Advanced Cybersecurity Measures

Enhancing Cybersecurity: A Comprehensive Security Matrix A layered approach to security is essential. The following framework breaks down cybersecurity into six interconnected domains, each with practical components to strengthen defenses and response capabilities: Information Security: Access Rights & Permissions Matrix Data Breach Notification Log Data Classification Register Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Incident Log Document Retention & Disposal Tracker Encryption Key Management Sheet Network Security: DDoS Attack Mitigation Plan Tracker IP Whitelist-Blacklist Tracker Network Access Control Log Network Device Inventory Network Security Risk Mitigation Report Security Event Correlation Tracker Cloud Security: Cloud Access Control Matrix Cloud Asset Inventory Tracker Cloud Backup & Recovery Testing Tracker Cloud Incident Response Log Cloud Security Configuration Baseline Application Security: Application Data Encryption Checklist Application Risk Assessment Matrix Application Threat Modeling Authentication & Authorization Control Sheet Modeling Patch & Update Tracker Security Management: Acceptable Use of Assets Password Policy Backup and Recovery Compliance Management Disposal and Destruction Policy Information Classification Policy Incident Management: Incident Management Guide Incident Management Policy Incident Management Process Internal Incident Report Major Incident Report Template Structure Damage Incident Report Problem Management: KE Record Template Major Problem Report Template Problem Management Process Problem Record Template This structured approach creates clear accountability, improves visibility, and accelerates incident response across technology ecosystems. It’s about turning security into an organized, repeatable, and measurable practice that protects assets while enabling innovation.

𝐂𝐲𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫 1. Immediate Response and Monitoring - Establish a 24/7 cybersecurity war room for real-time incident response. - Audit digital assets, especially previously targeted sites, and take suspicious ones offline. -Conduct immediate network audits and vulnerability scans to identify and patch weaknesses. -Review and update your incident response and disaster recovery plans; ensure all stakeholders know their roles and communication protocols. -Regularly test incident response, disaster recovery, and business continuity plans. 2. Strengthen Defences - Patch systems with the latest security updates. - Implement advanced firewalls and intrusion prevention systems. 3. User Management - Enforce strong passwords & multi-factor authentication for all users. -Immediately review and restrict privileged access rights, especially for sensitive systems. -Disable unused accounts & monitor for abnormal login attempts or privilege escalations 4. Data Protection - Ensure regular encrypted backups are stored offline. - Test backup restoration processes. 5. Awareness Against Phishing -Conduct urgent awareness training on phishing, social engineering, and deepfake threats. - Warn about misinformation on social media. 6. Supply Chain Security - Audit third-party vendors for cybersecurity compliance. - Limit their access and enforce security protocols. 7. Disinformation and Information Domain Protection -Monitor social media and public channels for misinformation, deepfakes, and coordinated influence campaigns. -Deploy fact-checking tools, OSINT surveillance, and deepfake detection engines to counter disinformation. -Communicate with employees and the public through official, verified channels only. 8. Regular Testing and Continuous Improvement -Conduct frequent penetration testing and simulated attacks to test defences and response readiness. -Review and refine incident response plans after drills or real incidents; document lessons learned. 9. Critical Infrastructure Measures -For BFSI: Ensure ATM cash availability, secure payment systems, and continuous monitoring of financial transactions. -For Defence and Government: Isolate sensitive networks, conduct penetration testing, and coordinate with national cyber agencies. -For Power, Telecom, and Healthcare: Increase monitoring of operational technology (OT) networks and ensure business continuity plans are in place. 10. Coordination with Agencies - Communicate with CERT-In for threat intelligence and coordinated responses. -Implement advisories and directives from regulatory bodies without delay. 11-. Public Communication - Provide timely updates to stakeholders to maintain trust and counter misinformation. -Counter misinformation by verifying and debunking fake news Disclaimer: The provided article is intended for educational and knowledge-sharing purposes related to cybersecurity only. #ciso #cybersecurity

