DEV Community: Stealthlabs, Inc

10 Steps for a Perfect Privileged Access Management (PAM) Strategy

Stealthlabs, Inc — Thu, 06 May 2021 06:34:21 +0000

In today’s world, data breaches are almost always the result of compromised privileged credentials. According to a recent report by Centrify, 74% of data breaches involved privileged credential abuse.

Over the last few years, there have been many data breaches resulted from privileged access abuse. From the massive breach at the US Personnel Management Office and the Bangladesh Bank breach to the attack on the Ukraine power grid, Deloitte breach, and Uber breach, the common factor in each attack was the exploitation of privileged credentials to execute cyberattacks.

That’s why the protection and management of these privileged accounts has become crucial.

Enterprises are now increasingly embracing Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions to manage and secure their privileged accounts and hence prevent data breaches and create a formidable competitive advantage over their peers.

However, many organizations struggle to take a proactive, holistic approach to privileged access management in order to be successful in their PAM implementation.

Here are 10 key steps to successfully implement a fully managed PAM strategy:

10 Steps to a Successful PAM Strategy

1) Accountability for Privileged Passwords

Improve accountability for privileged passwords using a password vaulting approach that automatically identifies and onboards accounts and rotates their passwords. This relieves IT teams from manually intensive, error-prone administrative processes to rotate and update privileged credentials. Moreover, with passwords having a shorter lifecycle, users will never know account passwords at any given time.

2) Implement Least Privileged Access

Give users only the least level of access or permissions they need to perform their regular everyday job duties. When a user requests access grants beyond their privileges, then those privileges should only be eased for the amount of time required to complete their task. However, the privileges must be revoked once their task is completed.

Moreover, implement the Principle of Least privilege to systems, devices, applications, and processes to allow users to perform an authorized activity.

3) Understand Application-level Vulnerabilities

Understanding application-level vulnerabilities help make better-informed privilege decisions. Include privileged access and application controls into your vulnerability management and risk assessments. So, if any application is at risk of real-world threats, malware, or a lack of security patches, these PAM policies can be enacted to mitigate these risks.

4) Consider Network Devices

While implementing PAM practices into their security posture, enterprises must always look beyond workstations and servers. Typically, network devices are configured to use default and shared account credentials, increasing the risk of exposure. Moreover, network devices have a very excessive password age, further increasing the risk of devices becoming compromised and exploited.

5) Secure Cloud

With organizations increasingly adopting cloud computing, bulk amounts of sensitive corporate data that used to be stored on-premises is now moving to the cloud. So, organizations must implement the same on-premises PAM principles to the cloud infrastructure. It includes account discoveries, least privilege, vaulting accounts, and auditing controls such as session recordings and keystroke logging.

6) Secure IoT Devices

According to a recent study, around 57% of IoT devices are vulnerable to medium- or high-severity cyberattacks. The most common attack on IoT devices is the denial of service attack. Therefore, organizations must implement an automated PAM solution to secure credentials on as many IoT devices as possible to reduce the attack surface.

7) Stop Embedding Credentials

Applications and websites often require access to internal resources and databases to query business-related information. To automate this communication process, application credentials are embedded in clear text within configuration files and scripts. However, administrators find it challenging to identify, modify, and manage these embedded credentials.

Hence, the credentials are left unchanged to enable seamless business productivity. Though hard-coding credentials may make developer's work easier, they can become an entry point for malicious actors. Having a good PAM policy will eliminate the use of hard-coded credentials.

8) Privileged Threat Analytics (PTA)

Privileged threat analytics is the process of monitoring users’ behavior and assessing the risks they pose to the organization based on their actions. Most modern PAM solutions employ Machine Learning (ML) to monitor user behaviors, assign a risk score, and send notifications to internal security teams when it detects a risky behavior that crosses certain threshold.

9) Integrating Privileged Accounts

Privileged account integration enables organizations to bridge the gap in user management between Unix and Windows based systems. Though many organizations leverage Microsoft's Active Directory to manage enterprise user accounts, the Active Directory cannot manage user accounts beyond the Windows domain. To address this, organizations must implement an AD bridge that can integrate Windows and Unix accounts together so that users and accounts can be managed together.

10) Identity Stack Integration

Integrating the identity stack is about making an organization's identity and access management tools, utilities, and services work in sync with each other. It involves integrating Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), IT Service Management tools (ITSM), and Privileged Access Management (PAM) security solutions to work in tandem and tighten access controls, reducing an organization’s attack surface to the minimum areas as possible.

In Conclusion

Implementing these aforementioned steps can help minimize privilege abuse, but it isn’t going to be an end-all solution to security. With the increasing exploitation of privileged accounts, it is imperative for your organization to partner with cybersecurity solutions providers like StealthLabs to develop an even more advanced PAM strategy that establishes wider boundaries and creates an impenetrable defense.

Source: Medium

5 Key Cybersecurity Strategies to Consider for Distributed DOD

Stealthlabs, Inc — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 05:26:26 +0000

The Department of Defense (DOD) has become increasingly reliant on digital technologies to help accelerate military operations, improve existing processes, and perform critical functions.

They leverage these technologies to share and exchange Covered Defense Information (CDI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) as they collaborate across research, design, development, and deployment of defense products.

Given the sensitivity of the data being exchanged, the Defense Department is at the continuous risk of threats from cyberattacks and theft of intellectual property.

A successful cyberattack can lead to a national security threat, apart from causing significant financial and reputational damage.

Compounding these threats, the DOD is riddled with new cybersecurity vulnerabilities as they accelerate towards a modern, distributed work environment that supports access to more sensitive information for employees working remotely.

