Cybersecurity Expert

The cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve as cybercriminals become ever more sophisticated, and digital security tools accelerate to mitigate the risks as much as possible. 2020 presented even more opportunities for hackers to strike, for example, using email phishing scams such as purporting to be authentic PPE providers, or from HMRC to dupe unsuspecting victims. More recently we have seen how phishers are now using the vaccine rollout to trick people into paying for fake vaccines.  Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have been heralded as innovative technologies to help thwart evolving exploits and are a key part of any cybersecurity arsenal. But AI is not necessarily the right tool for every job. Humans are still able to perform intricate decision making far better than machines, especially when it comes to determining what data is safe to send outside of the organisation. As such, relying on AI for this decision making can cause issues, or worse, lead to leaked ...

What are the Most Valued Cybersecurity Certifications in 2021? This is an important question for employers, recruiters, seasoned security professionals, and especially for those planning a cybersecurity career. The  Information Security Careers Network (ISCN)  recently surveyed its LinkedIn community of over 90,000 members  about the 50 leading cybersecurity industry certifications and courses. The results of which have been compiled into the following definitive top ten list of the most desired cybersecurity certifications in 2021. CyberSecurity Certificates in High Demand by Employers The Top Ten CyberSecurity Certificates and Courses 10. SANS Penetration Testing Courses The selection of penetration testing courses and certifications offered by the SANS Institute are well regarded for helping both beginners and experts alike to increase technical cybersecurity expertise and paygrades. The SANS/GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN) commands £74,000 ($100,546 USD) according to...

A roundup of UK focused Cyber and Information Security News, Blog Posts, Reports and general Threat Intelligence from the previous calendar month, December 2020. A suspected nation-state sophisticated cyber-attack of SolarWinds which led to the distribution of a tainted version the SolarWinds Orion network monitoring tool, compromising their customers, dominated the cyber headlines in mid-December 2020.  This was not only one of the most significant cyberattacks of 2020 but perhaps of all time. The United States news media reported the Pentagon, US intelligence agencies, nuclear labs, the Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security departments, and several utilities were all compromised by the attack. For the full details of the SolarWinds cyber-attack see my article  Sunburst: SolarWinds Orion Compromise Overview Two other cyberattacks are possibly linked to the SolarWinds hack was also reported, the cyber-theft of sophisticated hacking tools from  cybersecurity fi...

Article by Dennis Okpara, Chief Security Architect & DPO at IDEE GmbH Yes, there is hope for 2021, but the challenges of the “New Normal” are here to stay. CISOs have to prepare and start acting now, because cybersecurity and the IT-infrastructure will have to face threats that have only just started. The year 2020 was the year working from home lost its oddity status and became normality. Big names like Google and Twitter are planning long-term and hold out the prospect of working from home on a permanent basis. More than 60 percent of companies are trying the same and have implemented home office policies in 2020. But with great flexibility comes great responsibility: Everyone responsible for Cybersecurity and a secure IT infrastructure is now dealing with new challenges closing the last gaps and weak points when it comes to allowing access to company resources. Dennis Okpara, Chief Security Architect & DPO at IDEE GmbH, the specialist for secure identity access managemen...

Article by Beau Peters The movie industry is infamous for its loose depictions of hacking and cybersecurity. Hollywood often gets a lot wrong about hacking and digital protections, but what does it get right? The power of film in influencing the future of technology and the experts that create it is immense. Because of this, it is important to assess what the facts are versus movie fiction.  Here, we’ll explore the film industry’s portrayal of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity in Movies From WarGames to Blackhat, hacking and cybersecurity movies have glamorized the world of digital safety and the compromising of said safety. However, each Hollywood outing does so with varying levels of realism, typically embracing excitement over reality.  In the 1983 WarGames movie, a young hacker almost triggers World War 3 These portrayals have led to common tropes and views of the cybersecurity industry in their attempts to prevent and combat hacking attempts. Among these tropes are some of th...

Article by Tom Kellerman, Head of Cybersecurity Strategy, Rick McElroy, Head of Security Strategy and Greg Foss, Senior Cybersecurity Strategist, VMware Carbon Black Everything is different, and yet the same. As we look ahead to the cybersecurity landscape in the next 12 months, it is from a position no one predicted this time last year. Business operations have changed beyond recognition with most employees working from home in a transition that happened almost overnight. Stretched security teams have been challenged to rapidly deploy robust remote working facilities to maintain productivity. Most were writing the ‘pandemic playbook’ as they went along. Ironically, one of the few certainties of the situation was that cybercriminals would take advantage of disruption to escalate campaigns. In that sense, nothing changed, except that the opportunity was suddenly much greater. As a result, nine in ten security professionals surveyed by our Threat Analysis Unit said they were facing ...

Article by Adam Strange, Data Classification Specialist, HelpSystems In the digitally accelerated COVID-19 environment of 2021 what are the top data security trends that organisations are facing? Here is HelpSystems Data Classification Specialist, Adam Strange’s take on the outlook and trends for 2021. Ongoing Growth in Remote Working will Create Data Security Threats The far-reaching impact of COVID-19 includes the intensified threat of malicious cyber attacks as well as an escalating number of damaging data breaches across almost every sector of business. The rapid shift to remote working during the pandemic left many employers exposed to hackers and highlighted multiple examples of serious network and data vulnerabilities. For example, in a recent article, Infosecurity Magazine quotes research finding that attacks on the biotech and pharmaceutical industry alone rose by 50% in 2020 compared to 2019. And in the defence sector, The Pentagon is seeing a huge rise in cyber attacks thro...