Enterprise Risk – Impelix

Feb 21

Is Third-Party Risk That Bad?

By Thomas Whang Enterprise Risk, Executive, IMPACT for MSSPs, Impelix IMPACT Platform, Thoughts

As a CTO with 25 years of cybersecurity experience, I am never at ease with the state of cybersecurity. It’s not because we’re not doing our jobs, it’s just that our modern-day businesses operate as part of a larger business ecosystem and I am concerned about the additional risks operating like this brings to an organization. Specifically, I am talking about third-party risk.

It is a hidden weakness that may undermine even the most formidable organizations, much like Superman’s kryptonite. Financial losses, operational disruptions, and reputational damage can occur as a result of a vendor, supplier, or contractor’s single slip-up, leaving you feeling helpless.

Why is third-party risk so potent? It’s simple:

Increased Reliance on External Partners: We outsource more than ever before, from IT infrastructure to marketing campaigns. This expands our attack surface, making us vulnerable to the weaknesses of others. It’s the weakest link principle, you are “only as strong as its weakest link.”
Lack of Transparency: When it comes to the security and operations of third parties, we don’t always have complete control.
Complex Ecosystem: The web of third-party relationships can be intricate and ever-changing, making it difficult to track and manage risk effectively

I am not trying to instill fear in you, but the potential fallout is no joke:

Data Breaches

A third-party’s immature security posture could expose your sensitive data, leading to lawsuits, fines, and eroded trust.

Click infographic to enlarge

Operational Disruptions

A critical vendor outage can cripple your entire business, costing you revenue and damaging customer relationships.

Production at some of Stellantis’ North American assembly plants were offline for approximately 3 days.

Source: BleepingComputer

Damage to Reputation

Hearing of your outside party’s cybersecurity incident can swiftly tarnish your brand, making it hard to entice consumers and investors.

The public disclosure of the hack that affected more than 18,000 companies and many government bodies caused SolarWinds’ stock price to plummet.

Source: SolarWinds

So, what can we do to avoid the kryptonite kiss of death? Here’s my playbook:

Proactive Due Diligence: Thoroughly examine potential risks before onboarding any third party as part of proactive due diligence. Look at their security measures, regulatory compliance, and financial soundness. Do not merely mark the box; delve deeply.
Contractual Safeguards: Craft watertight contracts that clearly define risk ownership, incident response protocols, and termination clauses. Make sure you’re not left holding the kryptonite bag.
Always Be Watching: Never Leave It Alone. Keep a close eye on how well your third parties are doing and how secure they are. To remain one step ahead of possible dangers, make use of technological and intelligence-based solutions.
Open Communication: Foster open communication channels with your third parties. Encourage them to share security updates, incident reports, and any concerns they may have. Remember, we’re all in this kryptonite fight together.
Build a Culture of Awareness: Educate your employees about third-party risk and how their actions can impact it. Encourage them to report suspicious activity and be vigilant about phishing attacks and social engineering scams.

If you follow these steps, you can make third-party risk work for you instead of against you. Your operational efficiency, competitive edge, and organization’s resilience can all be improved with a well-managed ecosystem of third parties.

Remember, in the game of risk management, Superman might be able to fly, but a proactive approach is the real magic bullet. So, go forth, brave risk managers, and conquer the kryptonite!

Just a friendly reminder to include kryptonite-resistant underwear in your budget... I mean, cyber insurance. Being cautious is preferable than being unprepared.

Sources:
1. Ponemon Institute and Shared Assessments survey - Third-Party Risk Management Benchmarking Study 2019
2. Predictions 2022: Cybersecurity, Risk and Privacy, Forrester Research, Inc., Oct. 28, 2021

Jan 02

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The Evolution of Digital Security or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the (Narrow) AI

By Chris Kudulis Enterprise Risk, Executive, IMPACT for MSSPs, Impelix IMPACT Platform, Practitioner, SecOps, Thoughts

A Brief History

I was thinking recently about the evolution of digital security over the past 25 years. We went from a world of wired connections and office buildings to global networks of cloud resources that are accessed as often from phones and tablets as they are from corporately managed devices. We lived in a world where security consisted of a firewall, antivirus, and a keycard to access the building. And now the average enterprise organization has more than twenty-five security tools in their stack. We came from a world where “the IT guy” oversaw security to one where we have red teams, blue teams, purple teams, SOC analysts, incident responders, threat hunters, and more. Attacks used to cause a user’s PC to pop-up ads for sketchy websites. Now they encrypt an organization’s data, compromise SSO credentials and exfiltrate critical intellectual property for sale to the highest bidder. To say that the increase in complexity has been exponential would be a glaring understatement. And yet, one thing has remained constant in this world of upheaval. The protection of organizations’ digital assets still falls to human beings. And the front line of defense is the SOC analyst.

