NIST Drafts New Risk-Based Guide to Information Exchange Security
Organizations frequently share information through various information exchange channels based on mission and business needs. In order to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of exchanged information commensurate with risk, the information being...
Should MSPs take a stronger stance on security?
Your customers depend on you to guide them through the world of technology. You support their day-to-day needs and recommend new technologies to increase productivity or save money. It makes perfect sense that they would also rely on your to advise them on how to...
What’s the real story with CMMC?
There is a lot of uncertainty and misinformation around new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), especially for the downstream suppliers who do not directly contact a contracting officer. Small and medium-sized defense contractors should be far more...
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What is Cyber Security as a Service (CSaaS)
When you think about information technology implementation and support, the optimal solution is often the combination of internal resource(s) who know the business, the culture and the current technologies and controls and an outside resource who specializes in the...
A Third Party Claims You Have Been Breached, What Do You Do?
Organizations sometimes ignore breach notifications because of a loophole in virtually all privacy regulations – they do not address third-party notifications, so companies feel free to ignore them. Whether deliberate or a casualty of the notification overload...
Serverless Computing Security Considerations
One of the latest approaches to client server computing is going ‘serverless" - a move from ‘DevOps’ to ‘NoOps’. In serverless computing, the developers use code to simply create instances. Serverless computing is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud...
Feedback that might be the answer to your questions about SIEM and MSSP
The Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) space has a lot more players than it used to, and it leads to confusion, starting with "What are the differences between MSSP and SIEM"? "How do you know which is the...
States look to Feds for cybersecurity funding
The recent pandemic has left state and local governments with budget shortfalls as cyber threats continue to rise, leaving state asking the federal government for funding to help them protect their data. A coalition of Governors, Comptrollers, CIOs and Emergency...
Cyber insurers increase scrutiny of policyholders
COVID-19 has changed our world in many ways, and the Wall Street Journal reports that due to the heightened security risk from the increased remote workforce, commercial insurers are taking a closer look at their policyholders and new applicants for cyber coverage....
Demystifying SOC Opinions and Exceptions
The difference in how well a SOC 2 organization measures up is in the details. CPA firms who audit for SOC 2 compliance use exceptions and opinions, so it's important to understand how these apply. Exceptions Audit exceptions are simply deviations from the expected...
Is your SOC ready for the future?
A reported by Ponemon on The Economics of Security Operations Centers: What Is the True Cost for Effective Results" included a number of key findings to consider if you are looking at setting up a SOC, reviewing the value of your current SOC or considering outsourcing...
What does this story about celebrity data mean for you?
A ransomware attack has hit a prominent NYC law firm with a client list that includes top celebrities, musicians, sports stars and media companies. The attackers are demanding an undisclosed ransom or they will begin leaking data in a phased approach, putting the...
Should You Rely On Your Cyber Insurer for Incident Response?
If your business suffered a fire, who would you want to call first, your commercial insurer to file a claim or the fire department to come put out the flames? When a cyber incident occurs, the same thinking should apply, but it is being complicated by organizations...
What is MITRE ATT&CK?
MITRE ATT&CK is a globally accessible knowledge base of adversary tactics and techniques based on real-world observations of cyberattacks. They’re displayed in matrices that are arranged by attack stages, from initial system access to data theft or machine...
What grade would your school get in cybersecurity?
Cyberattacks that focus on schools are becoming more frequent. Why? Schools are considered an easy target as lack of funding for proactive cybersecurity means that the IT team is woefully outgunned and often already overwhelmed with providing the day-to-day support...
Classifying the severity of a cyber incident
Ideally you would already have classified your data and be aligned with a cybersecurity or compliance framework to be able to effectively classify the severity level of various types of incidents. This quick reference model can help with communication and next steps...
Should you do your own cybersecurity monitoring?
Should you do your own cybersecurity monitoring? It's a fair question. You may already be paying for IT staff and many tools exist to collect logs. There are important considerations when you make this decision. Let's start with your staff. If they are like most IT...
