Moving to the cloud: Efficiency and Reduced Organizational Risk Posture

Moving to the cloud: A Study in Security, Efficiency & Reduced Organizational Risk Posture

A recent Gartner study indicates that cyber crimes are at an all-time high, up 30% year over year. This is and should be of tremendous concern to C-suite executives and boards of directors.

The root cause of cybercrimes varies; however, most organizations will experience vulnerabilities arising from technological gaps due to neglected software patching initiatives, outdated firmware, continued use of hardware beyond manufacturer ‘end of life’ standards, limited resources, limited budgets, multiple new compliances, and of course externalities such as the recent global pandemic.

In efforts to protect against threat actors while simultaneously acknowledging their companies’ limitations, more and more C-suite information security executives are proposing complete moves to cloud-based computing environments along with the ‘shared resource’ model characteristic thereof.  This will help ensure information security integrity, reduce or eliminate the threat of bad actors wreaking havoc on the company’s information systems and will allow the organization to achieve its goals with some element of cost-efficiency. To ensure these systems are implemented in the most efficient manner possible, many concerns will turn to Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs).

1.       Lack of resources create an unintended risk appetite

Some specific security challenges organizations face in today’s operating environment, based on experience include: A lack of resources creates an unintended risk appetite leads to organizational dysfunction and job loss. Organizations need to provide their CISO with their own budget, independent of IT, and the CISO needs to report at the same level as the CIO with a direct line to the Board of Directors and should feel comfortable addressing any vulnerabilities that may arise, notwithstanding resource requirements to address them. Recently, we were tasked with performing a security assessment and reporting our results directly to the client’s Chief Information Officer. The Chief Information Officer, in turn, requested that we provide our findings simultaneously, at a joint meeting of the Board of Directors. The Chief Information Security Officer had previously briefed the board on the organization’s information security posture and had suggested that risk levels were at a minimum and that there were no vulnerabilities or deficiencies that could pose mission-critical faults; in this, the CISO had sought to ‘paper over’ problems that had not been budgeted for and instead treated with an ‘it’s your job, you fix it’ mentality, creating a lose-lose proposition. Our findings and report directly contravened what the Board had previously been told, and this led to the firm initiating a comprehensive systems audit which resulted in the dismissal of multiple information technology executives.

2.       Cloud Security Competency, Efficiency, and Cost-Effectiveness. As the cloud computing environment becomes mainstream, organizations will realize the competitive benefit of having so many competitors offering similar services. This allows organizations to seek out the best technology and team while adhering to internal resource limits.

3.       Application and Network Monitoring

This service is critical for identifying potential risks and attacks from internal and external threats and one of the single largest information security infrastructure areas of investment for companies today. CyberSecOp has seen a volumetric increase in requests for our Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Managed Detection and Response (MDR), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Security Operations Center (SOC) and Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) services over the last year, which dovetails with broader global market trends. With ransomware and data security breaches at an all-time high, organizations are looking to managed IT security and managed compliance services providers to bridge the resource gap.

4.       Data Security Governance Framework

Organizations are utilizing the cloud to aid with compliance, reducing the upfront cost of buying all the necessary security solutions and related resources needed to get them configured and managed; indeed, the focus has switched to using cloud and shared resources provided by managed IT and managed security providers.

5.       Enterprise Security Partners

Bringing on an Enterprise Partner enables companies to focus on those factors that promote business growth as opposed to focusing on back-end solutions and internal control structures.  In turn, the Enterprise Partner (MSSP) is often able to provide its services at a substantially more cost-efficient and competency structure than if the company had attempted to replicate those services internally; examples of specific areas of favorability are hiring and staffing the function, keeping up with and implementing vulnerability management, leaner staffing levels, and overall cost efficiencies.  

6.       Authentication 

Over the past year, we have seen a 70% increase in the adoption of multifactor authentication technologies, including but not limited to ‘password-lite’ cloud-based solutions capable of biometric authentication, geolocation fence authentication, anomaly detection, end-user based risk scoring, and evaluation. Partnering with an Enterprise Security Partner can ensure such technologies are rolled out across all organization information technology platforms in a coordinated and effective manner, with a minimum risk of non-adoption and systemic conflicts.

CyberSecOp provides proven Risk Management and Digital Transformation: As one of the most called on firms for security breach response services per Google Analytics, we have assisted with over 550 incident responses spanning 2019 and 2020. CyberSecOp helps organizations assess their cloud or on-premise environments and implement a security program that provides the safeguards needed in the cloud or on-premises. We also offer incident response and forensics teams to assist with containment, remediation, recovery from ransomware attacks, and other security breaches.

Benefits of Mobile device management (MDM)

Mobile device management (MDM) is a type of security software used by an IT department to monitor, manage and secure employees' mobile devices that are deployed across multiple mobile service providers and across multiple mobile operating systems being used in the organization. Mobile device management (MDM) capabilities give you the fundamental visibility and IT controls needed to secure, manage, and monitor any corporate or employee owned mobile device or laptops that accesses business critical data.

Mobile device management (MDM) solution provides immediate, on-device threat protection, protecting against device, app and network threats even when the device is offline.d:

• Detect the attack immediately

• Notify the device user through mobile clients and enterprise admin through centralized console

• Take preventive actions to protect company data through custom compliance actions

Administrators can use our capabilities to find all the devices that have the vulnerable versions of WhatsApp on them and assign compliance actions to only those devices, while not affecting the productivity of users running updated version of the compromised app.

Benefits of Mobile device management (MDM)

More control and security

An effective MDM system guarantees the protection of company data, e-mails, and confidential documents. If a device is lost or stolen, the administrator can easily lock, disconnect, or lock the mobile device. SIM cards can also be blocked for employees’ mobile devices and if somebody tries to transfer the SIM to another device they will need a PUK code.