The Challenge

Unfortunately, this evolution of digital threats did not come with a corresponding evolution in the ability to detect and respond to them. The evolution in tools, although necessary, also created its own problems. Every tool operates in its own silo, and generates alerts based on its own narrow view of the world. With over twenty tools, each generating alerts, the volume of data being thrown at the SOC analyst quickly became overwhelming (and is getting worse).

The Pain

What was the result of this explosion of tools?

Security:

Missed Detections: The increased number of alerts and the high volume of noise (i.e. false positives) leads to real alerts being dismissed due to Alert Fatigue.
Inadequate Response: Even when an event is properly detected, it requires time and analyst expertise to understand the breadth of the incident. Increasingly complex attacks may not be fully understood and only partially remediated, leaving an attacker access to the network.

Organization:

Staffing: Too many alerts, not enough time, and the stress of the outcome for missed detections leads to analyst burnout. Mated to the tedious nature of triaging thousands of (mostly false) alerts, with little meaningful proactive work, low job satisfaction and turnover often follow.
Cost: The human cost of staffing a SOC has skyrocketed. Experienced security practitioners who can understand the data generated by dozens of disparate tools, and correlate this data, are hard to find. This, coupled with the volume of people required to triage hundreds or thousands of alerts per day, creates a need for a large, skilled security operations team.

The Solution! (Or was it?)

In 2005, Gartner coined the term “SIEM” in a report called “Improve IT Security with Vulnerability Management.” This ushered in a new era (and a new Magic Quadrant of vendors) to address the pains caused by the explosion of siloed tools. The promise was a simple one: Get insight into the security of the organization by centralizing the collection of this siloed data and tying together all of the “loose threads” into cohesive stories. But the devil is always in the details.

I remember one of the first lessons I learned in my freshman class “Intro to Programming Logic” was “Garbage In, Garbage Out”. And this principle became increasingly noticeable with the rapid adoption of the SIEM. Ever-increasing volumes of data didn’t provide clarity or insight, they provided higher volumes of noise. Organizations dedicated significant resources to fixing this problem, and it became a never-ending battle of “tuning the SIEM” (i.e. manually tweaking the data, the queries, the rules and alerts to minimize the amount of unimportant, or outright inaccurate data coming out of the platform). The SIEM was only as valuable as the expertise of the people who managed it (and finding these people was a significant challenge). The problem became so pronounced that a survey of security leaders by 451 Research revealed that only 21.6% of organizations felt that they were getting the value out of the SIEM that they were expecting.

But the Times, They Are A-Changin’

Although SIEM had struggled to deliver on its full potential, the core concept was a good one. All it needed was a nudge from another field of computing. And it got one in the form of AI. Although technically around since the 1950s, AI has experienced a golden age in the last 10 years due to the advances in Deep Learning, Big Data, and Large Language Models. Although Chat GPT (and its ilk) get all the publicity for the generative AI cat memes, it is the Deep Learning and Big Data modeling that have the biggest impact for security teams. These technologies enabled a massive leap forward in Narrow (or “Weak”) AI. At its core, these systems can analyze large datasets more quickly and accurately than humans, identify patterns and trends, and make data-driven predictions or decisions. They are also capable of learning and improving over time through techniques such as machine learning, particularly deep learning, where they can adjust their algorithms based on the data they process.

Sounds Cool but How Does This Solve “The SIEM Problem”?

