Cybersecurity Risk: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Cybersecurity Risk Management - How to Manage Third-Party Risks
Every day, we learn about breaches of data that have exposed the private information of hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people. These incidents usually originate from third-party partners, like an organization that suffers a system outage.
Information about your threat environment is crucial for assessing cyber risks. This allows you to prioritize which threats need your most urgent attention first.
State-sponsored attacks
When cyberattacks are perpetrated by the nation-state, they have the potential to cause more serious damage than other attacks. Attackers from nations are usually well-equipped and have sophisticated hacking techniques, which makes it difficult to detect them or defend against them. They can take sensitive information and disrupt business processes. They can also cause more damage by focusing on the supply chain of the company as well as the third suppliers.
This means that the average nation-state attack cost an estimated $1.6 million. Nine in 10 companies believe they have been a victim of an attack from a nation state. Cyberespionage is becoming more popular among threat actors from nation states. Therefore, it's more important than ever to ensure that businesses have strong cybersecurity practices.
Cyberattacks carried out by nation-states can take place in a variety of types. They range from ransomware to Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS). They could be carried out by government agencies, employees of a cybercrime outfit that is a part of or contracted by a state, freelancers hired for a specific nationalist operation or even just criminal hackers who target the general public at large.
The advent of Stuxnet changed the game for cyberattacks as it allowed states to use malware as a weapon and use it against their adversaries. Since since then states have used cyberattacks to accomplish political goals, economic and military.
In recent times there has been an increase in the number of government-sponsored attacks and the sophistication of these attacks. Sandworm, a group backed by the Russian government has targeted both customers and businesses by using DDoS attacks. This is different from traditional crime syndicates which are motivated by profit and tend to target businesses that are owned by consumers.
empyrean corporation to a state actor's national threat requires extensive coordination between multiple government agencies. This is a significant difference from "your grandfather's cyberattack," where a business might submit an Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Report to the FBI however, it wouldn't routinely need to engage in significant coordination with the FBI as part of its incident response. Responding to a nation state attack requires a higher degree of coordination. It also requires coordination with other governments, which can be difficult and time-consuming.
Smart Devices
As more devices connect to the Internet, cyber attacks are becoming more common. This increase in attack surfaces can cause security issues for businesses and consumers alike. Hackers, for instance, exploit smart devices to steal information or compromise networks. This is particularly true when these devices aren't adequately protected and secured.
Smart devices are especially attracted to hackers since they can be used to gain a wealth of information about people or businesses. For instance, voice-controlled assistants like Alexa and Google Home can learn a number of information about users via the commands they receive. They can also gather data about the layout of users' homes, as well as other personal information. They also serve as gateways to other IoT devices, such as smart lighting, security cameras, and refrigerators.
If hackers can get access to these devices, they can cause significant harm to people and businesses. They could make use of these devices to commit diverse range of crimes such as fraud, identity theft and Denial-of-Service attacks (DoS). They are also able to hack into vehicles to spoof GPS location and disable safety features and even cause physical injuries to passengers and drivers.
While it's not possible to stop users from connecting to their devices to the internet, there are ways to limit the harm they cause. For example, users can change the default passwords that are used on their devices to block attackers from easily locating them and enable two-factor authentication. Regular firmware updates are also required for routers as well as IoT devices. Local storage, as opposed to the cloud, can reduce the risk of an attacker when transferring and storing data from or to these devices.
It is necessary to conduct research to better understand the impact of these digital threats on the lives of people and the best methods to minimize their impact. Studies should concentrate on finding technological solutions to help reduce the negative effects caused by IoT. They should also look into other potential harms such as cyberstalking and increased power imbalances between household members.
Human Error
Human error is one of the most common factors that contribute to cyberattacks. This can be anything from downloading malware to leaving a network open to attack. A lot of these issues can be avoided by establishing and enforcing strict security measures. A malicious attachment could be clicked by an employee in a phishing email or a storage configuration error could expose sensitive data.
A system administrator can turn off the security function without even realizing it. This is a common mistake that exposes software to attack by malware and ransomware. According to IBM, the majority of security incidents are caused by human error. This is why it's important to understand the types of mistakes that could lead to a cybersecurity breach and take steps to prevent the risk.
Cyberattacks can be triggered for various reasons, such as hacking, financial fraud or to steal personal data, disrupt critical infrastructure or vital services of an an organization or government. They are often perpetrated by state-sponsored actors, third-party vendors, or hacker collectives.
The threat landscape is a complex and ever-changing. Companies must constantly examine their risk profiles and revisit strategies for protection to keep pace with the latest threats. The good news is advanced technologies can reduce an organisation's overall risk of being a victim of a hacker attack and improve its security capabilities.
It's important to remember that no technology can shield an organization from every possible threat. This is the reason it's essential to devise an extensive cybersecurity strategy that considers the various layers of risk within an organisation's network ecosystem. It's also crucial to perform regular risk assessments instead of using only point-in-time assessments that are often inaccurate or even untrue. A thorough assessment of the security risks of an organization will permit an effective reduction of these risks and will ensure the compliance of industry standards. This will help to prevent costly data breaches and other incidents that could negatively impact the company's finances, operations and image. A successful cybersecurity plan includes the following components:
Third-Party Vendors
Third-party vendors are companies that are not part of the organization but provide services, software, or products. These vendors often have access to sensitive information like client data, financials, or network resources. The vulnerability of these companies can be used to access the business system that they are operating from when they're not secured. This is the reason that cybersecurity risk management teams are willing to go to the extremes to ensure that third-party risks can be identified and controlled.
The risk is growing as cloud computing and remote working become more popular. A recent survey conducted by the security analytics firm BlueVoyant revealed that 97% of companies surveyed were negatively affected by supply chain weaknesses. That means that any disruption to a supplier - even if it's a small part of the business's supply chain - could trigger a domino effect that threatens the entire operation of the business.
Many organizations have resorted to establishing a procedure which accepts new vendors from third parties and requires them to adhere to specific service level agreements which define the standards to which they are held in their relationship with the organization. A thorough risk assessment should also include documentation of how the vendor's weaknesses are assessed and followed up with and corrected in a timely fashion.
A privileged access management system that requires two-factor authentication for access to the system is a different method to safeguard your business against third-party risks. This stops attackers from gaining access to your network by stealing employee credentials.
Not least, ensure that your third party providers are using the latest version of their software. This will ensure that they haven't introduced any inadvertent flaws into their source code. Often, these vulnerabilities remain undetected and are used as a springboard for other high-profile attacks.
In the end, third-party risk is a constant risk to any company. The strategies mentioned above can help reduce these threats. However, the most effective method to reduce your risk to third parties is through constant monitoring. This is the only way to fully understand the cybersecurity posture of your third party and to quickly spot the potential risks.