Therefore, the defense agencies require a more holistic cybersecurity strategy to secure sensitive data across cloud and data centers while protecting users and devices at remote locations.

Here are five key cybersecurity attributes the DOD must consider meeting the dynamic challenges of today and the emerging threats of tomorrow:

Five Security Strategies for Distributed DOD

1) Zero Trust Security

Zero Trust is a strategic cybersecurity model designed to effectively adapt to the complexity of the modern environments, embrace the distributed workforce, and protect devices, apps, and data, irrespective of their location.

Instead of assuming every access within the corporate firewall as safe, the Zero Trust model assumes every access as a breach and verifies each request regardless of its location or what resource it accesses.

This creates a zero-attack surface, securing defense agencies’ critical data from the malware and ransomware threats and VPN attacks.

Implementation of an effective Zero Trust policy involves the adoption of a mix of security procedures, including Multifactor Authentication (MFA), Identity and Access Management (IAM), Privileged Access Management (PAM), network segmentation, and the principle of least privilege.

2) Control Access to Network

As data is spread across a host of cloud and data center locations in distributed environments, the defense agencies must ensure to connect the user to an application instead of a network. The agencies must limit user access with just-in-time, just-enough-access, least privileged access principles to enable the right access to the right resources.

Zero-Trust network access solutions prevent unauthorized access with simple policies that are user-centric rather than network-centric.

3) Multi-tenant Cloud

In the modern, distributed work environment, agencies must facilitate secure data sharing and provide a wide range of collaboration tools for remote workers to enhance productivity. Multi-tenant cloud architecture can ideally facilitate these capabilities.

A cloud-native multi-tenant architecture eliminates the need for security stacks, enabling users to share information efficiently while securely scaling up and down as per the demands of the dynamic market. Moreover, it provides the necessary reliability and privacy demands of the present IT environments.

4) Proxy Architecture

A cloud-based proxy architecture enables defense agencies to quickly scan all encrypted traffic for data exposure and threats without compromising productivity. This ultimately leads to reduced latency and improved user experience.

Moreover, it allows agencies to scan for threats in real-time and proactively prevent cyberattacks from occurring.

5) Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is an identity-based security strategy that enables users to connect securely to an organization’s critical resources and assets from remote locations.

Instead of enabling security perimeters around applications, SASE allows agencies to secure the user and data.

SASE unifies essential security functions such as web gateway firewalls, zero-trust capabilities, data loss prevention, and secure network connectivity. This significantly reduces the expenses and resources the agencies require when adding security functions to fill gaps across the distributed workspace.

In Conclusion:

As the Department of Defense becomes more distributed than ever, it’s imperative for the agencies to adopt a holistic security approach to address sophisticated and unpredictable cyber threats.

However, according to DoD’s Principal Cyber Advisor, cybersecurity experts estimate that about 90% of cyberattacks could be addressed by implementing basic cyber hygiene and security best practices.

Source: Sitepronews

Key Benefits of Having a Cyber Security Incident Response Plan (CSIRP)

Stealthlabs, Inc — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 05:08:04 +0000

The proliferation of cybercrime and data breaches continues to pose significant challenges for organizations in today’s digital world. While cyberattacks can create business interruption, the most advanced penetration methods and breaches often remain undetected on your network as they gather and capture critical information.

A cyber incident can put your company at risk of losing revenue, reputational damage, legal implications, and competitive disadvantage.

Some cybercrime statistics include:

a) The global cybercrime damages are predicted to reach USD 6 trillion annually by 2021, up from USD 3 trillion in 2015

b) Data breaches exposed 4.1 billion records in the first half of 2019

c) 71% of the breaches are financially motivated

d) USD 3.9 million is the average cost of a data breach

Thus, knowing how to respond to an incident quickly, appropriately, and effectively helps minimize the impact on your business.

As cyberattacks have become inevitable, developing a robust Cyber Security Incident Response Plan (CSIRP) is essential for organizations to build a secure, vigilant, and resilient environment.

Here are the crucial benefits of an Incident Response Plan (IRP):

4 Benefits of Incident Response Plan

1) Ability to Face Incident Confidently

During a cyber incident event, there will be overall panic among employees, security teams, and stakeholders. Having no security plan for your enterprise network can make the situation even worse.

Having a cybersecurity incident response plan with clear post-incident instructions, assignment of responsibilities, and incident response management guidelines will help you respond to the threat with ease and confidence.

2) Mitigate Damage After an Incident

When a cyber incident occurs, it can quickly lead to a business crisis, financial losses, legal implications, operational disruption, and reputational damage.

An incident response plan helps to quickly understand the nature of an attack, where and how it occurred, and what is at risk, so, the security team can take concrete and appropriate mitigation and remediation steps, thereby reducing the impact of the incident on your business.

3) Improve Cybersecurity

With the help of an incident response plan, your organization can lay out a proper plan and best practices for your network security. It helps you identify the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in your networks and the existing security strategies and develop remedies to improve overall cybersecurity posture.

4) Maintain Customer Trust

A cyber incident can cause severe damage to your business relations with your partners, customers, and investors. If the organization fails to communicate promptly with people involved in their business after an incident, it is likely that organization will lose customer trust and brand reputation.

According to a recent report by Deloitte, around 35% of customers reportedly gain trust in an organization if they are appropriately informed about a breach.

A robust cyber security incident response plan will help you communicate promptly and effectively with the customers and stakeholders during the unprecedented crisis.

In Conclusion
As cyber incidents continue to evolve rapidly in number and sophistication, preparing for the inevitable threats involves more than preparing to react. It involves the ability to respond effectively and recover thoroughly.