Shift to remote workers – minimize risk and maintain compliance
Change Management is really risk management. Change management is viewed as a set of rigid standards and processes, but really change management should be an enabler of change and not an obstacle. The point of change management is to ensure that any type of change is...
Five Steps To Conducting An Effective Vendor Management Risk Assessment
You don’t need to be risk-averse when assessing vendor relationships. Just like when you buy a house, you want to do your due diligence to make sure working with a particular organization is the right decision. The better the research, the lower the risk. Otherwise,...
IT Vendor Risk Management Guide
Let's take a look at the different issues that are classified as vendor risks. Of course, the risks for your business may differ from those listed here. At Foresite, we're happy to work with you to provide services that make sense for your company. If you have a need...
New York’s SHIELD Act with new data security and breach notification requirements is now in place. Are you ready?
The "Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security" or SHIELD Act signed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is effective as of 3/21/20, and will apply to you if you own or license provate information on New York residents. What are the requirements? Simply put, you...
Are you forcing your customers to look elsewhere for cybersecurity advice?
“93% of companies currently using an MSP would consider moving to a new provider if they offered the right cyber security solution. Equip your business with cyber protection services that defend against ransomware and other data loss threats to protect customers,...
The rush to allow users to work from home due to the COVID-19 virus opens up an increased threat vector. As companies struggle to allow their employees to work from home creating social distancing, security may not be sufficiently considered. Before just turning on...
How to Dispel the “It Will Never Happen to Us” Misconception
A technology provider is meeting with a company that they provide IT support for, and the client brings up cybersecurity. "We're not concerned," says the company's President, "We're too small to be a target. It will never happen to us. A commercial insurance agent is...
What Are HIPAA Log Requirements?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a federal law that extends far beyond what you would expect given the name. It involves a lot more than just health insurers, and it covers much more than simple portability and accountability. Overall, HIPAA...
What Do Sharks and Cows Have to Do with Cybersecurity Risks?
Which are you more afraid of sharks or cows? Most people would immediately answer "sharks." This is an example of availability bias, because we know and hear about shark attacks we assume they are a greater risk. The reality is that sharks kill about 5 people a year...
Managed Services Provider Sued by Customer After Phishing Attack
Boardman Molded Products is an Ohio based manufacturing company who has filed a lawsuit against Involta, MSP (their Managed Services Provider) after a phishing scam. Based on reports, access was gained to one of Boardman's internal email accounts and used to send...
One Cyber Incident – Three Possible Outcomes
Scenario #1: A dental practice manager arrives at the office and starts up her computer. Her screen flashes a notice that the system has been locked and demands a ransom of $4,900 to provide the key to access the data. She panics - patients will be arriving in less...
Managed Service Provider vs. Managed Security Services Provider
You care about the security of your business and the data of your customers, and you know how important it is to work with security operations providers you can trust. It can be hard to understand the difference between MSSPs and MSPs. As a busy professional, you know...
State Of Cybersecurity In 2020
To keep your company safe from cyber criminals, it is important to become at least as knowledgeable as the perpetrators in the best practices of system security. Smarter is always better, but the latest security threats evolve so quickly that it becomes extremely...
5 Tips to Prevent Cyber Threats in Schools
Latest estimates for 2019 showed that security firms had discovered ransomware in at least 1,039 schools throughout the United States by the end of 2019. Surely some attacks went undiscovered and unreported, so the actual number is higher. It's not hard to determine...
3 Steps to Secure Email
Email, the great security hole of all IT. We need it, most of our users (if not all) have access. It remains a top threat vector for the bad actors. Think about it, many ransomware attacks start with an email. Whaling and spear phishing, email, compromised...
What is the proposed “Hack Back” Bill?
The proposed "Hack Back" bill is officially called the Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act (ACDC) to allow organizations who are victims of hackers to take aggressive action in defense. While this may sound like a positive step in the fight against cyber crime, there...
