The TAATJENE

IT security professionals predict that DDoS attacks will get larger and more significant in the year ahead. Many in the industry expect to see a significant escalation of DDoS attacks during the year ahead.   The vast majority of security teams are already taking steps to stay ahead of these threats, such as putting business continuity measures in place to allow their organizations to continue operating in the event of worldwide attacks. While high-bandwidth DDoS attacks continue to dominate the headlines, security professionals are also worried about the smaller, low-volume DDoS attacks of less than 30 minutes in duration.

Steadily, one can observe that, continued discussions related to the role ISPs play in DDoS mitigation. More and more ISPs are perceived to be not protecting their users against DDoS threats. Many believe their ISP is to blame for not mitigating DDoS attacks. Most in the IT security industry wouldn’t expect their ISP to automatically protect them against DDoS attacks . According to numerous analysts, ISPs could do more to position themselves as leading the charge against DDoS attacks, both in terms of protecting their own networks, and by offering more comprehensive solutions to their customers as a paid-for, managed service .

Attackers don’t attack from the outside in. They work from the inside out . They use common and sophisticated IT tools to access and escalate through internal systems. I have captured for you new paper from 451 Research which delivers real-world Insights into adversary Attack campaign strategies, planning and execution.  I can discover that,   the goal of the paper is to help security professionals understand the persona and capabilities of their adversaries and also how attack campaigns can be more easily stopped, disrupted or frustrated by a better knowledge of the attacker’s tactics, techniques and procedures.

Across the world, unfortunately , it is obvious that, there is a lack of awareness of the risks involved in using technology and Internet. Some of the main reasons are: low awareness, underinvestment, talent shortage and overload of data. Recent cyber attacks that paralyzed critical public and government services in UK proved that, the recreation is terminated. The time for action is come. The Internet Society and the African Union Commission unveiled a new set of Internet Infrastructure Security Guidelines for Africa during the African Internet Summit, taking place in Nairobi 30 May-2 June. The guidelines can help Africa create a more secure Internet infrastructure and are set to change the way African Union States approach cyber security preparedness. These guidelines, developed in collaboration with the African Union Commission, will help African countries put in place the necessary measures to increase the security ...

Based on the reality that , Cybersecurity is a highly dynamic field, which requires a constant refreshing of skills, IBM has outlined several steps companies can consider to get started with their own strategic talent approach, such as: Redefine your hiring models ; identify the attributes and skills needed for various positions and those that can be filled by non-traditional candidates. Don’t focus solely on degrees as prerequisites. Expand where you recruit ; don’t limit yourself to the select set of universities that you have always focused on; expand to community colleges, P-TECH schools and other educational programs like professional certifications. Create new partnerships in your region with government organizations, educational institutions and programs, and other groups. Provide a robust support program for new hires such as mentorships, rotational assignments, shadowing and other opportunities for new cybersecurity h...

It is now clear that, a growing number of positions in cybersecurity, and the technology industry as whole, shouldn’t be defined as “blue collar” or “white collar,” but rather as “new collar” roles that prioritize capabilities and skills over degrees.

For those who are unfamiliar, with the wide variety of cybersecurity roles that exist today , many of the core attributes and skills needed to succeed in this industry can be developed outside traditional four-year, university degree programs. In effect, vocational schools, associate degree programs, military veterans programs, coding camps and skills-based certifications are all great sources of cybersecurity talent which are often overlooked in traditional hiring and recruitment programs.

Steadily exciting to observe that , IBM is helping students gain cybersecurity skills and training through its continued investment in the P-TECH education model, which connects high school, college and the business world to prepare students for technology jobs of the future, including cybersecurity. In effect, through P-TECH, public high school students can earn both a high school diploma and an industry-recognized two-year postsecondary degree at no cost to them or their families, while working with industry partners like IBM on skills mapping, mentorship, workplace experiences and internships.

“ A critical factor in the cybersecurity workforce challenge is the huge gap that exists in relevant security education resources at a high school level. The fact is that, most schools don’t have teachers equipped on this subject, or appropriate course materials available," said Pete Herzog, co-founder of ISECOM. " With Hacker Highschool we make the courses so students can teach themselves, with an emphasis on thinking like a hacker to develop deep technical security skills, along with creativity, resourcefulness and a sense of moral responsibility to keep them on track.”

Very interesting to see that, IBM collaborate now with ISECOM , a non-profit organization which provides Hacker Highschool , open cybersecurity courses designed specifically for teenagers to develop the critical thinking and hands-on, technical skills needed for today’s security professionals. I can recall that , as part of this collaboration, IBM will provide sponsorship, expert guidance and IBM Security tools for a new Hacker Highschool lesson focused on the skills needed for an entry-level security operation center (SOC) analyst; a position that is in particular demand. According to IBM , students completing the Hacker Highschool curriculum will also have the opportunity for hands-on practice with IBM Security QRadar software, a deep security analytics technology used in thousands of security operation centers around the globe to help monitor malicious activity and detect attacks.