Therefore, merely having a cyber incident response plan is not enough. The security team must understand the plan and test it across the organization, including among business leaders.

Source: Sitepronews

Top 5 Business Benefits Of Cybersecurity Compliance

Stealthlabs, Inc — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 06:03:42 +0000

As data breaches emerge rapidly, maintaining information privacy and security has become a significant concern in the present-day data-driven world. To protect customer data privacy, the governments and industrial bodies are regularly implementing new laws and regulations while adapting existing ones.

Businesses and IT organizations are compelled to meet data privacy and security standards that apply to their specific industry and geographical location.

Even though keeping up with the latest compliance regulations and rules can be both expensive and resource-intensive, organizations must acknowledge that compliance brings significant benefits to the business.

Beyond ensuring compliance and avoiding costly data breaches, here are some of the key benefits of IT security compliance for your business:

How Businesses Benefit from Cyber Security Compliance?

1) Avoid fines and penalties

Failing to comply with the latest rules and regulations governing their business can prove costly for companies that find themselves out of compliance. Thus, organizations must be aware of the latest compliance trends and legislations to avoid server fines and penalties.

Some of the most common compliances and their respective violation penalties include:

a) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) – USD 100 to USD 50,000 per violation, with a maximum penalty of USD 1.5 million annually
b) General Data Protection Act (GDPR) – 4% of a company’s global turnover or 20 million euros, whichever is higher
c) Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) - Between USD 5,000 and USD 100,000 per month
d) California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – USD 2,500 to USD 7,500 per violation
Staying compliant will help you avoid these severe fines and penalties.

2) Build Customer Trust and Brand Reputation

The real threat of a data breach is often not restricted to business interruption and financial loss but extends to the lasting damage it can have on brand reputation and customer trust. During the time of uncertainty and confusion triggered by a data breach, a robust response is critical to protect customer loyalty and brand reputation.

According to a recent report by Deloitte,

59% of customers state that a single data breach would negatively impact their likelihood of preferring the company
51% of customers would forgive the company that had one data breach as long as the company quickly addresses the issue
Staying compliant with the latest regulations helps you discover, interpret, and prepare for data breaches that can impact your business and damages your brand reputation and customer trust. Information security compliance helps you avoid putting your brand reputation at risk by compelling you to notify customers about a breach.

3) Enhanced Data Management

To maintain compliance with data security regulations, the organizations must keep track of what customers’ sensitive information they gather, know how and where they store the data, and access, handle and modify that information in a streamlined manner.

These requirements compel organizations to adapt and enhance their data management capabilities such that it not only supports privacy but improves operational efficiency.

4) Enhanced Security

The compliance regulations require businesses to establish a cybersecurity program, adopt an organization-level cybersecurity policy, and designate a chief information security officer. This, in turn, helps mitigate risks and address data breaches.

5) Improved Access Controls and Accountability

Cybersecurity compliances require businesses to establish senior-level accountability for the strategic management of security and cyber risk. Moreover, organizations need to implement effective and appropriate risk management frameworks to monitor and control access to the security systems and databases that contain sensitive customer data.

In Conclusion

Compliance regulations play an essential role in building a robust cybersecurity landscape. However, ensuring compliance does not equal complete cybersecurity. Cybercriminals always find a way to work around the compliances to compromise the security guidelines contained in the regulations. Thus, maintaining multiple regulations to remain compliant without addressing cybersecurity defense can prove detrimental to the organization’s cybersecurity.

In order to stay ahead of the cyber curve, the organizations must develop and manage an advanced cyber security services that goes far beyond specific sets of compliance requirements.

Source: Informationsecuritybuzz

5 Essential Steps to Improve Cybersecurity Maturity!

Stealthlabs, Inc — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 04:48:49 +0000

From small and medium organizations to large enterprises, every business is under continuous threat of security risk in today’s digital world.

With the growing digital footprint and cloud adoption, organizations continue to experience sophisticated cyberthreats that hold the potential to disrupt business continuity.

A vast majority of these threats can go undetected, or they are detected too late for an organization to avoid the exposure and the associated risks.

Thus, a cybersecurity strategy merely focused on preventing cyberattacks is inadequate. To secure critical assets and perhaps even the business itself, the organizations must shift their focus to detection and response.

The cybersecurity strategy must be matured enough to help organizations operate securely, remain vigilant in the face of cyber threats, and show resiliency when attacked.

But budget constraints and the IT team's inability to keep up with the known and emerging threats can impede the organization's cybersecurity maturity.

In fact, according to a 2020 cybersecurity survey, only 57% of IT operations and security decision-makers identified their organization’s cybersecurity functions as mature.

At this juncture, we bring you five critical steps to improve your organization’s cybersecurity maturity and become more secure, vigilant, and resilient.

The Five Steps to Improve Cybersecurity Maturity

1) Prioritizing Endpoint Protection

Cybercriminals are leveraging advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to attack the organization's endpoints, making endpoint protection a must-have cybersecurity goal in the present data-driven world.

According to IDC’s recent survey, almost 30% of global organizations consider endpoint protection a significant component in cybersecurity strategy, while 60% of IT leaders consider it a high priority.

However, only 57% of the organizations say they are most mature in endpoint security while over 40% are not.

Follow these steps to improve endpoint protection:

• Analyze risk profiles of various endpoints
• Prioritize critical or at-risk assets such as servers and end-user systems
• Update networks and IoT devices
• Encrypt all data
• Implement BYOD policy
• Deploy endpoint protection software

2) Technology Investments Don’t Equal Maturity

Though organizations are continuously investing in cybersecurity tools, it does not automatically mean that all potential security gaps are addressed.

