ransomwareattacks

Welcome to another compelling episode of the Reimagining Cyber podcast, where your knowledgeable hosts, Rob and Stan, explore the intricate landscape of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the associated cybersecurity challenges that intensify during this festive shopping season.

Stan sheds light on the colossal scale of holiday spending, revealing that last year's Black Friday soared to an impressive 9 billion, while Cyber Monday skyrocketed to nearly 11 billion. With an astounding 197 million U.S. shoppers in the mix, the stakes are undeniably high, and the threats are alarmingly real.

The hosts pivot to the consumer side of the equation, drawing attention to the escalating sophistication of phishing emails. They caution listeners against succumbing to alluring offers that appear too good to be true and stress the paramount importance of verifying the authenticity of retail websites before divulging sensitive information.

Rob offers valuable insights into potential pitfalls for businesses, citing the recent Adobe update that addressed nine security vulnerabilities. The conversation delves into the multifaceted risks of payment fraud, ransomware attacks, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks capable of disrupting e-commerce operations during this pivotal sales period.

Practical tips emerge as the hosts advocate for the crucial use of multi-factor authentication for online shopping accounts. They underscore the necessity of secure transactions facilitated by HTTPS protocols. Furthermore, Rob and Stan caution against using debit cards for online purchases and highlight the heightened risks associated with public Wi-Fi.

In summary, this episode provides not only a comprehensive understanding of the cybersecurity challenges during the holiday season but also actionable advice to navigate these threats successfully. Tune in for expert insights and safeguard your online experience during this bustling shopping period.

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Get in touch via reimaginingcyber@gmail.com

Breaking News: MGM and Caesar’s are two U.S. casino giants breached in a cyberattack costing them millions of dollars a day. What can you learn from the social engineered cyberattack? How can you prevent your business from becoming the next victim?

In this 15-minute episode, co-hosts David Barton and Susanna Song leave you with practical steps in creating a layered defense strategy.

Learn how to stop ransomware attacks with one click:  https://www.highwirenetworks.com/how-to-stop-ransomware-attacks-with-one-click/

To get more cybersecurity news from High Wire Networks, visit:
https://www.highwirenetworks.com/news-events/ 

To learn more about the Cybersecurity Simplified Podcast and to browse previous episodes, visit:
https://www.highwirenetworks.com/cybersecurity-podcasts/

Have an inquiry or topic request, reach out to: podcast@highwirenetworks.com

In this episode I get a chance to speak with Dave Stycos who is a Senior Security Engineer for Spectrum Health.  Dave was part of the Security Operation Center that helped thwart a Wannacry attack on a major healthcare system in West Michigan.  We talk about what a day in the SOC looks like and what is going through the SOC analyst's mind during an active incident.

Talking Points:

• What does a typical day look like? Is it like it is in Hollywood movies?
• What are some of the tools that you use everyday?
• What is the hardest part of your job?
• What is the coolest experience?
• Is there a fundamental difference between incident like 'Red October' and the HVAC incident that Jim talked about at Cloud Con last year?

In this episode I speak with Josh Geno about what it's like to be in a ransomware attack.  Josh is one of the Lead Security Engineers for Spectrum Health.  Josh has had the distinction of being in a ransomware attack as well as having to 'clean up' after one.  Josh has created a Ransomware Playbook that is open for use by anyone and is geared to sharing knowledge/lessons learned.

Talking Points:

• Walk Through The Incident 
  • Prepare 
  • Detect 
  • Triage/Prioritize 
  • Analyze 
  • Contain/Eradicate/Recover 
  • Post-Incident 
• How would you use these documents in your organization?
• Can be used as Net New or Augmenting (GAP Analysis) 
  • A scenario were Company A was already affected and didn't know it 
• Read the instructions first 
  • Flowchart will make 1000% more sense if you read the instructions 

Dropbox File Links:

Ransomware Playbook Instructions Link

Ransomware Playbook Link

In this special holiday episode I have both a special guest and a special co-host.  My co-host is Jim Kuiphof and we got a chance to talk with Tim Francis about Cyber Insurance and Liabilities pertaining to ransomware attacks.  Jim in a Director of Information Security for Spectrum Health and Tim is a Enterprise Lead for Cyber Insurance at Travelers.

These are just some of the questions and topics that we covered:

• What is cyber liabilities insurance and why do some think they don't need it?
• While ransomware attacks are increasing in the public eye, some websites are reporting that ransomware attacks aren't being reported and that is a problem. 
• What trends are you seeing in the insurance industry right now?
• Are attacks truly going up or it is just that there is more 'visibility' in to this area of cybersecurity?
• Why are some incidents just not being talked about?

