benefits of increased employee productivity and talent pool access, navigating the security intricacies of a remote workforce demands careful consideration. As a trusted MSP, Vector Choice is here to guide you through these challenges and ensure your data remains secure.
The payment card landscape is a battlefield, and in 2024, the armor gets an upgrade. Brace yourselves, business owners, because PCI 4.0, the latest iteration of data security standards, is charging towards mandatory compliance. But unlike a surprise audit, this isn't something to fear - it's an opportunity to shield your business from data breaches and build trust with your customers.
2024 is looming, and for businesses handling customer data, it brings a significant regulatory shift: the amended FTC Safeguards Rule takes full effect on May 13, 2024. This isn't just a minor housekeeping update - it's a game-changer for data security and privacy practices. So, whether you're a small startup or a sprawling enterprise, it's time to buckle up and understand what's coming down the cybersecurity pike.
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