One of the biggest problems with the IT / OT convergence in critical infrastructure is that much of the legacy hardware cannot simply be patched to an acceptable compliance level. Recently, Sean Tufts, the practice director for Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Internet of Things (IoT) security at Optiv, offered his perspectives on where the...

Security researchers say they have seen a "massive wave" of malicious hackers exploiting the comment feature in Google Docs to spread malicious content into the inboxes of unsuspecting targeted users. According to a blog post published by Avanan, the comments functionality of Google Docs, as well as its fellow Google Workplace web-based...

On December 16, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released mandate letters tasking his ministers of national defense, foreign affairs, public safety, and industry to develop a new “National Cyber Security Strategy.” He specifically highlighted the need for the strategy to “articulate Canada’s long-term strategy to protect our national security and...

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s spoken to me for more than five minutes, but I am a Doctor Who fan. In fact, “fan” is being kind. I’m hopelessly obsessed with the show to the point that more than one 'Who' actor has a restraining order out on me. The lead character, the Doctor, is an alien from the planet Gallifrey. His fellow...

A CISO’s job can be one of the most stressful in cybersecurity. It can sometimes feel like an avalanche of responsibilities, all in the pursuit of keeping an organization safe. The problem more often than not comes down to the issue of obtaining funding for new technology that can make the job easier. In reality, CISOs can't always obtain the...

On May 12, The White House published its Executive Order (EO) on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. The directive outlined a set of focus areas intended to improve cybersecurity for the federal government and critical infrastructure sectors including information sharing, supply chain security, endpoint detection and response, and cloud security. ...

Due to urbanization, which involves a complex set of economic, demographic, social, cultural, technological, and environmental processes, governments are developing smart cities to address some of the challenges unique to urban areas. This development occurs through the transmission of data using wireless technology and the cloud. Smart cities are...

IT environments have always been considered the forefront when it comes to cybersecurity, and OT environments have been the forefront when it comes to physical security. As more and more cyber threats are taking place, and with an increasing number recently focused on OT environments, everyone seems to be concerned with how to upscale and secure...

More organizations are turning their eyes to edge computing as cloud adoption reaches new heights. Experts predict there will be 55 billion edge devices by 2022 as latency and resilience demands grow and 5G makes these networks possible. While this growth is impressive, it raises several security concerns. Edge computing expands attack surfaces,...

Zero trust is everywhere, and it will change the way we undertake security. Just as zero trust concepts are shaping the data center and our networks, they will shape cloud environments, as well. Many of the challenges of cloud security arose because we moved workloads to the cloud with no clear idea of how to secure them. Zero trust provides exactly...

The cybersecurity market offers excellent solutions and services to combat the threats that are exploited by cybercriminals. However, are these tools enough to fully protect an organization? It is clear that human error is a strong attack vector for many popular cybercrimes, so the best way to augment any security program is to create a cyber-aware...

This blog contains a discussion about stress, trauma, and domestic violence. This may be difficult for some readers, and given the alarming figures around Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), trauma, and early life experiences (ACEs), this will likely concern at least a small population of readers. Please take care of yourself when reading this...

Protecting our critical infrastructure against the threat of ransomware remains a top priority for both the private sector and the federal government. In fact, a recent survey from Tripwire found that security professionals in both sectors still identify ransomware as a top security concern. More than half (53%) of respondents in that study said...

Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, recently published the 2021 Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) report. The report, which is Europol’s flagship strategic product that provides a law enforcement focused assessment of evolving threats and key developments in the area of cybercrime, highlights the expansion of the...

The CISO’s role is never static. Over the last two decades, it has evolved beyond technical IT security. CISOs are now central to their organization when it comes to risk, compliance and governance. And this comes at a time when businesses are undergoing rapid change in the face of changing threats. In the past, the CISO or head of IT security has...

In a previous blog post, I discussed the different applications of integrity for Zero Trust and provided four use cases highlighting integrity in action. The reality is that many organizations can’t realize any of this on their own. But they don’t need to. They can work with a company like Tripwire as a partner on their Zero Trust journey. Let’s...

It's that time of year that the usual happens. Christmas crackers with bad jokes. Holiday specials on TV (constantly). And cyber specialists like me make predictions about the year to come. With the help of insights from Gartner and my own views on what we are likely to see in 2022, I think I can help you with a couple of these. Firstly, it's worth...

Which Flavor of the Purdue Model Should You Follow? If you enter the term "Purdue Model" into your favorite search engine, the resulting images will vary considerably. There's almost no better way to stir up an Operational Technology (OT) security conversation than to begin debating what belongs on Level 1 or Level 3 of the model. You might even...

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) views securing the supply chain and the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) as one critical pillar in protecting national security. Dedicated security requirements exist for the protection of federal information systems as well as classified information based on the NIST 800-53 standard. However, several years...

The role of the modern CISO is more than understanding the technical side of the business. In fact, the role consists of even more than understanding the business side of the business. When I spoke with Ian Thornton-Trump, he was able to shed light on how important effective communication and team-building are to the overall success of a modern CISO...