COMMENT
The saying “put yourself in a hacker’s shoes” has been part of defensive security strategies for a long time. Today, in the rapidly evolving and evolving threat landscape, this statement is truer than ever for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and large-scale security teams.
Like cyber threats continue to evolve in 2024, CISOs and security teams need to be prepared for everything from supply chain risks to zero-day exploits, deepfakes, cloud targeting and more. By ensuring visibility across your entire infrastructure, encouraging employee training, and supporting bug bounty programs, your organization will strengthen its security posture and be better prepared to fend off growing threats this year. Let’s dive a little deeper into each of them:
Create security allies from your team
Recent cyberattacks have shown us that the level of sophistication and damage caused by malicious actors is unabated. The MOVEit data breach that leaked the personal information of more than 11 million people shows the scale of modern attacks. Violations similar to MGM and Caesar they were exacerbated as the FBI struggled to stop the cyber gang behind the incident.
While the security team can’t make friends with everyone in an organization, they can focus on internal training to educate staff about risks and create clear communication that covers important issues. If hackers keep up to date and informed about the latest threats and risks, we should too. Creating a “safety champion” program throughout your organization is a great way to integrate safety. A team member from marketing, finance, legal, etc., can integrate with your team and serve as a security liaison who helps disseminate relevant cybersecurity information throughout the company.
Support for Bug Bounty programs
Rather than be anxious and avoid bug bounty programs, CISOs and security teams should reward good behavior. I encourage employees to participate in hackathons, even if at first it’s just to observe or learn. It’s a step in the right direction for safety education. For more hands-on learning about cybersecurity, I also like to host company-wide competitions and games that encourage employees to understand how cybercrime might occur.
There is no better way to prepare for a real breach than with a simulation. It forces the team to work together, strategize, and agree on a solution. The growing need for internal cybersecurity training and support for bug bounty programs will continue to grow to keep pace with growing threats.
If all else fails, focus on visibility
Visibility is a fundamental principle that suggests you can’t protect what you don’t know about. A security team’s lack of visibility is a gold rush for hackers because they typically infiltrate an organization’s network through hidden or sneaky entry points. If you have no visibility, there will undoubtedly be a way in. Without visibility into all traffic within an organization’s infrastructure, threat actors can continue to lurk in the network and grant themselves access to the organization’s most sensitive data.
With 93% of malware hiding behind encrypted traffic, but only 30% of security professionals say they have visibility, it’s no wonder there were more ransomware attacks in the first half of 2023 than in all of 2022. Once a cybercriminal has made its way into the network, time passes limited. Only with visibility can you prevent the cybercriminal from wreaking havoc and gaining access to your company data.
When cybersecurity professionals can better understand the mysterious nature of hackers and how they work, they can better protect their systems and valuable customer data. It is critical to remain vigilant not only when dealing with major security issues, but also when faced with minor delays in security best practices. We saw it with the recent Hewlett Packard breachwhich was undertaken by the same group in late 2020 SolarWinds breach. Some of the most sophisticated cybercriminals are also incredibly opportunistic, taking advantage of every split second in otherwise tight security plans. Be sure to follow the steps above to stay ahead of looming threats.