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Tag Archives: cyber-threats

Cybersecurity Performance
Posted on Author Roxanne Demakis Categories Cyber Security

Measuring Success: Cybersecurity Performance Metrics that Count

Some time ago, businesses could go by with just a little help from their antivirus software friends. But as cybercriminals became sleeker with innovative tactics, the old lines of defense just didn’t work anymore. 
Staying vigilant in the face of today’s possible hacks requires a more thorough strategy. Long gone are the days when you could set an antivirus software and forget about it for about two or three years. These days, you need to continuously evaluate how effective your security controls are, what are the weak access points, compliance guidelines, and other elements of a sound security strategy.
But how do you determine how effective the tools are? Especially if your company leader wants to know the effectiveness of your strategy. You need to bring them value, be it through ROI or other results that are harder to quantify.
In this article, we will single out metrics that help determine how good your cybersecurity performance is.

The Best Cybersecurity Performance Methodologies

The two best methodologies you can use to assess cybersecurity performance work the best when combined.

The first one entails just measuring everything. Collecting data from all points of your cybersecurity strategy means you are aiming to create a culture of measurement and make decisions based on facts. The fallback of this method is that you can get overwhelmed with all the data to the point where it doesn’t bring you value. The truth is that you don’t need heaps of data to make management decisions. 

The second method entails collecting data and then applying analytical techniques that describe the nature of the data. Here, you don’t really go for numbers. Rather you go for scales that have grades such as “nominal, ordinal, ratio”, etc.

The Best Cybersecurity Performance Metrics to Use

Now we’ll go over some metrics that can give you practical ideas on forming your cybersecurity performance plan.

The Proportion of Devices with Endpoint Protection

In a company’s cybersecurity program, endpoints like laptops, servers, and printers are among the most vulnerable components, in part because they are handled by another fragile component: people. Every device should be taken into account for endpoint protection as part of a cybersecurity program, and any unprotected endpoints should be noted. This performance metric for cybersecurity aims for a value as near to 100% as possible.

Cybersecurity Performance Metrics

Number of Systems with Vulnerabilities

A crucial cybersecurity indicator for assessing the risk your company faces is the number of exposed assets in your environment. Although managing updates and patches is a difficult task, it is crucial to do so to close security gaps, especially those related to access control. A vulnerability scan that covers all of your assets will show you what needs to be done to strengthen your company’s security posture. An effective vulnerability management program is not just a matter of courtesy.

Amount of Users with “Super-user” Access

The most effective methods for managing information security involve giving users complete discretion over how much access control they have to the company’s resources. Employees should only have access to the assets, systems, and data they need to do their jobs. By identifying the access levels of every network user, you can change them as necessary by preventing any illogical super users or administrators.

The Time It Takes to Deactivate Former Employee Credentials

You can determine whether the IT and HR departments are on the same page by tracking these cybersecurity KPIs. In a perfect world, access for users who have been fired by the company would be promptly revoked through responsive access control. Maintaining them in use poses a danger since it exposes private data and may compromise devices.

Average Time to Handle Breaches

How long does it take to update the software when vendors provide security updates? Delays in installing security patches expose the organization to a known vulnerability that could be used to launch a cyberattack. Fast patch installation is recommended, as is virtual patching while patches are unavailable. Applying patches as soon as possible—within days or even hours following the publication of the update—is the aim.

Average Rating of Security Vendors

Attacks on supply chains are becoming a bigger concern to businesses of all kinds. A cybersecurity program must include ongoing monitoring of vendors’ cybersecurity defenses as well as the regular third-party assurance of both new and existing vendors. All third parties engaged by your company should receive high-security ratings and low-risk ratings from this KPI.

Final Word

If you want to know if your cybersecurity strategy is doing the job, you should do more than just secure your access controls. A good strategy incorporates KPIs that are both quantifiable and quantifiable. By combining the lessons learned from the metrics above, you can do your company a big favor. Along with getting continuous monitoring, you will also get results that will firmly set you on the right path.

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hackers use AI
Posted on Author Roxanne Demakis Categories Cyber Security, Tech Trends

How Hackers Use AI and Machine Learning to Target Enterprises

AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning are often touted as things that will bring both small businesses and enterprises to new levels. But the bad frequently follows the good. Meaning that while AI and machine learning improve cybersecurity, they are also being used by cybercriminals.

Cybercriminals are using advanced technology to create and launch sophisticated malware and cyber attacks that easily bypass and fool cybersecurity systems.

More complex cyberattacks are our future, along with increased frequency. So in this article, we will cover in more detail what AI and machine learning do when in the wrong hands.

