SecureOps May Cyber Brief

Management’s Corner

We are not big on doing commercials in our Cyber Brief; however, in 2023, with the volume and diversity of attacks, we have been laser-focused on improving our client’s security posture to help them defend their infrastructure. Security posture is vital to protecting your organization's assets and reducing the risks associated with cybercrime. Cybercriminals continuously find new ways to exploit security measures, therefore, it is crucial to measure and improve your cybersecurity posture to ensure your defenses remain strong against potential threats.

As cybersecurity threats evolve, it is essential to have insight into your organization's security posture to identify weaknesses and address them effectively. By working with us, you gain access to a suite of products and services that will help you measure and improve your security posture across all aspects of your business.

Protecting and Responding to Ransomware Attacks – A Best Practice

In most cases, ransomware is spread through phishing emails containing malicious attachments, portable computers, exposure to public WiFi, Zero-Day vulnerabilities, and drive-by downloading.

It is crucial for organizations to be educated and prepared to prevent or handle a potential compromise. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offer excellent resources to assist organizations. In this blog post, we uncover the best insights from NIST, FBI, and DHS’ recommendations to provide you a concise, clear set of their recommendations.

https://secureops.com/blog/ransomware-protection-and-detection/

Organizations Struggle Implementing Compliance Requirements, Including NIST & Zero Trust Mandates

?Over the last year, we’ve seen a literal flood of government legislation and formal guidance concerning cybersecurity best practices. New mandates have been coming or to the cyber community fast and furious, and government agencies and their contractors have had their work cut out for them trying to keep up and abide by them. In this article, we’ll explore some of the practicalities of implementing government-issued mandates and guidance and explain why this is a lively debate topic in cybersecurity circles.

We’ll discuss implementing the NIST framework as well as how NIST will affect the private sector.

https://secureops.com/blog/implementing-nist-security-controls/

SANS – The Five Most Dangerous Cyberattacks

According to SANS Institute Analysts, cybersecurity has never been more critical in today's interconnected world. Today's sheer scale of cybercrime and the boldness of attackers is hard for many business leaders to fathom – 450,000 new malware are detected daily, and 3.4 billion phishing emails hit inboxes. From the latest social engineering scams to zero-day vulnerabilities in software, cybersecurity threats keep evolving. To help you stay ahead of the curve, this blog post will introduce the five most dangerous cyberattacks and provide practical advice on how to defend against them.

https://secureops.com/blog/5-dangerous-attacks/

DDoS Attacks on Critical Infrastructure: A Look at Hydro-Québec’s Website Outage

?Recently, the critical infrastructure of Canada has once again become the target of cyberattacks. Pro-Russian hacking groups have launched a series of DDoS or denial of service attacks, causing operational disruptions and website outages across various government and civilian organizations. One of the most significant attacks has been on Hydro-Québec, a state corporation that provides hydroelectricity in Quebec. The attack paralyzed its website and applications; the group responsible for the attack, NoName057, has claimed responsibility.

In this blog post, we will discuss the DDoS attack that took down Hydro-Quebec’s website and provide incident response and post-mortem steps that will dramatically improve an organization’s security posture after such an attack.

https://secureops.com/blog/hydro-quebec/

CISO’s Earning a Seat at the Board is Now a Priority

Our crack team here at SecureOps found one of the more interesting studies concerning the of focus both Boards of Directors and senior executives are giving their organization’s cybersecurity investments and strategy. Skybox Security was commissioned to perform a study of executives across various industries, finding that 27% of executives say new technologies are their largest cybersecurity worry.

The Skybox Security study showed cybersecurity is now at a critical inflection point:

• Global business leaders agreed we have entered a new era of cyber risk. In 2021, the number of material breaches jumped 24.5%.
• 27% of executives believed their organizations were not well prepared for today’s rapidly changing threat landscape.
• And 41% of executives noted that “cyber risk initiatives have not kept pace with digital transformation,” with 39% of CEOs saying they have “inadequate budgets to ensure cybersecurity.”

We’ll breakdown their research and discuss what it means to you in this blog post.

https://secureops.com/blog/ciso-at-the-board/