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The Impact of NIST SP 800-171 on SMBs

Image From more broad laws like GDPR to industry-specific regulations like HIPAA, most organizations today must comply with some kind of data protection guideline. Some businesses may even have to comply with numerous data protection regulations. As such, compliance with data protection regulations has become increasingly complicated....
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The Cyber Sleuth's Handbook: Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) Essentials

Image In the intricate landscape of cybersecurity, Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) stand as the sentinels guarding against the onslaught of digital threats. It involves a multifaceted approach to identifying, mitigating, and recovering from cybersecurity incidents. In the physical world, the aftermath of a crime scene...
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Resolving Top Security Misconfigurations: What you need to know

  Image One of the most common factors that can lead to cybersecurity incidents is a security misconfiguration in software or application settings. The default settings that come with the implementation of these tools and solutions are often not configured securely, and many organizations do not invest the time and resources into...
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NIST CSF 2.0: What you need to know

Image Organizations looking to protect their sensitive data and assets against cyberattacks may lack the ability to build a cybersecurity strategy without any structured help. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a free, public framework to help any organization mature its IT security posture. Recently, the...
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Fortifying IoT Devices: Unraveling the Art of Securing Embedded Systems

Image Interconnected, data-enabled devices are more common now than ever before. By 2027, it is predicted that there will be more than 41 billion new IoT devices. The emergence of each new device offers a fresh vulnerability point for opportunistic bad actors.  In 2022, there were over 112 million cyberattacks carried out on IoT...
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Closing Integrity Gaps with NIST CSF

Image The then-new 2014 NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) was designed to plug security gaps in operational technology. It’s still in use today and more relevant than ever. Fortra’s whitepaper provides a cohesive review of this security staple and how to glean the best out of it for your strategy. A Brief History of NIST CSF “The...
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CISO to BISO – What's your next role?

Image Introduction For the longest time within the cybersecurity industry, we have had Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) whose role is to set the strategic direction for Information Security within an organisation. But what are the stepping stones to becoming a CISO? In the past, this has been a difficult question to...
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A Day in the Life of a SOC Team

Image This piece was originally published on Fortra’s AlertLogic.com Blog. Managed detection and response (MDR) would be nothing without a SOC (security operations center). They’re on the frontline of our clients’ defenses — a living, breathing layer of intelligence and protection to complement our automated cybersecurity features....
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The State of the US National Cybersecurity Strategy for the Electric Grid

Image The distribution systems of the U.S. energy grid — the portions of the grid that carry electricity to consumers — are growing more susceptible to cyber-attacks, in part due to the advent of monitoring and control technology and their reliance on them. However, the magnitude of the possible consequences of such attacks is not...
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Getting started with Zero Trust: What you need to consider

Image Have you ever walked up to an ATM after another person finished with the machine only to find they left it on a prompt screen asking, “Do you want to perform another transaction?” I have. Of course, I did the right thing and closed out their session before beginning my own transaction. That was a mistake an individual made by...
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What the industry wants to improve on NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0

Image The NIST Cybersecurity Framework was meant to be a dynamic document that is continuously revised, enhanced, and updated. These upgrades allow the Framework to keep up with technological and threat developments, incorporate lessons learned, and transform best practices into standard procedures. NIST created the Framework in 2014...
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Shifting Left with SAST, DAST, and SCA: Advanced Best Practices

Image In the past, teams incorporated security testing far after the development stage of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). Security testing would influence whether the application would to proceed to production, or get passed back to the developers for remediation. This process caused delays while teams worked on...
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CIS Control 18 Penetration Testing

Image Penetration testing is something that more companies and organizations should be considering a necessary expense. I say this because over the years the cost of data breaches and other forms of malicious intrusions and disruptions are getting costlier. Per IBM Security’s “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021,” the average cost of a...
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CIS Control 17: Incident Response Management

Image We all know that it is a question of when you will be compromised and not if you will be compromised. It is unavoidable. The goal of CIS Control 17 is to ensure that you are set up for success when that inevitable breach occurs. If an organization is neither equipped nor prepared for that potential data breach, they are not...
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CIS Control 16 Application Software Security

Image The way in which we interact with applications has changed dramatically over years. Enterprises use applications in day-to-day operations to manage their most sensitive data and control access to system resources. Instead of traversing a labyrinth of networks and systems, attackers today see an opening to turn an organizations...
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CIS Control 15: Service Provider Management

  Image Enterprises today rely on partners and vendors to help manage their data. Some companies depend on third-party infrastructure for day-to-day operations, so understanding the regulations and protection standards that a service provider is promising to uphold is very important. Key Takeaways from Control 15 Identify your...
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How to Fulfill Multiple Compliance Objectives Using the CIS Controls

Image Earlier this year, I wrote about what’s new in Version 8 of the Center for Internet Security’s Critical Security Controls (CIS Controls). An international consortium of security professionals first created the CIS Controls back in 2008. Since then, the security community has continued to update the CIS Controls to keep pace with...
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CIS Control 14: Security Awareness and Skill Training

Image Users who do not have the appropriate security awareness training are considered a weak link in the security of an enterprise. These untrained users are easier to exploit than finding a flaw or vulnerability in the equipment that an enterprise uses to secure its network. Attackers could convince unsuspecting users to...
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CIS Control 13: Network Monitoring and Defense

Image Networks form a critical core for our modern-day society and businesses. People, processes, and technologies should be in place for monitoring, detecting, logging, and preventing malicious activities that occur when an enterprise experiences an attack within or against their networks. Key Takeaways for Control 13 Enterprises...
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CIS Control 12: Network Infrastructure Management

Image Networks form a critical core for our modern-day society and businesses. These networks are comprised of many types of components that make up the networks’ infrastructure. Network infrastructure devices can be physical or virtual and include things such as routers, switches, firewalls, and wireless access points. Unfortunately,...