Arlene Yetnikoff

This is funny to me; many have said this for years and now NIST is aligning with it. What companies need to be focusing on is password-less methods, not trying to make a legacy password method "less-bad". Windows Hello for Business, passkey, or other phishing resistant methods are the only real way to increase your security posture. Even with a 24-character password, end users will still write that on a sticky note. 😄

9

Does CISA know how Mac, Windows and Linux are coded? Let alone their Phones and switches/routers? How about those printers or the drivers they use? CISA talk to industry First and Last, avoid Politicians #CISA #Security #Programming

3

Jay Jacobs and I have been working a lot this week on the inaugural study of EPSS performance. Thought I'd share a pretty chart that Jay churned out yesterday. It addresses the question "What’s the typical pattern of exploitation activity?" As you may suspect, the answer depends on the vulnerability in question. Some vulns are continuously exploited for long periods of time. Some are just a flash in the pan. Exploits of others come in fits and starts. Some real-world examples of these patterns are demonstrated in the chart below, which depicts observed exploitation activity for five CVEs over the course of 2023. #vulnerabilitymanagement #vulnerabilities #vulnerabilityexploitation #cyberattacks

148

30 Comments

CMMC Level 2 Assessment Objective: Flaw Remediation for Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) Data PRACTICE: Organizations must identify, report, and correct system flaws in a timely manner. ASSESSMENT: All software and firmware have potential flaws. Organizations must identify systems that are affected by announced software and firmware flaws, including potential vulnerabilities resulting from those flaws, and report this information to designated personnel with information security responsibilities. Security-relevant updates include patches, service packs, hot fixes, and antivirus signatures. Be prepared! Your assessor could ask to 🔍 EXAMINE system and information integrity policy. 🗣 INTERVIEW system or network administrators. 📝 TEST organizational processes for identifying, reporting, and correcting system flaws. (CMMC Assessment Guide: Level 2 Version 2.11, page 241) #CMMC #DoD #cybersecurity #NIST #InformationSecurity

57

In a recent conversation a cyber assessor asked me how they could get leadership buy-in to using risk quantification. Here are 3 ways I'd suggest doing this. Let me know what you think in the comments. 1. Use Industry Profiles for Context : Show how your organization compares to others in your industry in terms of risk exposure by using industry data. This helps highlight where your organization stands and can spark interest in exploring risk quantification further. 2. Highlight a Recent Attack : Use a recent cyber attack that affected your industry as an example. Show the potential financial impact and likelihood of such an attack on your organization. This makes the concept of risk quantification more real and urgent, helping leaders understand its importance. 3. Clarify Risk Levels : When discussing risk, push for clear definitions of what “high,” “moderate,” or “low” risk means by advocating for a quantified approach. This can help uncover inconsistencies in how risk is evaluated and emphasize the need for a standardized risk assessment method. Have you had success getting leadership buy-in to using risk quantification?

1

2 Comments

🇨🇳 RED ALERT: 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒚𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒂 - 🏛️ United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation. The panel discussion focused on cyber warfare threats, particularly those orchestrated by the 𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆'𝒔 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒂 (𝑷𝑹𝑪), against the United States' critical infrastructure. ✅𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 📍𝗙𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 to develop and replace outdated technology in critical infrastructure with secure alternatives. 📍𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 President Biden's national cybersecurity strategy. 📍𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 in resolving cyber incidents by engaging in *proactive international diplomacy.* 📍𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 to improve cyber defenses, recognizing the potential of these technologies to detect and mitigate attacks. 📍𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗳𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀, clarify protocols, and support victims of cybercrime instead of imposing punishment. 📍𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 to incentivize the removal of obsolete technologies and encourage updated and secure systems. ✅𝗞𝗘𝗬 𝗤𝗨𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚: "𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑦𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒; 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟." ~ Rob Joyce, Former Special Assistant to the President and The White House Cybersecurity Coordinator. "𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 80% 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝐶𝑃" ~ William Evanina, Former Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. "𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 '𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑑𝑎𝑦' 𝑣𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠... 𝑂𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝑤𝑒’𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜-𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑃𝑁, 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑦, ℎ𝑦𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠." ~ Charles Carmakal, Chief Technology Officer Mandiant (part of Google Cloud)

93

5 Comments

We are a mighty cybersecurity awareness team! Kelly Crisp Isaac J. Galvan Ben Woelk, CISSP, CPTC, and yours truly - we've been preparing weekly for our panel at the Educause Annual Conference in San Antonio next week! If you're going to be there, be sure to attend our session on Wednesday afternoon at 1:45 - Crafting Effective Cybersecurity Awareness on Campus I'm excited to collaborate with my brilliant colleagues - we have a great discussion planned! #cybersecurityawareness #cyber #cybersecurityawarenesstraining

33

4 Comments

I think a lot about securing critical infrastructure and operational technology (OT) environments. A few months ago, I saw a post from Andy Hollingsworth about cybersec ops training from the Idaho National Lab/CISA. I found a collection of training they have online for the Cyber-CHAMP framework. It is taught from an OT operator perspective and highlights the challenges that come with the IT/OT convergence. Cyber-CHAMP is a structured framework to help organizations assess their cybersecurity posture, align security initiatives with business goals, and develop a roadmap for building a cyber-ready workforce. What makes Cyber-CHAMP so powerful is that it looks at #cybersecurity from both the organizational and individual level. It's not just about implementing the latest technologies - it's about ensuring your people have the right skills, roles, and responsibilities to be an effective line of defense. Cyber security for OT environments used to be accomplished by creating separate networks. But that strategy doesn't hold up as more and more devices demand connectivity - including things like coffee pots which the instructors share in a memorable example during the class. Cyber-CHAMP provides a way to assess gaps and develop a tailored plan for upskilling the workforce. I am encouraging everyone on my team to take these classes. The instructors are practical and experienced. The content is up to date, relevant, and vendor agnostic. And, it is free. What's not to like? #aws AWS for Energy & Utilities #timeseries #businessanalytics

