Information Technology Navigator

 

The risk of a ransomware attack continues to increase at a frightening triple-digit annual growth rate. How bad is it? Bad, really bad. Businesses based in the U.S. face an 80% chance of an attack, compared to 31% chance in EMEA and 9% in the Asia-Pack region. As the attackers’ sophistication increases and cybergangs are forming, it is important to understand what the attackers are going after and how to increase your ransomware resilience.

 

Ransomware Demand and Payment Trends

•  In 2022, companies with $10 million in revenue or less had an average payout of $690,996¹
• Large enterprises (revenue of $5 billion plus) took a bigger hit, with an average $2,464,339² ransom payout
• Recent ransom demands have been as high as $30 million with payouts that have exceeded $8 million
• Threat actors are increasingly focused on extortion techniques—often layering them on top of each other
• Harassment is another extortion tactic being used in more ransomware cases. Ransomware threat actor groups will target specific individuals in the organization, often in the C-suite, with threats and unwanted communications³
• Cybercriminals threatened to leak stolen data in about 70% of ransomware cases involving negotiation in late 2022⁴
• The United States is still the most severely impacted, accounting for 42% of the observed leaks in 2022⁵
• As of late 2022, threat actors engaged in data theft in about 70% of cases compared to 40% in mid-2021⁶ 

Don’t Count on the Government for Help

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Ensuring cybersecurity for an enterprise is a job that is never done. It’s a challenge that requires constant vigilance and, in recent years, has been exacerbated by low visibility into highly distributed and dynamic cloud data spread across increasingly fragmented environments. Our trusted cybersecurity partner, Rubrik, has taken another step to enhance cyber security by acquiring Laminar, a leading data security posture management (DSPM) platform. It’s a strategic move that results in Rubrik’s ability to offer customers a complete cyber resilience offering that reduces weaknesses in an organization’s security strategy.

Securing cloud data is different from securing your infrastructure. Businesses have innovated the way they use cloud data, but not the way they secure it. Not only do you need a data-centric tool for the job, you also need an agile, cloud-based approach to keep up with the dramatic expansion and replication of data manipulated by developers and data scientists so that they can leverage data for innovation without increasing exposure or data protection risks.

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It’s been almost a year since we wrote about the risks of delaying CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) compliance. The only thing that has remained constant since then is that CMMC is not going away. There have been many noteworthy recent developments in the DoD supply chain news space related to updates for DIB contractors to comply with the DFARS 7012 requirements to safeguard CUI (controlled unclassified information) data. The CMMC 2.0 final rulemaking timeline continues to shift from over the horizon to right around the corner, and the recently released NIST 800-171 revision 3 draft amplifies concerns about upcoming changes to the framework requiring additional protections for prime and subprime organizations supplying the DoD.

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A CISO Primer on Navigating Cyber Insurance

After 10+ years of working with clients to negotiate and place cyber insurance, I’ve noticed that one of the most frequent challenges has always been getting the underwriters and my client’s information security stakeholder (like a CISO or CIO) to understand each other. It’s no surprise that insurance is *gasp* slow to evolve – but in their defense, underwriters have come a long way over the last three years. It’s also no secret that being a CISO is one of the most important leadership roles within a company these days. So why are there massive communications disconnects? Why are CISO’s often ill equipped (through no fault of their own) to navigate the cyber insurance ecosystem? How are brokers and their underwriting partners not ensuring that their clients understand the coverages within cyber policies and how the insurance contracts work? How can we bring all the stakeholders in the process together to make our clients more resilient and create a sustainable cyber insurance marketplace? This blog aspires to demystify cyber insurance for all the information security stakeholders in the room so that they are best equipped to dovetail their strategy with what the insurance marketplace is looking for.

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An Introduction to Cybersecurity for the Defense Industrial Base:

In today's digital age, cybersecurity is of paramount importance, particularly for organizations within the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). In January 2020, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) introduced the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) framework, building upon established cybersecurity standards from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-53 and NIST Special Publication 800-171. These publications are closely aligned with the CMMC 2.0 requirements, providing essential guidelines for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in non-federal systems and organizations. In addition, DFARS 252.204-7020 clause requires contractors to undergo an assessment of their implementation of NIST SP 800-171 controls by an accredited third-party assessment organization to evaluate a DIB contractor's compliance with the security requirements outlined in NIST SP 800-171 and provide assurance that adequate safeguards are in place to protect CUI.

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Preparing for a Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 assessment can be completely overwhelming. Here’s the good news: If you’re NIST 800-171 compliant, you’re more than halfway there. If you’re not, you’ve got some work to do for sure, but it’s not as complicated or daunting as you may fear.

NIST 800-171

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The risk of a ransomware attack continues to increase at a frightening triple-digit annual growth rate. How bad is it? Bad, really bad. Businesses based in the U.S. face a 60% chance of an attack, compared to 31% chance in EMEA and 9% in the Asia-Pack region. As the attackers’ sophistication increases and cybergangs are forming, it is important to understand what the attackers are going after and how to increase your ransomware resilience.

Ransomware Demand and Payment Trends

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The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 is the DoD framework designed to enhance cybersecurity and protect against compromise of sensitive defense information on contractors’ systems. Some defense industrial base organizations (DIB) have mistakenly taken a “wait and see” attitude about preparing for CMMC compliance, believing that they will wait until the government finalizes 2.0 requirements. While holding off on the time, resources and budget to prepare for CMMC may seem prudent (and frankly easier to delay), the risks of waiting could have a significantly negative impact on contractors’ revenue. Here’s why: 

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Given the current cyber threat landscape, protecting data has never been more critical. We’ve been helping organizations architect and deploy secure data center and cloud environments for over 20 years. We are a Microsoft Gold Partner, Tier 1 Microsoft Direct Cloud Service Provider and AOS-G, GCC and GCC High reseller. We have the proven expertise and technical certifications to design, implement and provide on-going support for highly customized secure enclaves or “greenfield” environments in Microsoft Azure, Azure Government, and Microsoft 365 Commercial and Government community clouds to meet compliance requirements of NIST 800-171 and CMMC 2.0. We can help your team jumpstart the adoption of a cloud platform with Microsoft 365 and Azure.

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If your organization has been working towards NIST 800-171 and is now on the journey to achieve CMMC 2.0 (the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) it can be difficult to understand what you’ve already achieved and what’s left to do. Both standards are intended to reduce threats and strengthen cybersecurity for sensitive government data. Here’s some details on how they relate to each other and what’s involved to take the next steps toward CMMC compliance.

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