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Why Nobody Cares About Cybersecurity Risk
Cybersecurity Risk Management - How to Manage Third-Party Risks

A day doesn't go by without a news story about data breaches that leak hundreds of thousands, or millions of private details of individuals. These breaches are usually caused by third party partners such as a vendor that suffers a system failure.

Framing cyber risk starts with accurate details about your threat landscape. This information lets you identify threats that require your immediate attention.

State-Sponsored Attacs

When cyberattacks are perpetrated by an entire nation they are likely to cause more severe damage than other attacks. Nation-state attackers typically have significant resources and sophisticated hacking abilities that make them difficult to detect and to defend against. As such, they are frequently capable of stealing more sensitive information and disrupt crucial business services. Additionally, they could cause more damage over time by targeting the company's supply chain and harming third-party suppliers.

The average cost of a nation-state attack is estimated at $1.6 million. Nine out of 10 organizations believe they've been victims of an attack by a state. As cyberespionage is growing in popularity among threat actors from nations-states it's more crucial than ever for companies to have solid cybersecurity practices in place.

Cyberattacks against states can take a variety of forms, ranging from theft of intellectual property to ransomware or a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. They may be conducted by government agencies, employees of a cybercriminal outfit which is affiliated with or contracted by a state, freelancers hired for a specific nationalist operation or even just criminal hackers who target the public at large.

The introduction of Stuxnet changed the rules of cyberattacks, allowing states to arm themselves with malware and make use of it against their enemies. Since the time, cyberattacks have been used by states to achieve political, military and economic goals.

In recent times, there has been a marked increase in the number of government-sponsored attacks and the advanced nature of these attacks. For instance, the Russian government-sponsored group Sandworm has been targeting consumers and enterprises with DDoS attacks and ransomware. This is different from traditional crime syndicates, which are motivated by financial gain. They are more likely to target businesses and consumers.

As a result, responding to a threat from a nation-state actor requires a significant coordination with several government agencies. This is quite different from "your grandfather's cyberattack," when a company could submit an Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Report to the FBI however, it would not routinely need to engage in significant coordination with the FBI as part of its incident response. In addition to the greater degree of coordination, responding to a nation-state attack also involves coordinating with foreign governments which can be challenging and time-consuming.

Smart Devices


As more devices become connected to the Internet, cyber attacks are becoming more frequent. This increased attack surface can cause security issues for businesses and consumers alike. Hackers could, for instance, exploit smart devices to steal data or compromise networks. empyrean group is especially true when the devices aren't secured and protected.

Hackers are attracted to smart devices because they can be employed for a variety of purposes, such as gaining information about people or businesses. For instance, voice controlled assistants such as Alexa and Google Home can learn a lot about users through the commands they receive. They can also collect details about the home of users, their layouts as well as other personal details. Furthermore, these devices are often used as an interface to other kinds of IoT devices, like smart lights, security cameras, and refrigerators.

If hackers can get access to these kinds of devices, they could cause significant harm to people and businesses. They could employ them to commit range of crimes, including fraud, identity theft, Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, and malicious software attacks. They can also hack into vehicles in order to disguise GPS location or disable safety features and even cause physical injuries to passengers and drivers.

While it's not possible to stop people from connecting their smart devices however, there are ways to limit the damage they cause. For example users can alter the default passwords that are used on their devices to prevent attackers from finding them easily and also enable two-factor authentication. Regular firmware updates are essential for routers and IoT devices. Local storage, instead of cloud storage, can lower the threat of an attacker when transferring and storage of data from or to these devices.

It is essential to understand the effects of these digital threats on people's lives and the best ways to reduce their impact. Studies should focus on finding solutions to technology that can mitigate the negative effects caused by IoT. Additionally, they should look at other potential harms like those that are associated with cyberstalking and exacerbated power asymmetries between household members.

Human Error

Human error is one of the most frequent factors that contribute to cyberattacks. This can be anything from downloading malware to leaving a network vulnerable to attack. By setting up and enforcing stringent security procedures, many of these mistakes can be avoided. For instance, an employee might click on an attachment that is malicious in a phishing campaign or a storage misconfiguration could expose sensitive data.

Moreover, an employee might disable a security feature on their system without realizing that they're doing it. This is a common error which makes software vulnerable to attacks from malware and ransomware. According to IBM, the majority of security breaches are caused by human error. This is why it's essential to be aware of the types of errors that can lead to a cybersecurity breach and take steps to prevent the risk.

Cyberattacks are committed to a variety of reasons including hacking, financial fraud or to collect personal data, deny service, or disrupt vital infrastructure and essential services of a government agency or an organisation. They are typically committed by state-sponsored actors third-party vendors or hacker groups.

The threat landscape is constantly evolving and complex. This means that organizations must continuously review their risk profiles and revisit their strategies for protection to ensure they're up date with the latest threats. The positive side is that modern technologies can lower the overall risk of a cyberattack and improve an organisation's security posture.

It is important to keep in mind that no technology will protect an organization from every possible threat. This is why it's crucial to create an extensive cybersecurity strategy that takes into account the different layers of risk within an organization's network ecosystem. It's also essential to regularly conduct risk assessments instead of relying on point-in-time assessments that could be easily erroneous or inaccurate. A thorough assessment of the security risks of an organization will allow for an effective reduction of these risks and will ensure that the organization is in compliance with industry standards. This can ultimately prevent costly data breaches and other security incidents from negatively damaging a business's reputation, operations and finances. A successful strategy for cybersecurity should include the following elements:

Third-Party Vendors

Third-party vendors are companies which are not owned by the organization but provide services, software, and/or products. These vendors usually have access to sensitive information such as client data, financials or network resources. When these companies aren't secure, their vulnerability can become a gateway into the original business's system. It is for this reason that cybersecurity risk management teams will go to great lengths to ensure that third-party risks can be vetted and managed.

As the use of remote computing and cloud computing increases the risk of being harmed by cloud computing is becoming even more of a concern. In fact, a recent survey by security analytics firm BlueVoyant found that 97% of the businesses they surveyed had been negatively impacted by supply chain vulnerabilities. A vendor's disruption even if it just impacts a small portion of the supply chain can have a domino-effect that threatens to affect the entire business.

Many organizations have taken to creating a process that accepts new third-party vendors and requires them to adhere to specific service level agreements that dictate the standards by which they are held in their relationship with the organization. Additionally, a thorough risk assessment should include a record of how the vendor is screened for weaknesses, analyzing the results on results, and remediating them in a timely manner.

Another way to protect your business against third-party risk is to use a privileged access management solution that requires two-factor authentication in order to gain access into the system. This stops attackers from easily accessing your network through the theft of credentials.

Last but not least, ensure that your third party providers are using the latest version of their software. This will ensure that they haven't created any security flaws unintentionally in their source code. Most of the time, these flaws are not discovered and could be used as a basis for more prominent attacks.

Third-party risk is a constant threat to any business. While empyrean mentioned above can help mitigate some of these risks, the most effective method to ensure that your risk from third parties is reduced is to conduct continuous monitoring. empyrean group is the only way to understand the state of your third party's cybersecurity and quickly spot any risks that might be present.

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