MY TAKE: How digital technology and the rising gig economy are exacerbating third-party risks

By Byron V. Acohido

Accounting for third-party risks is now mandated by regulations — with teeth.

Just take a look at Europe’s GDPR, NYDFS’s cybersecurity requirements or even California’s newly minted Consumer Privacy Act.

What does this mean for company decision makers, going forward, especially as digital transformation and expansion of the gig economy deepens their reliance on subcontractors?

I had the chance at RSA 2019 to discuss that question with Catherine Allen, chairman and CEO of the Santa Fe Group, and Mike Jordan, senior director of Santa Fe’s Shared Assessments program.

Allen is a widely respected thought leader on this topic, having launched Shared Assessments in 2005 as an intel-sharing and training consortium focused on third-party risks. And Jordan has had a hands-on role working third-party risk issues for more than a decade.

To hear the full interview, please give the accompanying podcast a listen. Here are a few key takeaways.

Addressing third-parties

Allen founded The Santa Fe Group in 1995 and established it as a leading consultancy, specializing on emerging technologies. With subcontractors playing a rising role and third party risk covering so many complex fields of expertise, six big banks and the Big Four accounting/consulting firms tasked her with coming up with a standardized approach for assessing third party vendor risk.

What emerged was a quasi-trade association – Shared Assessments. The founding participants developed assessment regimes and tools, all having to do with measuring and assessing, essentially, third-party risks. It was a natural step to expand and evolve these protocols and tools, and to invite companies from other sectors to participate. Collaborating in advance on what’s important in third party risk lets organizations and their vendors come to a faster agreement on what to do about those risks. That out of the way, business can proceed with less risk. (more…)

NEW TECH: Alcide introduces a “microservices firewall” as a dynamic ‘IaaS’ market takes shape

By Byron V. Acohido

As a tech reporter at USA TODAY, I wrote stories about how Google fractured Microsoft’s Office monopoly, and then how Google clawed ahead of Apple to dominate the global smartphone market.

Related: A path to fruition of ‘SecOps’

And now for Act 3, Google has thrown down the gauntlet at Amazon, challenging the dominant position of Amazon Web Services in the fast-emerging cloud infrastructure global market.

I recently sat down with Gadi Naor, CTO and co-founder of Alcide, to learn more about the “microservices firewall” this Tel Aviv-based security start-up is pioneering. However, in diving into what Alcide is up to, Gadi and I segued into a stimulating discussion about this latest clash of tech titans. Here are key takeaways:

Google’s Kubernetes play

First some context. Just about every large enterprise today relies on software written by far-flung third-party developers, who specialize in creating modular “microservices” that can get mixed and matched and reused inside of software “containers.” This is how companies have begun to scale the delivery of cool new digital services — at high velocity.

The legacy ‘on-premises’ data centers enterprises installed 10 to 20 years ago are inadequate to support this new approach. Thus, digital infrastructure is being shifted to “serverless” cloud computing services, with AWS blazing the trail and Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud in hot pursuit.

Microservices and containers have been around for a long while, to be sure. Google, for instance, has long made use of the equivalent of microservices and containers, internally, to scale the development and deployment of the leading-edge software it uses to run its businesses. …more

NEW TECH: Circadence deploys ‘gamification’ training to shrink cybersecurity skills gap

By Byron V. Acohido

It’s clear that closing the cybersecurity skills gap has to happen in order to make our internet-centric world as private and secure as it ought to be.

One of the top innovators in the training space is Circadence®. The Boulder, CO-based company got its start in the mid-1990s as a pioneer of massive multi-player video games. It then took its expertise in moving massive amounts of gaming data and applied it first to training military cyber warfare specialists, and, next, to training security analysts in the enterprise, government and academic communities.

I had the chance at RSA 2019 to visit again with Circadence security evangelist Keenan Skelly. We discussed the thinking behind using vivid, persistent learning modules, to both upskill cyber teams and attract fresh talent. Give a listen to the full interview via the accompanying podcast. Here’s a summary of the big takeaways:

Gamification defined

Gamification is an increasingly popular teaching tool, used everywhere from board rooms to kindergarten classrooms. Could it play a role in closing the skills gap?