With rising costs of security tools and shrinking budgets, the organizations must adopt a risk-based approach and prioritize security investments to address critical issues and vulnerabilities.

Invest in very mature, cost-effective, and capable cybersecurity measures that can drive cybersecurity maturity rather than chasing the latest solutions.

3) Automate Cybersecurity

Deploy technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate cybersecurity tasks such as identifying potential threats, detecting unauthorized access, and preventing attacks before execution. The automated cybersecurity solutions help assess security metrics, reduce incident response time, and limit the cyberattack footprint.

Moreover, automation allows the security team to focus their efforts on high-risk threats rather on repetitive, tedious tasks.

4) Adopt Cybersecurity Maturity Model

Many organizations try to validate and measure their cybersecurity maturity by counting the number of vulnerabilities they have addressed or checking all the boxes to meet regulatory compliance.
However, these approaches are long away from giving a real indication of your cybersecurity maturity or providing a framework for improvement.

So, it's imperative for organizations to adopt a cybersecurity maturity model to measure a security program's maturity and know how to reach the next level.

National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) and the Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) are two of the several models available in the market.

5) Focus on Cybersecurity Awareness

Technology alone can’t bolster your organization’s cybersecurity posture. Amid the growing complexity and threat of cyberattacks, organizations must be focused on building a multi-layered defense.

Cybersecurity training and awareness among all employees and partners can help organizations instill a 'last line of defense' for many present-day threats. It is important to educate employees and help them understand cybersecurity challenges are a business problem and not just an IT problem.

As cyber threats evolve with time, organizations should regularly conduct training and awareness programs to make a sincere effort to educate their employees.

In Conclusion:
Improving your organization’s cybersecurity maturity doesn’t happen quickly. But it has to happen to survive amid the evolving digital landscape and emerging cyberthreats.

Organizations not only require these five crucial steps, but they also require a constant assessment of how effectively the steps are implemented, and whether those steps are in alignment with the business goals.

Source: Tripwire

5 Business Benefits of Cybersecurity Compliance

Stealthlabs, Inc — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 05:24:39 +0000

Businesses and IT organizations are compelled to meet data privacy and security standards that apply to their specific industry and geographical location. Even though keeping up with the latest compliance regulations and rules can be both expensive and resource-intensive, organizations must acknowledge that compliance brings significant benefits to the business.

Beyond ensuring compliance and avoiding costly data breaches, here are some of the key benefits of IT security compliance for your business:

How Businesses Benefit from Cyber Security Compliance?

1) Avoid fines and penalties

Some of the most common compliances and their respective violation penalties include:

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) – USD 100 to USD 50,000 per violation, with a maximum penalty of USD 1.5 million annually

• General Data Protection Act (GDPR) – 4% of a company’s global turnover or 20 million euros, whichever is higher

• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) - Between USD 5,000 and USD 100,000 per month

• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – USD 2,500 to USD 7,500 per violation

Staying compliant will help you avoid these severe fines and penalties.

2) Build Customer Trust and Brand Reputation

According to a recent report by Deloitte,

• 59% of customers state that a single data breach would negatively impact their likelihood of preferring the company

• 51% of customers would forgive the company that had one data breach as long as the company quickly addresses the issue

Staying compliant with the latest regulations helps you discover, interpret, and prepare for data breaches that can impact your business and damages your brand reputation and customer trust. Information security compliance helps you avoid putting your brand reputation at risk by compelling you to notify customers about a breach.

3) Enhanced Data Management

These requirements compel organizations to adapt and enhance their data management capabilities such that it not only supports privacy but improves operational efficiency.

4) Enhanced Security

5) Improved Access Controls and Accountability

IT security compliances require businesses to establish senior-level accountability for the strategic management of security and cyber risk. Moreover, organizations need to implement effective and appropriate risk management frameworks to monitor and control access to the security systems and databases that contain sensitive customer data.

In Conclusion

Thus, maintaining multiple regulations to remain compliant without addressing cybersecurity defense can prove detrimental to the organization’s cybersecurity.

In order to stay ahead of the cyber curve, the organizations must develop and manage an advanced cybersecurity security program that goes far beyond specific sets of compliance requirements.

Source: Identity Theft Scout

9 Key Benefits Of Partnering With A Cybersecurity Provider

Stealthlabs, Inc — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 04:07:40 +0000

Cyber threats and attacks have become pervasive and costlier in the present digital era.

According to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach to a US company is around USD 7.91 million.

Apart from inflicting severe financial damage, cyberattacks can cause regulatory fines, business continuity disruptions, loss of competitive advantage, and staggering reputational damage.

While organizations understand the significance of protecting their systems, networks, and data from cyberattacks, it is becoming increasingly difficult to counter the attacks without help.

It has become a herculean task for the internal security teams to detect and address advanced threats around the clock. Even the resources required for effective monitoring and securing the critical assets can be staggering.

But a cybersecurity consulting provider can relieve that burden by helping you prevent, detect, and respond to evolving threats.

Here, we bring you some key business benefits of partnering with a cybersecurity provider:

9 Key Benefits of Hiring A Cybersecurity Provider

1) Improved Cybersecurity Posture

A cybersecurity provider will monitor your networks and systems around the clock while leveraging advanced security techniques like predictive analytics and adaptive risk modeling to prevent advanced threats.

They offer various security solutions such as endpoint protection, application vulnerability monitoring, firewall management, and configuration management to keep cyberattacks at bay.

The cybersecurity firm provides advanced security technologies and threat intelligence to monitor and detect the latest cyber threats, such as Advanced Persistent Threats (APT), advanced malware, and other malicious attacks.