New Cyber Case - HOT OFF THE PRESS - ASIC v FIIG Securities Limited Another Australian Financial Services (AFS) Licence holder being held to account under the #CorporationsAct by ASIC in filings lodged yesterday in the Federal Court of Australia for "systematic and prolonged cybersecurity failures". As it is so often, it's not about the breach - it's about the failure to take adequate steps to protect an organisation against cybersecurity risks. Yes, that resulted in a breach, but that isn't the only reason why ASIC brought proceedings. The Concise Statement sets out some useful tests and insights into what ASIC will consider as 'adequate' and 'reasonable' in the circumstances and how they allege these were not in place in this case. These include: - the nature of the business being carried out (in this case a AFS licence holder) - consideration of the nature and extent of the information held by the Defendant including the personal information (which included tax file numbers, Medicare numbers, bank account details in addition to the more common types of personal information) - the value of assets under its control - the likelihood that it would be the target of cyber intrusions and the potential consequences if that were to be successful What ASIC considers are 'adequate' cybersecurity measures for a business such as the Defendant is set out in Annexure A of the Concise Statement - but they include having adequate financial, technological and human resources to implement the cybersecurity measures and to comply with its legal obligations. Put simply - enough budget, the right systems and tools (and properly implemented), and enough people (including outsourced). The missing measures allegedly included: - an adequate, up to date and tested incident response plan - privileged access management controls - vulnerability scanning - next-gen firewalls - EDR - patched and updated systems - MFA - a properly configured SEIM system with monitoring by appropriately skilled personnel - security awareness training - processes to review and evaluate the effectiveness of the cyber security - controls ASIC also raises concerns with the Defendant's response to the incident when they were notified by the Australian Signals Directorate. It took almost a week from notification to beginning to investigate what turned out to be a major breach with 358GB of data exfiltrated. The recovery then took months and impacted on the Defendant's ability to provide its financial services. https://lnkd.in/gtfPehCJ #cybersecurity #cyberbreach #cyberlaw #AFSL #ASIC

By applying these strategic principles from "The Art of War" to cybersecurity, organizations can enhance defensive strategies and stay one step ahead of cyber adversaries. 1. Know your enemy and know yourself - Understand your own systems and vulnerabilities, and know the threat actors targeting you. Regularly assess your security posture and keep up-to-date on threat intelligence. 2. Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak: - Use deception techniques like honeypots and decoy systems to mislead attackers about the true nature and strength of your defenses. 3. Attack where the enemy is unprepared: - Identify and exploit weak points in potential attackers’ methodologies and tools. Ensure you have comprehensive defenses, including monitoring for uncommon attack vectors. 4. Make use of spies: - Leverage threat intelligence and cybersecurity experts to gather information on cyber threats and adversaries. Use this intelligence to stay ahead of potential attacks. 5. Use terrain to your advantage: - Configure your network architecture to favor defense. Implement network segmentation, firewalls, and secure configurations to create a landscape that is challenging for attackers to navigate. 6. Be flexible: - Cyber threats are constantly evolving. Ensure your security policies and defenses can adapt quickly to new types of attacks and emerging vulnerabilities. 7. Concentrate your forces: - Focus your resources on protecting critical assets and data. Prioritize the most important systems for the strongest defenses and monitoring. 8. Strike at the enemy's heart: - Identify the core motivations and techniques of your adversaries. Disrupt their operations by targeting their infrastructure, such as command and control servers, or disrupting their financial incentives. 9. Use deception: - Implement security measures like deceptive traps and misinformation to confuse and delay attackers. Use threat hunting to proactively detect and respond to threats. 10. Know when to retreat: - In cybersecurity, retreating means recognizing when a system is compromised and isolating it to prevent further damage. Have incident response plans in place to quickly contain breaches and restore systems securely. Salient Lessons from the Art of War.

🔐 Evaluating the Cyber Offense Capabilities of Advanced AI — A Deep Dive by DeepMind Yesterday, I shared a blog post outlining the growing concerns around how advanced AI could potentially reshape the cybersecurity threat landscape. Today, I want to highlight the research paper behind that blog—a comprehensive and timely work by Google DeepMind. 📄 “A Framework for Evaluating Emerging Cyberattack Capabilities of AI” is more than just a theoretical proposal—it’s a practical, data-driven roadmap that helps us understand how frontier AI systems might empower malicious actors in the real world. Here are a few key insights I found worth sharing: 💡 What the Paper Does Differently: -> It adapts classic frameworks like the Cyberattack Chain and MITRE ATT&CK to evaluate AI systems’ offensive potential. -> It analyzed over 12,000 real-world AI misuse cases across 20 countries to create 7 representative attack chain archetypes. -> A bottleneck analysis helps identify which phases of a cyberattack (e.g., reconnaissance, exploitation, C2) are most vulnerable to AI-driven cost reductions. -> The team created a benchmark of 50 challenges (across difficulty levels) to evaluate AI performance in realistic adversary scenarios, including evasion, vulnerability exploitation, and malware development. 🔬 Results That Matter: -> The current generation of AI models (like Gemini 2.0 Flash) are not yet capable of full-blown offensive operations, but they show clear signs of amplifying speed, scale, and stealth in key phases. -> Some of the highest success rates were observed in operational security and evasion, rather than direct exploitation. -> Importantly, this framework isn’t just about identifying threats; it’s about empowering defenders to prioritize their mitigations before things scale out of control. 🧠 Why This Matters: This paper offers a model for how to think proactively about AI threats; not just waiting for something to go wrong, but building the infrastructure to test, simulate, and benchmark how well our defenses hold up against AI-enabled adversaries. If you’re working at the intersection of cybersecurity and AI, this paper is essential reading. It doesn’t just sound the alarm; it hands us a playbook. #Cybersecurity #AI #AIsecurity #ThreatIntelligence #RedTeam #MITRE #DeepMind #CyberDefense #AIrisk