10

As you've probably heard by now, Verizon's 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) just dropped. I'm proud to say that Cyentia Institute was a contributor again this year. I should say "one of the many, many data contributors." I know most people focus on the findings from the DBIR - and they should. But to me, this is the most remarkable and important aspect of the DBIR. I can't think of any other report/project in the #cybersecurity field that can unite all these logos in a common effort of data sharing and analysis. And do it for 15 years! Yes - I know the DBIR first published more than 15 years ago (I was there). But 2010 was the first time we included non-Verizon data from the U.S. Secret Service. That initial step took quite a bit of effort, but then they introduced us to the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit, the Australian Federal Police, London Metropolitan Police...and the dominos kept going. I clearly remember when I got a "yes" from the first private sector IR service provider that was a competitor of Verizon at the time. The execs HATED the idea of sharing the spotlight, but they eventually conceded. And their participation paved the way for all the others you see here. And though I'm no longer leading the DBIR production effort, I'm honored to be one of those logos I started adding so long ago. Also - it's not easy managing all those contributors and datasets. As you review and apply all the insights from this year's DBIR, raise a toast of appreciation to the DBIR team that is dedicated to what they do for the community. Many thanks David Hylender Suzanne Widup Philippe Langlois Alex Pinto #databreaches #cyberrisk

259

15 Comments

Check out this podcast interview with me just after my TribalNet keynote in Vegas recently. I was asked a random question at the end about the first concert I attended that you might find interesting (and it's not just what's listed in the podcast description). #infosec #CISO #CIO #businessleaders #cybersecurity #podcast #keynotespeaker #backtobasics #rockconcerts #ISAC

5

Where should we focus the IRIS next? You decide! The Information Risk Insights Study (IRIS) research series from the Cyentia Institute aims to provide rigorous analysis to support organizations in assessing and managing cyber risk. https://lnkd.in/e_BGmwT Over the years, we've examined the overall frequency and financial losses from security incidents, compared those metrics across different sectors and org sizes, conducted in-depth study of the 100 largest cyber loss events, researched massive multi-party incidents, and focused on particular threats (e.g., ransomware). We generally select topics to cover in the IRIS based on community interest and availability of sponsorship funds. So - back to the question at the beginning of this post. What would you like to see the IRIS focus on next? Are there vendors, gov agencies, or other organizations out there interested in sponsoring an IRIS on particular topics? Let us know! #cyberrisk #cybersecurity #cyberattacks

5

💡 Linking the ransomware ecosystem end-to-end, malware<>crypto, is no easy project. This goes a long way to closing the ransomware threat intelligence gap. Great to work with David G. and DOGESEC on bridging this gap 🤝 #ransomware #CTI #stix #mitreattck

5

A little late, but here's the next #cmmc entry for level 2: https://lnkd.in/gKpkbpBp This one was a bit more difficult to decide what to write, as I did not want it to be a long boring read. There are almost 100 additional requirements above level 1, so I just tried to give some highlights by sections. Level 2 is where you start seeing more technical requirements that will be much more likely to start requiring outside assistance, but it also will likely greatly enhance most company's security postures.

9

The collapse of support for the National Vulnerability Database has been a major risk for all of 2024. For all but the very largest organizations, it has been an unsolvable problem - private sector cannot reproduce the ongoing analysis provided by the teams supporting the National Vulnerability Database. Months ago, when the NVD turned critical, I recommended that all defense contractors add an item to their Plan of Action to track the temporary deficiency and risk. Remember that the NVD serves as a source for most of our vulnerability scanning engines. It can also be manually queried by cybersecurity teams to find vulnerabilities that are not scannable, such as firmware vulnerabilities, evaluating risk from proposed new software and systems, and systems that don't support credentialed scans. For example, our Kieri Compliance program includes a task to scan the weekly bulletins from the NVD to identify vulnerabilities in software and hardware that cannot be detected by system agents. Hopefully this update by Chris Hughes means we are on track for resolution in the next few months. But we should keep tracking it actively until the program is stable, and caught up, on new vulnerabilities, for several months. #CMMC Kieri Solutions - Authorized C3PAO

13

Heads up on this once in 5 years opportunity to sponsor Cyentia Institute research into the largest #cybersecurity incidents. See the call for sponsors for the 2025 "Xtreme" edition of the Information Risk Insights Study at the link below. #cyberrisk #cyberresilience #cyberattacks https://lnkd.in/etc6FjsY

39

2 Comments

Hmmm how do I leverage the NIST CSF 2.0 www.ncsecourse.com for Compliance and Reporting "How can an organization enhance its cybersecurity governance framework according to the NIST CSF 2.0's Govern function? Include recommendations for establishing roles, responsibilities, policies, and procedures to manage cybersecurity risk effectively." #NISTCSF ICTTF - Cyber Security Community, Academy and Events

2

3 Comments

I realize there are a lot of options out there for independent #cybersecurity research and content production. But if you have a large dataset and really want a credible partner to mine valuable insights from that data to share with your audience...there's no better option than Cyentia Institute. Sure - I'm biased. I'm one of the founders. But I also think the evidence of our published work backs up that claim. We're not the best at everything. But I honestly don't know of anyone better at that one thing. Let us prove it to you on your next data-driven #thoughtleadership content project! https://lnkd.in/ez-zWpUW

104

7 Comments