Even though game is in the name, gamification isn’t about turning a Power Point presentation into an interactive Angry Birds tournament. Instead, it sets up an environment that’s immersive but fun for the user, taking them down an engaging path that makes them want to continue learning.

The way people are trained in cybersecurity right now is the opposite of gamification. It isn’t very exciting and not necessarily something the user wants to continue to train. But what if that training looked more like the game Call of Duty? …more

MY TAKE: Most companies blissfully ignorant of rising attacks on most-used endpoint: mobile devices

By Byron V. Acohido

A dozen years after Apple launched the first iPhone, igniting the smartphone market, the Bring Your Own Device to work phenomenon is alive and well.

The security issues posed by BYOD are as complex and difficult to address as ever. Meanwhile, the pressure for companies to proactively address mobile security is mounting from two quarters.

On one hand, regulators are ahead of the curve on this one; they’ve begun mandating that companies account for data losses, including breaches in which mobile devices come into play. And on the other hand, cyber criminals are hustling to take full advantage of the corporate world’s comparatively slow response to a fast-rising threat.

Metrics are piling up showing just how pervasive mobile threats have become. Some 33 percent of companies participating in Verizon’s Mobile Security Index 2019 survey admitted to having suffered a compromise involving a mobile device — and the majority of those affected said that the impact was major.

Verizon’s poll also found that 67 percent of organizations were less confident of the security of mobile devices, as compared to other IT assets. And all of this is unfolding as employees continue to increasingly use both company-issued phones, and their personally-owned devices, to access sensitive data and conduct business.

“The reality is users don’t care whether it’s a corporate-owned device or a BYOD, and neither do the attackers” said J.T. Keating, vice president of product strategy at Zimperium, a Dallas, TX-based supplier of mobile security systems. “Our phones are completely blended, in terms of access to corporate data and personal data.”

I had a lively discussion with Keating at RSA 2019. For a drill down on the full interview, give a listen to the accompanying podcast. Here are a few key takeaways.

Endpoint is an endpoint

That queasy feeling senior execs have about the murkiness of mobile security is well founded, based on the results of a simple experiment Zimperium conducted …more

NEW TECH: Brinqa takes a ‘graph database’ approach to vulnerability management, app security

By Byron V. Acohido

Imposing just the right touch of policies and procedures towards mitigating cyber risks is a core challenge facing any company caught up in digital transformation.

Enterprises, especially, tend to be methodical and plodding. Digital transformation is all about high-velocity innovation and on-the-fly change. The yawning gap between the two is where fresh attack vectors are arising, creating a candy-store environment for threat actors.

Brinqa, an Austin, TX-based security vendor has come up with a cyber risk management platform designed to help companies take a much more dynamic approach to closing that gap, specifically in the areas of vulnerability management and application security, to start.

Brinqa was founded in 2009 by Amad Fida and Hilda Perez, industry veterans seeking to leverage their collective expertise in risk management and identity and access management. Early on, a customer of their cyber risk management solution asked if they could assess a physical location, down to the fire extinguishers.

An early version of their platform was already live. But that assignment led Fida and Perez to re-architecture the platform around graph databases and knowledge graphs. It was an approach they felt would be flexible enough to keep up with rapidly-evolving enterprise technology infrastructure.

I had the chance at RSA 2019 to meet with Syed Abdur, Brinqa’s director of products, who provided more background. For a full drill down, please give a listen to the full Last Watchdog interview via the accompanying podcast. Here are the key takeaways:

Blistering pace

On-premises data centers look to remain a big part of hybrid cloud networks, going forward, and keeping these systems up to date, with respect to vulnerability patching, isn’t getting easier.

By many measures, the vulnerability management challenge companies face is getting steeper. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Vulnerbility Database, logged around 14,000 unique vulnerabilities, up from 13,000 in 2017 and 6,000 in 2016. …more

Q&A: Researchers find evidence of emerging market for stolen, spoofed machine identities

By Byron V. Acohido

It’s edifying what you can find shopping in the nether reaches of the dark web.