As mentioned earlier, SIEM’s goal was to provide global insight based on the correlation of vast amounts of data. But unfortunately, it fell to human beings to make this happen, and quite frankly, we did it poorly. Narrow AI or Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) was purpose built for this type of work. It is an Expert System that can simultaneously analyze tens of thousands of unique pieces of data, correlate them into a single meaningful chain of events, and discern not only the connections between them, but the bigger meaning of the incident.

Can I Fire My SOC Team Then?

Well let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

What ANI can provide, in conjunction with a large, centralized data store, is the insight that used to only be achieved through many hours of tedious log searches, and manual event correlation. If implemented well, Narrow AI can eliminate the need for alert triage completely. Well trained models will evaluate every alert and do a continuous assessment of each threat in the greater context of environment. SOC analysts only need to get involved when there is enough evidence to justify that an alert (or series of alerts) is a legitimate security incident. And when they do, they should have all the relevant data provided so that no remnant of the attack remains after remediation.

So instead of going through the 500th alert of the day your team can be threat hunting through all that collected data, or researching the latest MITRE TTPs, or working on the next security cert. But whatever they choose to do with this time, it will be more rewarding, while still providing top notch security operations. And who doesn’t want that?

Wrapping it Up

It’s been a crazy quarter of a century and I’m sure this is just the beginning. But I am confident that we can meet the challenges of the latest cyber threats and APT assaults if we learn to leverage the tools at our disposal. Personally, I wholeheartedly welcome the wonderful new world of AI. (But I reserve the right to change my mind when SKYNET becomes self aware).

Jan 01

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PPT: A CISO’s Guide to Developing a Strong Security Posture

By Brian Fernald Enterprise Risk, Executive, IMPACT for MSSPs, Impelix IMPACT Platform, SecOps, Thoughts

In the fast-evolving realm of cybersecurity, the role of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is pivotal. Securing an organization goes well beyond the all-too-common approach of “we have a tool for that”. We’re all familiar with the People, Process, Technology (PPT) Framework, but often lose sight of just how directly it applies in the realm of cybersecurity. In this blog, I’ll lay out the core strategy for leveraging the PPT framework to deliver a measurably secure enterprise.

People

Create a Culture of Security

Yes, I know it’s cliché, but that doesn’t make it untrue. Empowering your people doesn’t just mean training them on how to spot a phishing attack. It means teaching them why it’s important that they do so. FUD can be a double-edged sword, but realistic information about how a breach could affect your business, turns security vigilance from a nebulous concept to a task with a purpose.

Security Education Doesn’t Happen in One Hour a Year

Annual security training is a good starting point, but it’s unrealistic to think that your staff will absorb, retain, and use the knowledge that’s been shared. Coupled with the rapid advances in AI-developed attack techniques, regular refreshes and updates should be conducted. Even 15 minutes, once per quarter can make a big ifference.

Trust but Verify

Hire a service to test your people. (I can hear the groans coming from some of you already). Remember, this is not about singling people out for their mistakes, it’s about education through practice and repetition. Send fake phishing attempts. Send text messages. Make phishing phone calls. Make them believable, using available public records. The key here is to reward success and encourage after failure. Make it a game. Every time an employee correctly spots an attack, they get a $10 gift card. It’s a small price to pay, given the alternative.

Listen

Last, and certainly not least, listen to your employees. Too often, CISOs are so ensconced in the security bubble that they lose site of the forest for the trees. As Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Likewise, every CISO has a plan until it meets the reality of the business. Learn from people who are struggling to do their jobs because of your comprehensive zero-trust initiative. Trust me, they will find a way to work around your controls, and that kinda defeats the purpose, no?

Process

Follow a Framework (or Frameworks)

This one is kind of a no brainer, but I’m shocked how many CISOs I talk to that pay scant attention to any structured framework. To many, it seems too daunting of a project to undertake, especially with an understaffed security team and a limited budget. But I encourage people to look at the frameworks as nothing more than a way of organizing their team’s efforts to address their risks in order of priority, with the added benefit of being able to measurably track improvements over time. And remember, checking a box next to all 20 CIS Critical Controls doesn’t get you a gold star. Addressing the five that are most critical to your business is far better than addressing none of them because it’s too much to take on.