Importance of Cybersecurity in 2022

With the increasing number of cyberattacks, spotting vulnerable spots in your IT infrastructure is crucial to keep your business’ data, hardware, and other software safe.

In case your company does fall victim to a cyberattack (which isn’t the end of the world because you can never be 100% safe), there are steps to take afterward. After neutralizing the threat, the important thing is to revise the security protocols using the lessons learned from the recent attack.

Another vital step is to never stop learning – hackers use AI and machine learning more and more, and you should know about the latest hacker trends and what exactly they do to extract sensitive company data.

What are AI and Machine Learning in Cybersecurity?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is great in assisting security operations analysts to tackle the cyberattacks’ increase in scale and variety. Artificial intelligence (AI) tech such as machine learning and natural language processing enables analysts to link together various threats.

Machine learning, as a subset of AI, creates automated analytical models. What this translates to is that it lets IT systems gain more insight and thus update various processes according to what the program experienced through continuous use. That allows IT systems to learn from previous calculations and adapt on their own.

Ways Hackers Use AI and Machine Learning

Hackers use increasingly sophisticated methods to breach IT security, gather information, and launch attacks. The usefulness of machine learning and AI also benefits cybercriminals. The following evolving threats in the IT sector are ones that your company needs to be aware of.

More Sophisticated Phishing Emails

Attackers create phishing emails using machine learning. On dark web forums, they are promoting the sale of these services. There, they mention utilizing machine learning to produce more effective phishing emails. They operate by creating fake personalities for use in scam efforts.

Hackers can use machine learning to creatively alter phishing emails so that they don’t appear in bulk email lists and are optimized to encourage engagement and clicks. They go beyond the email’s text. Hackers use AI to produce realistic images, social media personas, and other content to give the interaction the best possible legitimacy.

hackers use AI Cyber threat

Faster Password Guessing

Additionally, criminals use AI and machine learning to improve their password guessing skills. It is evident that password guessing engines now have more sophisticated techniques based on the frequency and success rates of criminal hacking attempts. The ability to hack stolen hashes is also improving as criminals are creating better dictionaries.

Additionally, they are utilizing machine learning to identify security measures so they can guess better passwords with fewer attempts, increasing their likelihood of success.

Using Deep Fakes

The deep fake tools that can produce video or audio difficult to distinguish from the real human speech are the most terrifying way hackers use AI and machine learning.

A few high-profile cases involving faked audio costing businesses hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars have come to light recently.

In order to make their messages seem more credible, scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence and machine learning to create realistic-looking user-profiles and videos. It’s a huge industry. Since 2016, company email scams have caused over $43 billion in losses, according to the FBI.

Social Engineering

Cybercriminals use the tactic of social engineering to trick and convince victims to disclose confidential details or perform a specific action, like sending money abroad or opening an infected file.

By making it simpler and faster for them to gather data on businesses, employees, and partners, AI and machine learning make use of the actions of criminals. In other words, social engineering-based attacks are strengthened by artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Final Word

There are so many different aspects of cybersecurity to cover, and we covered just a tiny portion in this article. But it is enough to get you started and realize just how much hackers use AI and machine learning.

So if criminals are using the best technology out there to perform malicious activities, you should be breathing down their necks, too, by continuously updating your security systems.

Because remember – AI and machine learning can keep you safe from various cyber threats.

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Incident response retainer
Posted on Author Roxanne Demakis Categories Cyber Security

7 Ways Incident Response Retainers Raise Security Resilience

Over 2,200 cyberattacks happen in the United States each day as a result of the switch to remote work. That translates into one cybersecurity incident every 39 seconds.

To combat these cyber threats, organizations are adopting incident response service solutions.

Specifically, businesses are trying to mitigate cyber risk and quick security breach response using retainer based contracts.

In this post, we’re going to reveal 7 ways incident response retainers raise cybersecurity resilience.

So if you’re looking to protect your assets, increase data security, and prevent major damage, you’ll find this article useful.

Let’s begin.

What are incident response retainers?

An incident response retainer is a cybersecurity policy that gives you access to resources to deal with the before and aftermath of cyber attacks. Outsourcing security to an incident response service provider means that you retain experts to deal with cyber incidents with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantee.

Incident response retainer cyber threat

Why should you consider incident response retainers?

The simple answer is: incident response preparedness.