Academic researchers from Georgia State University in the U.S. and the University of Surrey in the U.K. recently teamed up and found evidence of an emerging market for stolen and spoofed machine identities.

Specifically, the researchers found:

•A ready inventory of stolen SSL/TLS certificates, along with a range of related services and products, for sale, priced from $260 to $1,600, depending on the type of certificate offered and the scope of additional services.

•Extended validation certificates, packaged with services to support malicious websites, such as Google-indexed “aged” domains, after-sale support, web design services, and integration with a range of payment processors – including Stripe, PayPal and Square.

•A vendor offering to issue certificates from reputable Certificate Authorities (CAs), along with forged company documentation, as part of a package of services enabling an attacker to credibly present themselves as a trusted U.S. or U.K. company for less than $2,000.

This emerging black market for machine identities is but a mere starting point for cyber criminals who recognize a huge, unguarded exposure when they see one. Thus, threat actors have begun moving with alacrity to capitalize on it, before companies get around to protecting their exposed machine identity.

Repeated missteps

As a famous American sports hero once said, “It’s Déjà vu all over again.” In cobbling together our classic business networks, we did an imperfect job setting up privileged access for human users – and we continue to pay the price. And yet, we are about to repeat the same missteps with respect to the over-privileging of non-human, or machine, identities.

Machine identities are what make hybrid business networks possible; they are nothing less than the key to stitching together emerging IoT- and 5G-centric systems. Think about the coming generation of smart homes, public venues, utilities and transportation systems. They will require an exploding number of APIs to connect each microservice, to each software container, to each orchestration tool, on up the software stack, to each new mobile app delivering each of our daily digital experiences. …more

Q&A: How AI, digital transformation are shaking up revenue management in high tech, life sciences

By Byron V. Acohido

A recent poll of some 300 senior executives from U.S.-based life sciences and high-tech manufacturing companies sheds light on how digital transformation – and the rising role of third-party partners – have combined to create unprecedented operational challenges in the brave new world of digital commerce.

Model N’s 2019 State of Revenue Report surveyed CEOs, CMOs and senior sales executives from leading pharmaceutical, medical devices, high-tech manufacturing and semiconductor companies. Model N is a San Mateo, CA-based supplier of revenue management systems.

Some 78 percent of respondents said AI has altered the way they do revenue management, while 69 percent identified digital transformation as a revenue management game changer. Meanwhile, some 90 percent of respondents reported reliance on 20 or more partners, while 70 percent said they work with 40 or more partners.

Model N’s study provides yet another perspective on the unprecedented complexities organizations must navigate to compete in an internet-centric business environment. The core challenge for just about any company seeking top line and bottom line growth boils down to solving two intricate puzzles: how to deploy advanced digital systems in just the right measure; and how to collaborate, effectively and securely, with third-party partners.

And, of course, this must be done while defending the company’s digital assets against rising cyber attacks, launched by skilled, determined threat actors.

With that in mind, Last Watchdog sat down with Model N CEO Jason Blessing to drill down on a few instructive findings from Model N’s poll — and connect the dots to some wider. Here are excerpts edited for clarity and length.

LW: How has the revenue generation landscape shifted over the past few years? …more

Older Articles »

The Last Watchdog

MY TAKE: How digital technology and the rising gig economy are exacerbating third-party risks

By Byron V. Acohido

NEW TECH: Alcide introduces a “microservices firewall” as a dynamic ‘IaaS’ market takes shape

By Byron V. Acohido

NEW TECH: Circadence deploys ‘gamification’ training to shrink cybersecurity skills gap

By Byron V. Acohido

MY TAKE: Most companies blissfully ignorant of rising attacks on most-used endpoint: mobile devices

By Byron V. Acohido

NEW TECH: Brinqa takes a ‘graph database’ approach to vulnerability management, app security

By Byron V. Acohido

Q&A: Researchers find evidence of emerging market for stolen, spoofed machine identities

By Byron V. Acohido

Q&A: How AI, digital transformation are shaking up revenue management in high tech, life sciences

By Byron V. Acohido