Assess & Prioritize Risk (ALL Your Risk)

Risk assessment is a key part of every CISOs strategy, but unfortunately, many take too narrow a view. Yes, cyber risk is a critical part of your organizational risk, but it’s not the only part. Step outside of the SOC and assess the risk of the business as a whole. What is my third-party risk from trusted vendors? What is my supply chain risk? Is my data on the dark web? Financial risk? Legal? Brand and reputation? It’s amazing how much you can learn about the image your company is presenting by spending a few minutes looking at Glass Door reviews.

Develop and Test Your IR Plan

Understand up front that you will be breached. But how you react when it happens is the key to a successful IR strategy. Develop a comprehensive incident response plan outlining procedures to follow in case of a security breach. Define roles and responsibilities within the response team, establish communication protocols, and conduct regular drills to ensure readiness in handling security incidents effectively. Keep in mind that a breach response might go far beyond reimaging a compromised computer and resetting some passwords. It might include a full disaster recovery from a ransomware attack, media messaging related to stolen customer data, and more.

Learn from your Mistakes

This applies at both the individual and organizational levels.

Non-Security Personnel: This might mean reviewing the successful phishing email that snagged a couple of employees on the next all-hands call. (And no, no names will be mentioned).
Security Personnel: They can learn from the post-mortem of an event where they could have improved. Maybe a SOC analyst dismissed a legitimate alert which allowed an attack to progress. Or the IR team only partially cleared the breach and additional malicious activity was later found.
Organizational: This involves objectively measuring your progress against the framework (or pieces thereof) which the organization is following. Course corrections will always be necessary. Make them based on hard data.

Do the Math

Lastly, objectively assess your security operations. How well is my team performing? Are they understaffed? Undertrained? Use metrics like MTTD and MTTR to gauge your team’s performance and ability to successfully handle complex attacks. But also assess your spending. Annually assess your security tooling. Are the tools providing the value they promised? Are they redundant? What is their signal-to-ratio? And what about the hidden costs? How much time does my staff spend on care and feeding? What is my cost to host the infrastructure (especially if it is running in the cloud)?

Technology

Find Your Gaps

Back to the clichés again but you can’t protect what you can’t see. And in the world of multi-hybrid-cloud environments, comprehensive visibility is even harder to achieve. But it can be done, with the right tools and some persistence. Enterprise visibility is not an end in itself; it’s the foundational information required to conduct a proper gap analysis of your security controls. Your EDR dashboard is a great resource for telling you which machines it’s protecting. But it doesn’t tell you about all of the hosts that were missed during the rollout and are completely unprotected (and are very exploitable).

Objectively Assess Your Tooling

I’ve yet to meet a CISO who’s team has so much free time that they can devote many hours to regularly auditing how well their tools are working. But it needs to be done anyway. Network configurations change, patches break things, and sometimes the tool itself just doesn’t deliver on what it promised. Your team is only as good as their data and if the tools are wasting their time with a lot of noise, or worse, missing real security events, something needs to change. If a POC was conducted before purchase (and it almost always should be), then there should be a set of success criteria that were used to evaluate each tool. At a minimum, check these again. Or better, modify or add new criteria to reflect what has been learned since that purchase.

Have a Migration Strategy

In today’s security world, SecOps teams are dependent on rapid access to large volumes of information. SIEM has become the de facto standard for meeting this requirement. But all SIEMs are not created equal and a better solution is always around the corner. Anyone who’s ever deployed a SIEM knows the pain of connecting dozens of different data sources, all using different formats, from cloud, data center and on-prem, into a single platform (and even better, make it useful when it gets there!). SIEM vendors know the dirty little secret that if their platform, once deployed, provides a bare minimum of functionality, customers are willing to live with it, rather than go through a painful migration to a new platform. Consider using a simple log collector or a cloud bucket as the destination for all of your logs, with a single forwarder to the SIEM. Not only can you migrate at the drop of a hat, but you can also POC other products with very little effort. Some solutions even let you parse and modify the packets it receives, in case the preferred new tool needs a different format. And whenever possible, stay away from tools that require significant expertise to operate. Just like the inertia to change platforms, the inertia (or outright opposition) to retraining your staff can be just as powerful in keeping you from making a necessary change.

