Sunday, August 11, 2019

The Cyber Threat Actor Miscommunication


Board members and senior execs seem really concerned about APTs and state actors. 





The amount collectively spent on cyber security must mean that only advanced actors and techniques can be used to get into networks. After all, look at all the news of these big name organizations being hit by successful attacks.

The danger and fear about cutting edge attacks outside of your control to stop. 


But the security team briefings to board members and execs often overlook equally important items. They miss the key levers of gaps thatare completely controlllable. The ones that don’t provoke imagery of shadowy figures cloaked in black hoodies. 


The frequency of security misconfigurations.


The efficiency of OS and third party patching.


The average days since password rotation on privileged service accounts. 


The percentage of security tool coverage. 


The places where the security team has less visibility than they’d like. 


If the board and the execs knew the reality of these less discussed items, would they calculate the effectiveness and focus of their spending differently? Would they delve into the root causes of your concerns and how to remedy them? Would they invest more in the things that you need like automation, observability, and training?


The investments that cover the gaps that it doesn’t take a state actor or an APT to exploit.


Without these conversations, they’re likely making calculations about their security spend based on the cool things. You are more likely to get breached on the silly simple things.  Both take resources to resolve. Communicate generously to redirect them, teach them, focus them untl they challenge their own assumption.  Your organization will be better off as a result. 

The state actors likely won't notice and you'll hopefully stave off a harder conversation about bitcoin.

Follow me on Twitter for discussion and the latest blog updates: @Opinionatedsec1

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