Notes

20 Trailblazers Are Leading The Way In Cybersecurity Risk
Cybersecurity Risk Management - How to Manage Third-Party Risks

Every day is without news of data breaches that leak hundreds of thousands or millions of personal information of people. These breaches usually stem from third-party partners, such as the company that experiences an outage in their system.

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

State-sponsored Attacs

Cyberattacks from nation-states can cause more damage than other type of attack. Attackers from nation-states are usually well-equipped and have sophisticated hacking techniques, making it difficult to detect them or fight them. They are frequently capable of stealing more sensitive information and disrupt vital business services. Additionally, they could cause more harm by targeting the company's supply chain and compromising third-party suppliers.

empyrean of a nation-state terrorism attack is estimated at $1.6 million. Nine in 10 organizations think they've been the victim of an attack from a nation state. And with cyberespionage growing in popularity among threat actors from nations-states it's more crucial than ever for companies to implement solid cybersecurity practices in place.


Nation-state cyberattacks can take many forms, from theft of intellectual property to ransomware or a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. They can be carried out by government agencies, members of a cybercriminal outfit that is aligned with or contracted by an entity of the state, freelancers who are employed for a particular nationalist project or even criminal hackers who target the general public at large.

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

In recent years, there has been an increase in both the number and sophistication of attacks backed by governments. For example, the Russian government-sponsored group Sandworm has been targeting both consumers and enterprises with DDoS attacks and ransomware. This is in contrast to the traditional crime syndicates that are motivated by profit and are more likely to target consumer businesses.

Responding to a national-state actor's threat requires a significant amount of coordination among multiple government agencies. This is a significant difference from "your grandfather's cyberattack" when a company could submit an Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Report to the FBI however, it wouldn't typically require significant coordination with the FBI as part of its incident response. In addition to the increased level of coordination responding to a nation state attack requires coordination with foreign governments, which can be particularly demanding and time-consuming.

Smart Devices

As more devices connect to the Internet cyber-attacks are becoming more prevalent. This increased attack surface can cause security issues for businesses and consumers. Hackers could, for instance use smart devices to exploit vulnerabilities to steal data or compromise networks. This is especially true when these devices aren't properly protected and secured.

Smart devices are especially attractive to hackers because they can be used to obtain a wealth of information about individuals or businesses. Voice-controlled assistants like Alexa and Google Home, for example can gather a large amount about their users through the commands they receive. They also gather information about home layouts as well as other personal details. These devices also function as gateways to other IoT devices such as smart lighting, security cameras, and refrigerators.

Hackers can cause severe harm to businesses and people if they gain access to these devices. They can use these devices to carry out a variety of crimes, such as identity theft, fraud, and Denial-of-Service attacks (DoS). In addition, they can hack into vehicles to steal GPS locations and disable safety features. They can even cause physical harm to drivers and passengers.

While it is not possible to stop people from connecting their devices to the internet but there are ways to limit the harm they cause. For example users can alter the factory default passwords on their devices to block hackers from gaining access to them and enable two-factor authentication. Regular firmware updates are necessary for routers and IoT devices. Also using local storage instead of the cloud will reduce the chance of an attack when you transfer or storage data between and these devices.

It is necessary to conduct research to better understand the digital damage and the best strategies to mitigate them. Particularly, studies should be focused on the development of technology solutions to help mitigate the negative effects caused by IoT devices. They should also explore other potential harms like those that are associated with cyberstalking or exacerbated power asymmetries between household members.

Human Error

Human error is among the most prevalent factors that can lead to cyberattacks. It can be anything from downloading malware to leaving an organization's network open for attack. By establishing and enforcing strict security procedures Many of these errors can be prevented. For instance, an employee could click on a malicious attachment in a phishing attack or a storage misconfiguration could expose sensitive data.

A system administrator may disable a security function without realizing it. This is a common error which makes software vulnerable to attacks from malware and ransomware. IBM asserts that human error is the most significant cause of security incidents. This is why it's essential to understand the types of errors that can lead to a cybersecurity breach and take steps to reduce them.

Cyberattacks can be triggered for various reasons, such as hacking, financial fraud or to steal personal data or disrupt the vital infrastructure or essential services of an organization or government. They are typically committed by state-sponsored actors third-party vendors, or hacker collectives.

The threat landscape is constantly changing and complex. As a result, organisations should continually review their risk profile and revisit their strategies for protection to ensure that they are up to current with the most recent threats. The good news is that advanced technologies can reduce an organisation's overall risk of being a victim of a hacker attack and improve its security posture.

However, it's important to remember that no technology can shield an organization from every threat. Therefore, it is essential to create a comprehensive cyber-security strategy that takes into consideration the different layers of risk within an organisation's ecosystem. It's also important to conduct regular risk assessments rather than relying on traditional point-in-time assessments that are easily missed or inaccurate. A thorough assessment of an organisation's security risks will allow for more efficient mitigation of those risks and help ensure the compliance of industry standards. This can help avoid costly data breaches and other incidents that could adversely impact the business's operations, finances and reputation. A successful strategy for cybersecurity should include the following components:

Third-Party Vendors

Every company relies on third-party vendors which are businesses outside the company that provide services, products and/or software. These vendors have access to sensitive information such as client information, financials or network resources. Their vulnerability could be used to gain access to the business system they originally used to operate from when they are not secured. empyrean is for this reason that cybersecurity risk management teams are willing to go to the extremes to ensure that risks from third parties can be identified and controlled.

This risk is increasing as cloud computing and remote working are becoming more popular. In fact, a recent study by security analytics firm BlueVoyant found that 97% of the companies they surveyed had been affected negatively by supply chain vulnerabilities. A disruption to a vendor even if it just impacts a small portion of the supply chain can cause a ripple effect that can cause disruption to the entire company.

Many organizations have created procedures to take on new suppliers from third parties and require them to agree to service level agreements which dictate the standards they will be accountable to in their relationship with the organization. A sound risk assessment should also document how weaknesses of the vendor are assessed, followed up on and rectified promptly.

Another method to safeguard your business from threats from third parties is by using a privileged access management solution that requires two-factor authentication to gain entry into the system. This will prevent attackers from getting access to your network by stealing credentials of employees.

SaaS solutions , ensure that your third party providers are using the latest version of their software. This will ensure that they haven't introduced any security flaws unintentionally in their source code. Most of the time, these flaws are not discovered and could be used as a springboard for more high-profile attacks.

Third-party risk is a constant risk to any company. The strategies listed above can be used to reduce these threats. However, the most effective way for you to minimize your third-party risks is by constant monitoring. This is the only way to fully understand the cybersecurity position of your third party and quickly identify possible threats.

Read More: https://imoodle.win/wiki/What_NOT_To_Do_When_It_Comes_To_The_Best_Companies_For_Cyber_Security_Industry