The Future of Resilience: Cybersecurity
November 12, 2021 by Neha Ramanath
Since 2010, Tyler has hosted the annual CyberCrime Symposium, bringing together experts from multiple disciplines who are dedicated to improving and enhancing cybersecurity best practices and sharing their passion and insights.
This year’s CyberCrime Symposium centered around National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and incorporated nine renowned speakers who offered attendees insight and tips to ensure a future of resilience. With a multitude of topics and discussions, two consistent themes drove content and dialogue.
The Current State of Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Advisor Ron Ford, of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), discussed modern cyberattacks and how organizations can increase protection against them. Organizations are being encouraged to learn the new types of data infiltration techniques being used by hackers to maintain a secure network into 2022 and beyond.
The Problem
The threat landscape is ever evolving. Common threats like phishing, ransomware, data breaches, malware, advanced persistent threats (APTs), and threats to external dependencies are becoming more modern and complex in nature. These sophisticated attack strategies are being deployed and reimagined by hackers every day. It’s all too common government agencies are not aware of the different ways their networks and valuable assets can be compromised, making them vulnerable and more susceptible to breaches and organizational liability.
Front to Back Solutions
Doubling password protection is highly recommended and effective. Have employees create longer complex passwords and have different passwords for every site. Keeping your security hardware and software – including antivirus protection – updated and patched is a key step to take. You should always involve leadership and key stakeholders in these initiatives to protect the entire organization from cyberattacks. A top-down, bottom-up approach ensures security is a shared responsibility and encourages constructive discussions for all levels of employees.
In today’s volatile threat landscape, it is important that state and local governments maintain a strong relationship with CISA and critically examine their resilience posture to protect their networks from advanced and common threats.
Surviving Ransomware, Pandemics, and other Highly Disruptive Events
Cybersecurity expert Ted Demopoulos, of Demopoulos Associates, made a clear connection between ransomware, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other disruptive events that have happened over the past two years and how they will shape the future.
The Problem
Disruptive events will always be there, and companies need to stay agile and prepared to act quickly when a cyberattack occurs. In today’s climate, ransomware attackers are staying inside an organizations network for longer than what we’ve seen in the past. The time they use provides them the means to learn about the infiltrated organization with eyes on operational behaviors and insight inside on where the most important and high-risk information is kept.
The Solution
Do you have a business continuity plan? If yes, make sure it’s up to date. If not, start one! Have backups that will not fail and be sure to have multiple backups of different levels and for different information. Make sure someone in your company negotiation skills because many bad actors are in it for their own financial gain. First try to dissolve the situation with negotiation, and if that doesn’t work, more drastic measures will have to be taken. Overcoming disruptive events requires collaboration and preparation way ahead of the event itself. To ensure success, make sure your team understands the three tenets of information security including confidentiality, integrity, and availability.