2) Identify Security Vulnerabilities

Effective cybersecurity starts with finding the security vulnerabilities that allow cybercriminals to access your systems and networks. When you partner with a cybersecurity provider, they effectively guide the organization in assessing its cyber posture.

They perform a comprehensive cyber risk assessment and internal audit of your network to develop an action plan that addresses cyber risk areas for the organization.

3) Cybersecurity Training

Employees are often the most vulnerable link in an organization’s security line. According to a recent study by Ponemon Institute, two out of three cybersecurity incidents occur due to employee negligence.

A key benefit of partnering with cybersecurity firms is that they will train your employees with a well-developed training program based on the latest cybersecurity trends. They help employees gain current and dynamic awareness of cyberthreats endangering the organization’s assets, network, and data.

4) Dedicated Security Team

With a cybersecurity company, the organization need not worry about hiring and training the IT staff or cybersecurity experts. When you partner with a cybersecurity provider, you get a dedicated security team without the overhead expenses.

They deploy security experts who are familiar with the diversified security landscape and know the latest cyber trends.

5) Robust Security Solutions

A cybersecurity company will help you have an enterprise-class suite of security solutions at your disposal. With in-depth expertise and experience, they offer tailored security solutions and program recommendations.

The cybersecurity providers use Security Operating Centers (SOCs) and state-of-art technologies to provide high-level security with 24×7 support, monitoring, and management for their clients.

6) Cost Savings

The cost of recruiting cybersecurity professionals to address the evolving threat landscape has become expensive. And most organizations lack the time and capability to train them.

Moreover, the present-day cybersecurity programs, tools, and capabilities often require dedicated hardware or appliances to run, and they come with an additional cost.

But, by partnering with a cybersecurity provider, the businesses can save huge upfront costs and time without compromising the security.

7) Reduce Regulatory Risks

In a bid to ensure customer data privacy and security, the governments across the world have started introducing data regulations and laws such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA.

The organization’s failure to adhere to the regulatory and compliance requirements can lead to hefty fines aside from damages resulting from a data breach.

A cybersecurity company will help you stay within the compliance requirements by upgrading the organizational infrastructures to the required standards and shaping cybersecurity policies.

8) Core Business Focus

The need to balance core business objectives and cybersecurity requirements has long challenged the IT organizations, irrespective of their size and nature.

As the cyberattacks continue to evolve, the requirements for security capabilities have challenged and strained organizations, distracting them from core business goals.

With a strategic information security partner, businesses can reduce the requirements associated with maintaining cybersecurity and allow their executives to stay focused on core business needs.

9) Rapid Incident Response

When a cyberattack occurs, the cybersecurity company will offer unmatched experience in handling the crisis. They will quickly assess the challenges and recommend specific actions to prevent further harm to the organization.

In Conclusion

Collaborating with a cybersecurity provider helps organization foster a safe and secure working environment and ensure business continuity, thereby promoting business growth.

Free up your IT security team and let the cybersecurity firm take care of the strategic security projects, tactical threat hunting, and security monitoring.

Source: Informationsecuritybuzz

Top 3 Emerging Technologies That Define ‘Future’ Cybersecurity!

Stealthlabs, Inc — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 09:50:07 +0000

Rapid technological innovations are changing our present and our perspectives for the future.

The innovative technologies such as IoT, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data have revolutionized the way organizations conduct business in the digital landscape.

From financial institutes to the automotive sector, industries are increasingly relying on these evolving digital technologies to create value.

These technologies help develop entirely new businesses and revenue streams or deliver a more efficient experience for consumers.

However, these new opportunities bring a radically different set of challenges, which businesses need to mitigate and manage to stay ahead in the data-driven market.

One of the severe challenges of the digital age is the growing cybersecurity risks.

At this juncture, we bring you three technological innovations and trends that will shape the future of digital security.

More Details: Information Security Consulting Services in US

3 Emerging Technologies That Impact Cybersecurity

1) Quantum Computing

The present-day computers store or process information using bits represented by 0s or 1s. Whereas quantum computers leverage quantum mechanical phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to manipulate, store or process data. Quantum computing relies on qubits (quantum bits) instead of bits.

These properties allow quantum computers to spur the development of breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics, among others.

Despite the ongoing experimental progress since the early 1980s, it is believed that quantum computing is still a rather distant dream. However, scientists have made significant progress in recent years.

• In October 2019, in partnership with NASA, Google AI announced that they had performed a quantum computation that is infeasible on any classical computer.

• Likewise, researchers in UC Santa Barbara used 53 entangled qubits to solve a problem in just 200 seconds that would have taken 10,000 years on a classical supercomputer.

Nevertheless, the developments raised immediate concerns for cybersecurity experts, who claim that quantum computing could easily break the current day encryption practices.

Exports worry that the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems used currently can easily collapse when public keys become vulnerable to risk by quantum computers.

However, it remains uncertain how the cybersecurity community will address these security risks.

2) 5G Technology

5G is the most anticipated technology owing to its lucrative benefits including high-bandwidth, low latencies, network slicing, and high data speeds.

Even though 5G technology is still in the initial stage, the pace of development and deployment has proliferated rapidly. However, it also portrays greater security challenges.

Extremely high-speed data could make 5G devices and IoTs more susceptible to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
In fact, according to a recent report, 62% of organizations are concerned that 5G could increase the risk of cyberattacks.

3) IT/OT Convergence

The rapid penetration of IoT technology has led to the convergence of two distinct domains of a business, Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT).

IT/OT convergence is the amalgamation of IT systems used for data-centric computing and OT systems used for monitoring events, processes, and devices. This brings in a host of benefits including reduced operational costs, increased manufacturing output and reduced downtime.

