Security Insights

Cyber’s $150bn black hole: operationalising cybersecurity

Cybersecurity spending seems to be on a never-ending upward curve. But this spending, spending, which analysts put at US$150bn annually, doesn't seem to reduce the number of cyber threats.

Could it be that we need a new approach to security?

Our guest this week is Jason Hart, CTO, EMEA at Rapid7. He argues that the problem is that we are spending money, but are not making security part of the culture, or central to how we do business.

In this episode, we look at whether a new approach could both make organisations safer, and produce a return on investment from all that spending.

DDoS’ shifting focus: war, religion and politics

Over the last six to twelve months security researchers have seen a shift in the pattern of cyber attacks, as the impact of the pandemic has largely been replaced by a focus on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Security firm NETSCOUT runs one of the largest monitoring projects for DDoS attacks. They have, for example, seen falls globally in DDoS activity, but an increase in the EMEA region.

Deterring and prosecuting those behind the attacks is as hard as ever, argues Richard Hummel, ASERT Threat Intelligence Lead, at NETSCOUT.

But, he says, there are steps organisations can take to counter the threat, and to keep critical online services working.

Why do we love weak passwords?

Passwords are still a cornerstone of web security, especially for consumer-facing sites.

But convincing consumers, and firms, to use stronger passwords remains a struggle

Steven Furnell is a senior member of the IEEE, and professor of cybersecurity at the University of Nottingham.

For the last 15 years, he has been tracking the password policies of leading web and ecommerce sites.  Do they, for example, allow weak or easy to guess passwords?

And how easy do they make it for users to pick stronger passwords, or to use alternatives such as multi-factor authentication?

The answers have implications, not just for security online, but for the way we use passwords in business too.

Interview by Stephen Pritchard

Risk or reward: can we control cyber risks?

How can we control cyber risks? And how do cyber risks stack up, against the other challenges facing business?

Cyber threats have risen steadily over the last few years, and the move to digital business has created its own security challenges.

But at the same time, conventional risks have not gone away. Only recently we've seen wildfires and floods. And we are still feeling the after effects of the global pandemic.

How does an organisation balance physical threats and cyber risks, against the need to become more efficient and to grow? And how do we measure the risks we have to accept? Our guests this week are Pauline Losson, director of cyber operations, and Todd Carroll, CISO, at CybelAngel.

Interview by Stephen Pritchard

Closing the skills gap – part 4: Michael Smith, Neustar

Is there a "hiring gap" in cybersecurity?

Over the last few episodes on Security Insights, we’ve looked more deeply at the skills skills shortage. But is the problem as much down to matching candidates to roles, as it is finding the right people?

And are organisations failing to do enough to develop the staff they do recruit, and so ensuring they stay?

In week's episode, our guest Michael Smith, field CTO at Neustar Security Services, argues that the issue goes beyond skills alone. And firms need to invest more in security, and in their staff, to keep up with the move to digital business.

 

Interview by Stephen Pritchard

Closing the skills gap: part 3 - Karen Worstell, VMWare

How early do we need to start to awaken interest in cybersecurity, and indeed technology, as a career?

In this week's episode, VMWare's senior security advocate, Karen Worstell, argues that we might need to go back as far as early years education. Then, of course, we need to maintain and develop that interest, as a young person moves through education and on to their career.

And there's also more industry can do, from developing people at the starts of their careers to improving the levels of built-in security in any connected device, she says.

Closing the security skills gap - Part 2: Tia Hopkins

In the second part of our series on the cyber skills crisis, we take a deeper look at the challenges around recruiting entry level staff – and the knock on effect that has on finding mid-tier and experienced hires.

Our guest this week is Tia Hopkins. Based in New York, she is field CTO and chief cyber risk strategist at eSentire.

In addition, Hopkins teaches cyber security, is working on her PhD, and is CEO of Empow(H)er Cybersecurity, which mentors women of colour in the cyber security industry.

How, then, do we encourage more people to join the cyber security world. Should we, as Hopkins says, hire for aptitude, rather than experience? And how do we look beyond the CV?

Interview by Stephen Pritchard

Closing the security skills gap - part 1: Deryck Mitchelson

UK businesses are short of skilled cybersecurity professionals, and the number of vacancies is in the tens of thousands.

Worldwide, the shortfall is in the millions.

But what are the reasons? Is it cultural, problems with education, a lack of diversity?

And what is the impact on organisations in the public and private sector?

Over the next few weeks, Security Insights will attempt to answer at least some of these questions.

Our first guest in the series is Deryck Mitchelson, former Director of National Digital and Chief Information Security Officer at NHS Scotland, and now global CIO and CISO at Check Point.

Surviving a ransomware attack

When IT director Tony Mendoza found his company under attack by a ransomware group, there was no playbook for how to respond. He and his team had to react -- at speed -- to a rapidly developing situation.

Fortunately his organisation, technology vendor Spectra Logic, survived the attack and was able to restore its data. But he learned some hard lessons about managing a crisis, building defences and, above all, why it pays to accept that an attack will happen.

In this episode, Mendoza recalls his experience to Security Insights editor, Stephen Pritchard.

Security, SMEs, and new ways of working

Smaller businesses are no means immune to cyber attack.

In fact, there is growing evidence that criminal groups are targetting smaller businesses.

One reason is the changes to working practices brought on by the pandemic, with more remote access and the use of consumer IT. And smaller firms are being used as a way to infiltrate the supply chains of their larger customers.

What, though, can smaller companies do to improve their security?

Improved training, clearer IT policies and better use of security tools, including those that come with SaaS suites, all help according to this week's guest.

Lee Wrall is founder at Everything Tech, an IT services firm based in Manchester. He also believes passionately that smaller companies can be secure, withe the right planning and support. He spoke to Security Insights' Stephen Pritchard.