Embrace AI

The roaring (20)20’s are the decade of AI. And for good reason. Deep Learning and Big Data have given rise to incredibly powerful analytical models that can parse out and correlate vast quantities of data in near real-time. The best models for security operations teams use “Weak AI” models that have been developed specifically to understand what a security incident looks like, and continuously monitor events, looking for this evidence. Not only have these models proven incredibly effective, they also address the shortcomings of human operators and work exponentially faster than a human could.

Conclusion

The role of a CISO in fortifying an organization’s security posture is challenging, at the best of times. But by remembering the three variables that can be controlled (People, Process and Technology), it is not only achievable, but also rewarding. Cybersecurity is an ongoing journey requiring adaptability and constant improvement. By leveraging the proven “PPT” model, you can proactively mitigate risks, strengthen defenses, and safeguard your organization’s assets and reputation in an increasingly interconnected digital world.

Sep 18

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Eight Steps to Implement an Enterprise Risk Management Framework

By Thomas Whang Enterprise Risk, Executive, IMPACT for MSSPs, Impelix IMPACT Platform, Thoughts

In the fast-paced and dynamic world of business that we are in, having a robust enterprise risk management (ERM) framework is crucial for organizations to survive. With the constant evolution of the modern business landscape, it has become increasingly vital for companies to navigate potential risks effectively. By implementing a comprehensive ERM framework, businesses can proactively anticipate and address potential threats, ensuring their long‑term success.

What is ERM?

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is a crucial process that plays a significant role in the success of organizations. It serves as a comprehensive framework that enables businesses to identify, assess, and effectively manage various types of risks. These risks encompass a wide range, including financial risks, operational risks, and even reputational risks. By implementing ERM, organizations gain a holistic understanding of the potential risks they may face. This understanding allows them to develop proactive strategies to mitigate these risks and ensure the smooth functioning of their operations. ERM acts as a guiding light, illuminating the path towards a more secure and resilient future for businesses. Financial risks, such as market volatility or economic uncertainties, can pose significant challenges to organizations. ERM equips businesses with the tools and methodologies to assess and manage these risks effectively. By doing so, organizations can safeguard their financial stability and make informed decisions that align with their long-term objectives. Operational risks, on the other hand, encompass a wide range of potential disruptions to business processes.

In essence, ERM serves as a protective shield, safeguarding companies from the uncertainties and challenges that arise in today’s complex business environment. It enables organizations to assess risks holistically, considering both internal and external factors that may pose a threat to their operations. Moreover, an effective ERM framework fosters a culture of risk awareness and accountability within an organization. By encouraging employees at all levels to actively participate in risk management efforts, companies can harness the collective intelligence and expertise of their workforce. This collaborative approach enhances the organization’s ability to identify and respond.

How Can an Organization Implement ERM?

While there is no universally recognized or defined ERM framework, there is a well-established methodology that can improve any company’s chances of successfully implementing ERM. Here is one way on how an organization can implement an effective enterprise risk management (ERM) framework:

Step 1: Leadership Commitment and Alignment

The journey starts when the leaders of the company are committed and on the same page. The top leaders need to not only agree with the idea, but also work to make it happen. It is very important to show that your culture values strategic choices that take risks into account.

Step 2: Create a Risk Appetite

Every organization has a risk tolerance level that it is willing to accept. It is critical to explicitly define and express this risk appetite. It serves as a guiding beacon, assisting in navigating the turbulent seas of risks and possibilities.

Step 3: Create a Strong Policy Framework

Developing a solid policy framework is analogous to preparing the foundations of a sturdy building. This process entails creating policies that explain the risk management philosophy, objectives, and tactics of the organization. This framework should be comprehensive, addressing all potential risk aspects, such as financial, operational, reputational, and strategic risks.

Step 4: Identifying and Assessing Risks

With a robust policy framework in place, it’s time to explore the enormous terrain of potential dangers. This step entails identifying and assessing potential hazards that may affect the organization. Various tools, including as SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, and risk heat maps, can be used.

Step 5: Putting Risk Response Plans into Action

Once the risks have been found and evaluated, the organization needs to develop and execute risk response strategies. Some of these tactics could be to completely avoid the risk, while others could be to accept the risk and share it with other stakeholders. The plan should be based on a careful analysis of how each identified risk could happen and how likely it is to happen.