According to Gartner, 50% of OT service providers would collaborate with IT-centric providers for IoT offerings by 2020.
However, this trend brings a need for a new “ITOTSecOps” methodology that explicitly addresses security risks associated with IT and OT systems working together.

With IT/OT convergence, IT security teams lack visibility across their entire IT and OT infrastructure and the control over security policies.

Also Read: Cybersecurity for Small Businesses

In conclusion

Cybercriminals are leveraging innovative techniques to gain unauthorized access to networks and steal sensitive data.

The new technologies that have just emerged in the market are boon to the cybercriminals. They capitalize on the organization’s lack of understanding of how new technologies work and the security loopholes in the new technology.

So, organizations must stay abreast of the emerging trends and understand how they impact their security posture.

10 Tips to Ensure ‘Cybersecurity’ in New ‘Work From Home’ Reality!

Stealthlabs, Inc — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 06:33:48 +0000

The concept of remote working has become the New Reality.
Even though the remote work practice is not a new concept, the coronavirus pandemic has led to an extraordinary transition to Work From Home (WFH).

Almost all the companies globally are leveraging remote work practices to ensure business continuity during the ongoing crisis.

Around 88% of organizations have allowed or mandated their employees to work from home since the outbreak.

However, remote working has also given cybercriminals a vast array of opportunities to access confidential data and disrupt operations.

With the borderless teams, the organizations will have mammoth amounts of sensitive information moving outside the confines of the office and across many devices, often with questionable security arrangements.

So, remote workforces with no comprehensive security in place will undeniably become lucrative targets for cybercriminals.

In fact, a recent cybersecurity survey revealed that 92% of IT professionals believe that remote workers pose a security risk. At the same time, 73% of VP and C-suite IT leaders believe remote workers pose a greater risk than onsite employees.

Thus, it's imperative for businesses to understand and address the cybersecurity challenges associated with remote working to truly enjoy the benefits of working with the potential employees irrespective of their work location.

Here, we bring you a 10-point plan to help you assess the state of your remote work landscape and strengthen the overall security posture.

10 Best Practices to ‘Secure’ Remote Workforce

1) Online Communication

Companies are leveraging online tools to ensure reliable communication with the remote workforce. Technology solutions in the form of video conferencing, voice calls and group chat emerged as the need of the hour.

As helpful as digital environments have proven to be, they significantly proliferate the risk surface.

According to a recent survey of 500 decision-makers, 80% of respondents believe that cloud collaboration tools are very vulnerable to cyberattacks.

So, businesses must ensure the privacy and security of their online meetings.

2) High Staff Turnover

Owning to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, many employees are laid off and many are furloughed. Their responsibilities are often shifted to others who have little or no experience in that area.

Job-hopping has become prevalent today and the trend will continue, making the situation even worse. So, businesses must impart cybersecurity training and hygiene during onboarding and offboarding.

3) User Access Control

In a remote work environment, giving the right access to the right employee at the right context has become extremely difficult and complex.

“For work from home to succeed, companies need to have good governance policies in place for user access and for evaluating secure access policies and authentication methods,” says Tony Karam, Risk and Security Strategist at RSA.

To keep up with the evolving workforce, the organization must regularly rectify user access rights and entitlements, conduct security reviews and recertifications, and modernize Identity and Access Management capabilities.

The organization should ensure automated governance for this dynamic workforce.

4) Technology Vulnerabilities

The sudden rush to remote working has led to the rapid rollout of video conferencing tools, collaboration tools and new cloud applications. This has widened the workforce knowledge gap while increasing the odds that put the company at greater risk.

In many cases, the urgency to be in par with the demands of the job will push security concerns aside.

So, a remote workforce should figure out how to use a wide array of new platforms, applications and technologies to minimize the security risks.

5) Regulatory Compliance

The introduction of the GDPR and CCPA has brought privacy to the forefront for both consumers and regulators. These laws are acting as blueprints for other regulations across the world.

The world is about to witness a massive shift towards protection for consumer data and accountability for businesses that control and process it.

So, businesses must comply with the existing stringent regulations while preparing for the new and potentially more severe regulations ahead.

ALSO READ | Regulatory and compliance advisory services

6) Automation

Automating mundane and repeatable tasks allows businesses and individuals to concentrate on more productive problem-solving activities. This, in turn, can foster innovation and lead to a more resilient organization from a cybersecurity standpoint.

Many companies are striving to accelerate their dependency on automation and robotics to build more resilience in view of all this workforce disruption. But they can reap the real benefits of automation only if they figure out the best ways to manage all those human-machine interactions.

7) Preparing to ‘Return to Work’

Despite uncertainties regarding the end of WFH culture, returning to work post-COVID-19 is inevitable.

So, companies planning to transition their employees back into the office need a plan that ensures the safety, comfort and well-being of employees. Besides this, the companies need to handle bulk amounts of personal data generated during health check-ups and while monitoring the movement of the employees in the office.

You need to figure out
• The level of physical data to be stored
• Who manages and stores it?
• How is it processes and secured?
• How are the privacy rights of employees determined and guaranteed?

8) Hybrid IT Infrastructure

Most of the companies are using hybrid IT infrastructure that is composed of a blend of on-premise data centers, private cloud and public cloud.

So, businesses must embrace a 'zero trust' policy for the safety and security of sensitive data across widely different architectures.

9) Cloud Migration

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a sudden boom in cloud migration as companies are striving to build resilience in the new normal.

Even though the cloud offers a host of benefits, it has brought new cybersecurity challenges.