A HUGE thanks to the following sponsors, as we raised over $1,500 for three charities!

• Sentinel One
• Recorded Future
• Travelers Insurance

Also a shout out to Brock from Okta, Ryan from Optiv and Allan from Recorded Future for supplying some great prizes!

In this episode I talk about the concept of 'Zero Trust' with Patrick Tyler.  Patrick is a Senior Solutions Engineer for Okta.

Talking Points:

• What is Zero Trust and why should you care?
• What did organizations have to do right away when it comes to Zero Trust?
• Why Zero Trust is important for 'non-traditional' cloud industries like manufacturing to do it?
• While VPN is a powerful tool, it isn't the 'End All Be All' for security.
• What did organizations have to do right away?

This episode is sponsored by Okta.  Okta is a Workforce and Customer identity company that is based out of California.  Proceeds from this sponsorship will be going towards prizes for the holiday fundraiser event.

In this episode I talked with Steve Barnes about physical network security.  Steve is an Enterprise Systems Engineer for Fortinet.

Talking Points:

• Why does physical network security still matter in the age of SASE?
• What is the biggest difference between 'Next Gen' and 'Stateful' firewalls?
• Does content awareness (SSL inspection) really help with visibility and protection?
• Even SASE needs something to connect to
• Why is SD-WAN important in the age of Digital Transformation?
• Ransomware Protection with Default Deny

This episode is sponsored by Fortinet.  Fortinet is On-Prem and Cloud Security company based out of Sunnyvale, California.

 I am happy to share very special event, Tales From The Cyber War Trenches from Jim Kuiphof's Cloud Con GR 2020 Keynote. In this episode Jim talks about real life experiences with vulnerability management lessons learned, how do you deal with 'interesting' government warnings, a ransomware near miss and disruptive security controls.

Cybersecurity Scenarios:

• Tick Tock, Tick Tock - Time is Running Out (A Vulnerability Management Faceplant)
• The Russians are Coming! … to waste your SOC's time 
• Ransomware: How Do You Find An Infected Printer At Midnight?
• Disruptive Security Controls - Implementing Perimeter "Default Deny"

Many, many thanks to Jim and the entire security leadership team at Spectrum Health for sharing this valuable information! 

In this episode I talk with Zane Lackey about Web Application Security.  Zane is the Co-Founder and Chief Security Officer for Signal Sciences.

Talking Points and Listener Submitted Questions:

• What kinds of 'Real World' attacks are people dealing with against web applications?
• How do you detect an attack against a web application?
• How do you measure the effectiveness of your technical web app security controls (WAF, API, Authentication, Business Logic, etc.)?
• How do can you ensure that your companies web application API's cannot be abused to access data that the user is unauthorized to access?
• Do bug bounty programs work?
• Should all SMBs have a web application vulnerability disclosure program?

This episode is sponsored by Signal Sciences.  Signal Sciences is a web application security company based out of Culver City, California.

In this episode I speak with Nick d'Amato about SASE (Secure Access Service Edge).  Nick is the Director of Solution Engineering for Americas North with Bitglass. 

• What is SASE and why should SMBs learn more about it?
• How does it secure SaaS apps?
• What are biggest threats that you are seeing with small and medium businesses? 
• Can it help with identifying shadow IT?
• How can you change the culture when it comes to SASE and its policy and controls?
• What are the security controls that you need today and what does that look like in 12 months? 
• What does network security look like when everyone it remote?
• Is SASE right for everybody?
• How do agents impacted SASE?

This episode is sponsored by Bitglass.  Bitglass is a Total Cloud Security company based out of Campbell, California.  As always proceeds from this sponsor goes to 'At Risk' students in West Michigan.

In this episode I speak with Jared Phipps on the timely topic of ransomware.  Jared is the Vice President of Worldwide Sales Engineering for SentinelOne and had some great insights on what is happening with these types of attacks.

Some of the talking points included:

• Why the sudden surge of ransomware attacks?
• What is really happening behind the scenes?
• What is the impact to cyber liability insurance companies?
• How can you reduce your chances of getting hit?
• What does the future hold for cyber insurance?

The sponsor for this episode is SentinelOne.  SentinelOne is a autonomous AI endpoint security solution based out of Mountain View California.  As always, a majority of the sponsorship goes towards helping At Risk students here in West Michigan. 

In this episode I talk with Kevin Dillaway, who is a Cloud Security Architect for Optiv.  Optiv is security solutions integrator based out of Denver Colorado.

The topic for this episode is bad security horror stories.  Have you ever wondered what the worst security thing a cloud architect has seen?

Well wait until you hear some of the crazy things that he come across!

This episode is sponsored by Optiv and part of the proceeds will be going to help 'At Risk' students in West Michigan.