MDM offers better control over their devices. For example, a company’s sales employee will not have to register and configure all devices used by their sales agents. Instead, you can configure the device and use the security software automatically. Certain tools and applications can also be sent to agent devices. If you want the app to be configured at start-up or if you want an automatic application or replacement updates throughout the enterprise, you can easily do it manually without having to call the device.

Powerful and Highly Efficient Management

Practically, mobile devices can distract employees. If organizations want to limit or prohibit the use of certain apps on their devices and avoid unnecessary data costs, IT managers can block YouTube, Facebook, or other social media apps. Take, for example, the company’s rescue services. As drivers need to focus on the road, some companies use MDM to prevent them from using other apps than the transport app and Waze or Google Maps while driving. This not only ensures operational efficiency, but also security

Increased flexibility

Working from anywhere with a mobile device gives access to relevant files anytime, anywhere and in any situation. Some tools gives you that luxury, for example, the vendors of the company do not need to download the resources separately from different portals. The centralized MDM system enables more efficient distribution of business documents, such as training forms and learning materials, accessible only to authorized individuals.

Find the right MDM solution

As the businesses focus on productivity, efficiency, and security, and with more and more companies choosing BYOD (Bring your own device), MDM is ready to respond to feature requests that help them take control of the device while providing their employees with freedom, security, and productivity.

How to Improve Data Security & Data Privacy

What are the biggest challenges currently facing data security and privacy? 

As organizations embark on digital transformation, there is a clear need for enterprise data privacy and protection. New data privacy laws and the growing enforcement of existing regulations challenge organizations. And most organizations face rapid data growth and proliferation across the enterprise. Organizations have more data, more use cases, and more locations than ever before

First what is data privacy?

Data privacy and data protection are very closely interconnected, so much so that users often think of them as synonymous. But the distinctions between data privacy vs. data protection are fundamental to understanding how one complements the other. Privacy concerns arise wherever personally identifiable information is collected, stored, or used.

Second what is data security?

Data security is about securing data against unauthorized access. Data privacy is about authorized access — who has it and who defines it. Another way to look at it is this: data protection is essentially a technical issue, whereas data privacy is a legal one.

Data encryption ensure only privilege users has access

Data encryption isn't just for the technical advanced; modern tools make it possible for anyone to encrypt emails and other information. "Encryption used to be the sole province of geeks and mathematicians, but a lot has changed in recent years. In particular, various publicly available tools have taken the rocket science out of encrypting (and decrypting) email and files. based on what your need are our firm can help you implement the right technologies to ensure data security.

Stronger Password and Multi-factor Authentication

Password and Multi-Factor are essential when protecting data and data privacy from unauthorized users, or attackers. unfortunately many user don’t understand the importance of passwords. So much so that the 20 most commonly used passwords not only contain highly insecure passwords like the word “password”, they also account for a whopping 10.3% of all passwords that are being used. CyberSecOp recommend creating passwords that contain a minimum of 8 characters. If your password protects something sensitive, like access to your bank account, then use a minimum of 12 characters. all password should contain at lease one upper and lower case, and a symbol. don’t use the same passwords for every site, you can use difference variations of the password making it easier to recall. Example: Chase Bank : Iwanttolive1o8chase% Facebook:Iw@nttoliv3fb.

Enable two-factor authentication.

On top of having good passwords, consider enabling two-factor authentication when you sign into your email, bank website or any other sensitive account. When using two-factor authentication, a code will be sent to your phone when you sign in. You then input the code to access your account. Hackers likely don’t have access to your phone, so this can be a great way to add a layer of password security and data security. It may feel like additional work, but the extra protection can go a long way.

All organization needs an Ethical Hacker team like CyberSecOp

An ethical hacker is one who mimics the actions of a malicious hacker so as to detect security risks in advance and thus prevent breaches and attacks.

Any organization or business can hire the services of an ethical hacker to test/monitor the organization’s defenses, perform IT health checks and penetration tests, to assess the security of the systems and to evaluate the overall security of the organization’s network. An ethical hacker can provide valuable help to an organization by detecting vulnerabilities in a system/network on time and thus prevent the exploitation of data (customer data, financial data and other sensitive data), which could happen as a result of cybercriminals exploiting the vulnerabilities.

Backup is an essential part of data security

Backups are most often overlooked, data protection and backing up your data is essential when you have a major security event such has ransomware. Basically, this creates a duplicate copy of your data so that if a device is lost, stolen, or compromised, you don't also lose your important information. It's best to create a backup on a different device, such as an external hard drive, so that you can easily recover your information when the original device becomes compromised. It is critical that once the backup has complete to physically disconnect the backup device for the system, if the backup drive stay connected and your system becomes affect by ransomware, your backup data could also be affected.

Data Security, Data Privacy & Compliance

CyberSecOp can provide guidance and assistance with addressing privacy and data security practices, as well as to ensure that the practices and program implemented are compliant with relevant laws and regulations. The EU and some US Federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), have been promulgating updated guidelines and recommendations for privacy and data security best practices in a variety of industries, including some of the newer Internet of Things and peer platform (sharing economy) marketplaces. Additionally, several industry groups have adopted self-regulatory programs and rules, including certification programs, to which a company can voluntarily abide.

In view of these guidelines and others, companies are further encouraged to establish internal policies and procedures to ensure compliance. Business policies may include a top-level information security and privacy policy, which expresses a commitment to data security and privacy from the top-level officers of a company, a risk management program, an acceptable use policy, access compartmentalization, communications monitoring, breach reporting, a document retention policy and outsourcing policies. Technical policies may include a variety of commitments to technical controls to ensure the protection of data, including encryption, passwords, authentication protocols, disaster recover, intrusion detection, physical security, patching and the like.