"The cloud holds enormous potential for business efficiency and innovation, but it can also create a 'wild west' of broader and more distributed environments for organizations to manage and secure," exclaimed Abhijit Chakravorty, Cloud Security Competency Leader.

So, organizations must deploy new security policies that consider the different security requirements for cloud architectures as well as on-premises architectures.

Moreover, it's crucial for businesses to be abreast of innovation and determine how to implement it for users in a secure manner.

10) Things To Do Right Now

• Integrate AI-powered analytics into its security environment.
• Deploy Security models that are agile, modern and highly adaptable to changing conditions and requirements
• Embrace a “zero-trust” mindset
• Prioritize risk detection over prevention
• Ensure security operations, risk management and IT teams on the same page
• Leverage security analytics to get insights that help prevent risks

In Conclusion

As the work from home culture is going to stay, the enterprise and the employee should work together to address some of the most common security risks in the new reality. Moreover, as the threat environment is not static, it's crucial to focus on evolving threats to avoid unnecessary additional costs and disruptions when we can least afford them.

‘First Line of Defense’ For Information Security: 7 Ways To Consider!

Stealthlabs, Inc — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 05:51:25 +0000

‘Security’ is no more a separate thing in an organization.
The teams can no longer ignore this security aspect, leaving for operations or related teams who were inherently handling that function.

Technology advancements and emerging threats in parallel have filled the gaps among teams calling for a realization that effective results only come with collective efforts.

So, it’s high time for the organizations to think this way to remain secure in the information security (IS) or cybersecurity (CS) landscape.

Building a robust security posture for an organization doesn’t end with implementing related policies and procedures. It also requires every team involved to be aware of “why security and related policy?”

Unlike traditional procedures, teams shouldn’t wait for operations professionals to train security policies. They should start understanding the risks, possible remedies, and actions required.

As part of this process, teams may also consider reading through security documentation, undergo self-learning programs and certifications, among others.

Make it a practice to have security considerations in mind while reviewing your documentation or procedures and getting them scanned by cyber or information security professionals.

You may adopt seven practices as a “first line of defense” for your organization’s IT security:

1) Document Significance

Ensure that the documents you access part of your team’s activity are secure and have all permissions and access controls set to it. Make sure it is up to date with timely upgrades and required security patches. If not, talk to your operations teams about timely backups, access and version control, and storage mechanisms.

Defining significance for a document or a process makes your security teams take appropriate action and set the required security level.

2) Authentication

Make sure to have an idea of your sign-in procedure: Single sign-on or set a unique password. This is important to support your security professionals in removing access if a password is lost/forgot.

3) Keep Security Teams Informed

If you get new access to an account, make sure to document what access is given and anything you received without being asked. Another case is when your account is/being moved. Tell them what you need and do not need currently or also after moving.

In the other case of leaving access, let the security team know you do not retain access. Making security teams aware of your actions help them take appropriate actions.

ALSO READ: 2020 Insider Data Breach Survey Report

4) Limited Access

Also called “least privilege” is the access you need to fulfill your assignment and nothing more. Some think of having additional access (than required) as something exciting. However, you are also getting an additional burden of responsibilities. It is recommended to be mindful of access requests. The best thing to do is to ask what you need.

5) Transparency

Clear and open discussions about users, workflow, and IT security teams contribute to a safe and secure environment. Make your needs very clear for better ideas and control over permissions. Effective change management policies will add to the robustness of security policies.

6) Data Loss Prevention

This is one crucial mechanism that is important to prevent data loss by any chance. While limiting access to consumer data is one must practice, having a mechanism in place helps you with more awareness and technical alerts.

7) Principle of Least Privilege

Unnecessary access to consumer information causes unexpected problems leading to data loss. So, there should be technical controls in place for every employee to avoid such unnecessary access.

Conclusion

Simultaneous validation, robust internal segregation, and third-party contract review are some other crucial methods you may adopt to align with your organizational security policies. Good Luck! Look out for best Information Security Services Provider in US

4 Key Benefits of Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP)

Stealthlabs, Inc — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 04:19:06 +0000

The cyber threat landscape is evolving at a rapid pace.
Whether it’s phishing, malware, ransomware, user error, or insider threats, the severity of the security breaches is proliferating.
The array of potential security risks is becoming so overwhelming that the organizations are continuously failing to manage security considerations on their own.

The 2020 Cyber Trendscape Report by FireEye reveals that 51% of the organizations are unprepared for a cyberattack. And nearly 29% of organizations with cyberattacks and breach response plans at their disposal have not tested or updated them for a year or more.

Thus, companies are turning towards outsourcing their security to third party experts, namely Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP).

Defining Managed Security Service Provider

A Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) is a third-party IT service provider that offers monitoring and management of security devices and systems. The service offerings include managed firewall, intrusion detection, virtual private network, vulnerability scanning, and anti-viral services.

The convergence of factors such as evolving and increasing threat landscape, lack of core competencies, increasing mobile workforce, and high cost of security tools have fuelled the adoption of Managed Security Services (MSS).

As per the market estimates, the global Managed Security Services market size is estimated to grow from USD 31.6 billion in 2020 to USD 46.4 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 8.0%.

Here's a list of benefits and business advantages leveraged by the organizations from partnering with an MSSP

1. Expertise

One of the key benefits of partnering with an MSSP is that the provider will have in-depth knowledge of common and trending cybersecurity issues. MSSPs have high experience in managing network security issues for a large number of companies operating across different verticals. They are exposed to evolving security challenges, attack strategies and security architectures.

Moreover, the MSSPs mobilize highly skilled security experts by offering continuous training, challenging work environment, career advancement, and myriad other opportunities.