The cybercrime landscape is evolving rapidly ; however many organizations are still approaching their cybersecurity education and hiring in the same way they were 20 years ago. The truth is that new critical cybersecurity roles don’t require a traditional four-year technical degree. Industry leaders need to focus on hands-on skills and experience over degrees alone. 

IBM is sponsoring alternative education models such as Hacker Highschool and Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), while defining new workforce approaches to reach a broader pipeline of employees based on skills, experience and aptitudes as opposed to traditional hiring models which focus on degrees alone. To help overcome the cybersecurity talent shortage and build the skills needed for the modern security workforce , IBM Security is investing in several initiatives including: New collaboration with the Hacker Highschool project , an open cybersecurity training program for teens and young adults. Continued investment in skills-based education, training & recruitment, including vocational training, coding camps, professional certification programs and innovative public/private education models like P-TECH (which IBM pioneered in 2011).   Outlining a strategic workforce approach for the security industry wi...

It is now very clear that, complacency in risk mitigation is dangerous, as the WannaCry ransomware attack sadly revealed . In effect , ‘’Healthcare organizations should treat cybersecurity as a living process, rather than as a static checklist, especially when considering new technology adoption. Connected medical devices and hospital equipment increasingly form part of care provisioning, and are highly vulnerable to cyberattacks. This is even more critical as basic IT cybersecurity seems to be dangerously unattended in the industry. Ransomware will continue to be a popular cyberattack, attracting an ever-growing number of malicious actors, keen to cash-in on the vulnerabilities riddling healthcare organizations,” says Michela Menting, Research Director at ABI Research.

Unfortunately , ABI Research finds that healthcare industry show the least concern regarding security out of all sectors surveyed. For many analysts , this inattention can be attributed to several factors : lack of specific cybersecurity legislation and guidance, belief that data protection regulation could address the problem, low awareness and limited understanding of risks, and the perceived unlikelihood of widespread cyberattacks.

The rapid fire spread of the WannaCry ransomware, which infected thousands of organizations globally, is one of the most significant cyberattacks in recent digital history. The impact was particularly damaging to the healthcare sector, with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) being one of the first and most adversely affected victims, causing numerous patient services to be shut down, including emergency services. ABI Research believes that , this type of cyberattack is one long forewarned by security professionals, in a recent B2B technology survey of 455 U.S.-based companies across nine vertical markets.

It is now clear that , in a world increasingly reliant on new and evolving technologies, cybersecurity, which used to be considered as an insurance approach under the sole responsibility of the CIO, has risen to become an area of increasing concern for boards and CEOs in Australia's public and private sectors. According to IDC , this is a direct consequence of the several high-profile attacks publicized globally over the past couple of years, as well as the marked increase in attacks within the country itself. The businesses hit by those attacks have faced significant financial losses, legal pursuits, a tarnishing of their brand reputation and a drop in customer acquisition and retention. The understanding and management of threats is a struggle that most Australian organizations face, and the extremely high fragmentation of the market increases their confusion as to what solutions to adopt to be the most secure. This concern and struggle does not however directly ...

Australia is found to be much more advanced than most of its peers in the Asia Pacific region . The country has recently undergone a strong awareness process, driven by the tsunami of ransomware that Australian companies have been victim to in 2016, as well as the largely publicized security failures, such as the IBM Census event. Consequently, Australian companies have increased their security budgets and revamped their strategy, in a hope to catch up on their European or American peers. ‘’ Australian organizations do not have the security maturity, nor the skills, to cope with today and tomorrow's threat landscape. Building strong relationships with trusted providers, carefully selected based on the company's assets and maturity, will be critical for their survival ", says  Lydie Virollet , Market Analyst for IT Services and Cybersecurity at IDC Australia.

In our ever-connected data-driven, the stakes related to data, information and intelligence are highly crucial, so that organizations should adopt streamlined tactics to mitigate risks. In this landscape, IBM X-Force experts recommend the following tips to protect financial services organizations from attacks:  Conduct Employee Awareness Training : Continuously train and test employees to teach them how to identify suspicious emails to avoid falling victim to phishing scams. Reduce Exposure to Insider Threats: Combine data security and identity and access management solutions to protect sensitive data and govern the access of all legitimate users. Apply a Cognitive Approach: Augment a security analyst's ability to identify and understand sophisticated threats by tapping into unlimited amounts of unstructured data from blogs, websites, research papers and the like, and correlating it with relevant security incidents. Develop and Implem...

Scrutinizing, data from the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index , I can observe that,  Cybercriminals sharpened their focus on business bank accounts by using malware such as Dridex, Neverquest, GozNym and TrickBot to target business banking services. IBM X-Force researchers recently identified TrickBot malware campaigns targeting the less common brands in the industry, like private banks, wealth management,  and high value account types, indicating this ambitious malware gang plans on attacking in new territory.

The realities are increasingly daunting. The genesis of many of the breaches is the result of malicious activity. In effect, Data from the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index revealed that Financial Services was more affected by insider attacks (58 percent) than outsider attacks (42 percent). This shows Malicious activity inside an organization can be a result of an inadvertent act (53 percent) such as an employee accidentally being tricked to download a malware-laden document through a phishing email which then gives attackers access to information. Many of these attacks occur without the user being aware of it.