If you’re like most organizations in the United States, then your business reflects the gaps in the current landscape of incident response:

  • Only 57% of organizations have a fully documented incident response strategy and playbook.
  • Out of those organizations, only 55% of incident response policies are integrated into standard operating procedures.
  • One in two organizations feel that there is a skill shortage of experienced cyber security professionals to deal with incidents and threats.
  • 70% of organizations have at least one professional on retainer to assist with cyber attacks and breach response.
  • 30% of all organizations have no professionals to assist them in dealing with cybersecurity and breach threats at all.

Together with the switch to remote work and the adoption of cloud-based software, many consider incident response a way to mitigate cloud security, as well.

So whether you’re looking to raise cyber resilience, there is a clear need for you to have a robust incident response plan and a retainer on call.

Benefits of Having an Incident Response Retainer

Having an incident response retainer in place helps you to prepare for cyberthreats and gives you a definitive policy to respond quickly to a threat to your security, infrastructure, networks, data, or systems.

Here are 7 other ways incident response retainers help raise the cybersecurity resilience of your organization:

#1 Less chance of a security breach

Retaining an incident response service provider isn’t just another service that you need. It’s also a strategic plan to counter cyber threats and improve the overall security by filling up any cybersecurity gaps that your organization may have. 

And having that at your disposal means there is a lower chance of a security breach to begin with.

#2 Lower costs

Despite the operational expenses of retaining an incident response team or professionals, it’s significantly lower when compared to the costs of a successful security breach.

In most cases in the aftermath of a breach, you need to raise both operational and capital expenditure to overhaul your entire cybersecurity defense strategy and assets.

#3 Predictable costs

Having an incident response service provider on call gives you the ability to better manage your IT budget and overhead. That’s because you pay a retainer fee rather than a service fee per intervention or project.

#4 24/7 incident response experts on call

Because you don’t hire an incident response team contract-by-contract (but you permanently retain them), you get 24/7/365 security for your organization. (And the peace of mind that goes with it.)

#5 No onboarding or integration

Retaining an incident response team rather than hiring them eliminates the need to onboard cybersecurity staff. It also means that the incident response provider will use their own tools and technology to do the job. So there’s no need to integrate any tech stacks.

Incident response retainer cybersecurity

#6 Mitigating risk

Retained incident response providers are professionals. That means you receive their full expertise in best practices, digital forensics, defense security, and regulations. This can help you to get more bang for your buck, as they can help you to improve your cybersecurity policies and strategies.

#7 Flexibility with the retainer

How you retain incident response retainers is always up to you. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you’re not comfortable with retaining a team full-time most service companies can accommodate your needs by providing flexible retainer hour usage.

How to retain an incident service provider?

If you’re looking to retain an incident service provider right now, look no further than Demakis Technologies.

Our team of cybersecurity professionals is on call 24/7 all year round, and can help you get the best service for an unparalleled peace of mind.

CONTACT US to get in touch with a security professional who can walk you through what we can provide you and the first steps you need to take.

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Social Engineering Webinar
Posted on Author Roxanne Demakis Categories Webinar

Social Engineering Webinar

Hi, everyone! Welcome to new webinar at “Tea Time With Demakis”. In this webinar we will be discussing social engineering.

We’re going to talk about the most common social engineering attacks and different ways of stopping them.

We’ll also explain:

  • What is social engineering?
  • Why do social engineering attacks happen?
  • What do these attacks impact?
  • Worst cases of online social engineering.

So, if you want to know the most effective ways of protecting your company from widely spread social engineering attacks, keep watching.

If you’re worried about social engineering attacks, Demakis Technologies can help you!

Contact us to find out how you can use our cyber security services to protect you, your employees, your data, and your company from attacks.

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Cybersecurity Threats and Trends in 2021 Webinar
Posted on Author Roxanne Demakis Categories Webinar

Cybersecurity: Threats And Trends In 2021 Webinar

Hi, everyone! Welcome to new webinar at “Tea Time With Demakis”. In this webinar we will be discussing cybersecurity threats and trends in 2021.

We’re going to take a closer look at cybersecurity. Specifically, we’ll see the top predictions for this year, and the cybersecurity threats and trends in 2021.

As the world recovers from COVID-19 and enters the new normal, it realizes a lot has changed.

How will those changes affect the safety of your digital landscape? And how will you be able to protect it?

Let’s find out.

Here are five forecasts for 2021 that you should keep track of:

#1 Remote work raises risks to cybersecurity
#2 Cloud security becomes the new focus area
#3 The threat of Business Email Compromise (BEC) endures
#4 Death by cyber-attack could become a possibility
#5 Detection, not just prevention or protection

If you’d like to learn more about the Demakis Technologies cyber-security detection and prevention plans, contact us!

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