Step 6: Monitor and Report

Transparency and open dialogue are vital for an ERM framework to work effectively. It is important to set up a mechanism for all stakeholders, including employees, board members, and investors, to get regular updates on risk management activities. This makes sure that everyone in the company is aware of the risks.

Step 7: Training and Development

Organizations should invest in training and development programs to equip their teams with the necessary skills and knowledge to manage risks effectively. It fosters a culture where every individual becomes a risk manager in their own capacity.

Step 8: Monitoring and Review

The final step in the journey is the constant monitoring and review of the ERM framework. This is a continuous process that helps in fine-tuning the risk management strategies and making necessary adjustments as the external and internal environments evolve.

Closing Thoughts

Implementing a successful ERM framework is an ongoing journey, not a one-time effort. It is a voyage full of discoveries, changes, and enhancements. By following these steps, organizations may confidently and agilely traverse the complicated world of risks, transforming potential threats into opportunities for growth and innovation.

So, set out on this trip with enthusiasm and energy, and direct your business toward a future that is not only secure but also replete with opportunity. Until next time, safe risk‑taking!

Sep 05

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High Cost of SIEMs – And What To Do About It

By Brian Fernald Enterprise Risk, Executive, IMPACT for MSSPs, Impelix IMPACT Platform, SecOps, Thoughts

Dealing with the High Cost of SIEMs

In today’s increasingly digital world, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems have developed into an indispensable component of both corporate compliance and safety. They provide analysis of security warnings in real time from a variety of infrastructures, which helps in the identification and response to cyber-attacks. Nevertheless, there are major costs associated with SIEMs, from the initial setup to the ongoing upkeep.

The necessity of human oversight is a significant contributor to the cost of SIEMs. Even the most sophisticated SIEMs require a specialized SOC team composed of cybersecurity professionals to properly evaluate and respond to the data they collect. The cost of recruiting cybersecurity professionals has increased in recent years due to the growing demand for their skills. In addition, the requirement that monitoring occur around the clock necessitates the involvement of numerous specialists to ensure continuous coverage.

The SIEM implementation process involves more than just installing software. It includes procedures such as auditing the infrastructure, integrating the platform, and making any necessary adjustments to reduce the number of false warnings and noise. These modifications take place on a continuous basis and necessitate the steady allocation of resources. However, excessive customizations might lead to a failure to recognize real dangers, which could have negative ramifications for the company’s finances.

Because SIEMs process and store huge amounts of data logs on a regular basis, storage costs rapidly increase. The exponential increase in system generated data is out of alignment with the incremental increases of organizations security budget. The SOC teams have the goal of collecting all available data, but financial constraints frequently compel them to collect only a subset of available data, which reduces the efficiency of both SIEM and SOC.

In an effort to control expenses, some companies may choose to restrict data gathering, cut staff, or forego the deployment of SIEM, thereby jeopardizing their security posture. There are, however, approaches to keep costs in check while still maintaining a high level of security:

Cloud-based SIEM solutions offer an alternative that is both more scalable and more cost-effective. This is accomplished by shifting the burden of maintaining the necessary infrastructure to the service provider. SaaS-based security information and event management systems have a greater propensity to simplify and lower the cost of an efficient deployment.
The utilization of human oversight and SOC teams can be reduced when automation is incorporated. This can be accomplished through the utilization of artificial intelligence and machine learning by the SIEM platform, in addition to integrated Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) functionality that is built into the SIEM.
To collect comprehensive data without breaking the bank, you should look into SIEMs that have modern cost structures that are centered on user numbers or comparable metrics rather than data storage. These SIEMs allow for, sometimes, unlimited data ingestion and long-term retention at significantly reduced costs.
Choose security information and event management (SIEM) systems that require the fewest number of adjustments and tuning. Only the most important information is presented by the top platforms, doing away with the necessity for manual rule formulation and minimization of background noise. This results in a reduced need placed on SOC teams resulting in reduced resource requirements.

SIEMs are necessary in the current state of the cybersecurity industry; yet there is a cost associated with using them. Organizations can secure their digital assets in an effective and economical manner if they first acknowledge the expenses involved and then make educated investments.