They maintain leading-edge, innovative security technologies that have often been tested across many organizations in diverse geographies handling a plethora of threats.

So, organizations can benefit from having access to highly trained and motivated security experts and advanced technologies.

2. Effectiveness

MSSPs use specialized and multi-locational Security Operating Centers (SOCs) to ensure high levels of security for clients. With the state-of-art SOCs, the MSSP offers 24x7 support, monitoring and management of security for organizations.

They can deliver uninterrupted services and faster response to security incidents.

3. Compliance Management

Increasing cybersecurity risks has led to the emergence of regulations such as HIPPA, CCPA, GDPR, and FISMA. It is very daunting for organizations to adhere to the regulatory and compliance requirements while focusing on business growth.

They have to understand the complexity of the legal requirements and then constantly tweak solutions to stay compliant.
With MSSPs, organizations can focus on business goals without worrying about risk and compliance management.

MSSPs offer comprehensive knowledge of legal requirements and industry standards and protect your assets from the latest legal threats.

4. Cost Savings

One of the primary considerations for organizations hiring an MSSP is cost savings.

Adopting and maintaining the present-day cybersecurity programs is time-consuming and costly. The security tools and capabilities often require dedicated hardware or appliances to run and they come with an annual licensing cost. Moreover, recruiting professional security experts for your IT team and training them adds to the cost.

With MSSP, enterprises can save heavily on the costs mentioned above without compromising on the security.

In Conclusion

The need for adequate cybersecurity continues to grow as the cyberthreat landscape evolves. Partnering with the best MSSP is now a necessity for organizations. Investing in such strategies to help stand against these threats is more critical than ever.

How to Develop A Cybersecurity Plan For Your Small Business?

Stealthlabs, Inc — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 07:42:56 +0000

Cybersecurity has become the prime concern of the modern IT world.
Businesses of all sizes in every industry are under continuous threat of cyberattacks.

Cyberthreats aren't just a problem for large scale businesses; small businesses are the lucrative targets too.

The U.S. Congressional Small Business Committee revealed that 71% of cyber-attacks happened at businesses with less than 100 employees.

Small businesses are a prime target for cybercriminals as they typically lack the security infrastructure of larger enterprises.

Some of the Cybersecurity Stats Concerning Small Businesses are

• Small businesses are the target of 43% of the global cyberattacks
• Small businesses lose over USD 188,000 million on average per attack
• Around 25% of small and medium-sized businesses completely halted operations due to ransomware attacks in 2017
• Approximately 60% of small and medium businesses go out of business due to cyber-attack
• 88% of small business owners felt their business was vulnerable to a cyberattack
• Cyberattacks on small businesses grew at a daunting rate in 2018, up nearly 425% from the previous year

These facts escalate the need for a robust cybersecurity plan, strategy for small businesses.

In need of the hour, we bring you some best practices to develop a cybersecurity plan for your small business.

Defining Cybersecurity Plan

Two significant reasons make small businesses vulnerable to cyberthreats.

The first one is that small business entrepreneurs think that they won’t be the targets for cybercriminals. The second is that they fail to train their employees on cybersecurity.

This is where a cybersecurity plan comes in.

A cybersecurity plan contains information about the organization’s security policies, procedures, and countermeasures to ensure the integrity of operations and security.

It defines the current and the future state of your cybersecurity landscape, facilitating you the clarity on how best you can restructure your organization for the best cybersecurity practices.

A cybersecurity plan also enables the IT team to communicate effectively within the organization regarding the cybersecurity structure.

How to Develop A Cybersecurity Plan?

Here we bring you five steps to build an effective cybersecurity plan for your small business.

1. Identify Potential Risks
The first and the foremost step in building a cybersecurity plan is to identify the critical assets of your business that are worth protecting. Now, evaluate the potential risks that might compromise the security of your key assets.

Identifying and analyzing possible threats can help you develop strategies to bridge the gaps in security.

Some questions you need to answer to help you identify potential risks:
• Where and how is your sensitive data stored?
• Who has access to sensitive data?

2. Setting Achievable goals
Setting achievable goals is more critical to small businesses than overwhelming themselves with a long list of policies and procedures. While a cybersecurity plan will identify all the necessary activities, you need to prioritize those goals that will be truly achievable.

Start with easily achievable goals.

Focus first on the most essential and high-risk areas as they are a matter of priority.

3. Align Cybersecurity Goals with Business Goals
Ensure to build the security strategy in a way that aligns with the business objectives. Ensure that systems owners, data owners, budget holders and other key decision-makers think of cybersecurity as a practice that should be prevalent in all their plans.

A good cybersecurity plan will enable an organization to be secure in its continued growth toward its business objectives.

4. Documenting Cybersecurity Policies
Documenting cybersecurity standards, procedures, protocols, processes, and policies are crucial for every business.

By documenting these policies, you ensure that some of your most critical business processes are performed in a consistent way that meets the cybersecurity best practices and procedures.

Moreover, the detailed toolkit is especially crucial with regard to capturing, communicating and securing information.

5.Testing Your Plan
After developing the cybersecurity plan, you need to ensure that your plan works effectively. Waiting for a cyberattack to prove the credibility of your cybersecurity plan will be risky. So, test your plan on your own.

Try to hire a cybersecurity expert to perform a full assessment of your security to ensure that the plan is still relevant, up to date and effective. Assess your security at least twice in a year as the cyberthreats are evolving rapidly and your plan may go outdated within no time.

In Conclusion

Developing and deploying a strong and effective cybersecurity business plan may need strong domain expertise owing to the complexity of the cybersecurity. So, partnering with a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) can help small businesses to get started on the right foot.