FBI and CISA have warned that some US telecommunication companies have been breached by China-backed Salt Typhoon to snoop on US secrets and maintain access. Multiple US telecommunications companies were hacked into by a People’s Republic of China (PRC)-backed threat actor to carry out a full-blown cyber-espionage attack, according to a joint FBI and CISA statement. It’s long past the time to seriously address these ongoing threats. To defend against evolving state-sponsored threats, telecoms and other critical infrastructure operators should integrate advanced technologies with cybersecurity best practices. Key measures include: Deploying AI-driven threat detection systems for real-time intrusion identification and maintaining a proactive security posture. Regularly updated incident response plans with clear protocols for containment and recovery are essential for minimizing damage. Conducting frequent security audits and vulnerability assessments, especially on legacy systems, helps identify and mitigate weaknesses. Active threat intelligence sharing with peers and government agencies enhances awareness and speeds up threat mitigation. Regular employee training on cybersecurity best practices, including phishing simulations to reduce insider threats and ensure a robust cybersecurity strategy. Best practices notwithstanding, it is important to incorporate advanced security technologies that embody the concept of "enterprise digital sovereignty" to further enhance an organization's defense capabilities. This approach provides a Zero Trust security architecture that includes data-in-flight protection, enhanced authentication verification, and data loss prevention. It operates as a control plane management system for cryptographic operations, offering a streamlined path to implementing Zero Trust principles. By eliminating the need for traditional public key infrastructure and automating multi-factor authentication, this technology reduces the complexity and potential vulnerabilities associated with cryptographic operations. The flexibility of deploying such technologies—whether on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments—ensures that organizations can tailor their security solutions to their specific needs. By integrating these advanced technologies, telecoms and critical industries can significantly enhance their security posture, making it more difficult for state-sponsored actors to exploit vulnerabilities. #china #nationalsecurity #cyber #cybersecurity KnectIQ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Federal Communications Commission Federal Trade Commission National Security Agency U.S. Cyber Command FBI Cyber Division U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

In 2024, cyber attacks surged significantly, marking a banner year for hackers and foreign adversaries. The frequency and intensity of these attacks heightened across various sectors, including Critical Infrastructure, Enterprise, and SMEs. Within Critical Infrastructure, attacks focused on Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS), impacting vital sectors like power, water, transportation, and data services. Incidents such as the Volt Typhoon attacks and exploits targeting defense mechanisms' vulnerabilities emphasized the necessity for a more comprehensive security approach. In the Enterprise domain, cyber threats like business email compromise, phishing, ransomware, and malware remained prevalent as primary attack vectors. Additionally, social engineering, insider threats, third-party exposures, configuration errors, and artificial intelligence cyber threats saw a concerning increase. Sophisticated attacks saw a rapid rise, with threat actors using targeted surveillance and mobile device exploits to infiltrate networks and compromise sensitive data. The emergence of new threat groups, such as FunkSec and SafePay, reported by ReliaQuest, highlighted the expanding threat landscape. To counter the escalating cyber threats, organizations should embrace a Defense in Depth strategy, integrating advanced technologies like a sophisticated Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)/Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) system. Alongside a well-trained Security Operations Center (SOC) and integrated Incident Response (IR) teams leveraging telemetry and threat intelligence, this approach can effectively mitigate a wide range of exploits both proactively and reactively. Without implementing such comprehensive security measures, government entities and enterprises remain vulnerable to an increasing array of cyber attacks and vulnerabilities. Stay tuned for our upcoming posts delving into the cost-effectiveness of prevention versus cleanup and Incident Response efforts. Remember, prevention is crucial in safeguarding against cyber threats. Stay informed by visiting our Cyberleaf blog at https://lnkd.in/egtDkwpQ for more insights and details. Stay vigilant and stay safe out there.

“Mapping Cybersecurity Threats to Defenses: A Strategic Approach to Risk Mitigation” Most of the time we talk about reducing risk by implementing controls, but we don’t talk about if the implemented controls will reduce the Probability or Impact of the Risk. The below matrix helps organizations build a robust, prioritized, and strategic cybersecurity posture while ensuring risks are managed comprehensively by implementing controls that reduces the probability while minimising the impact. Key Takeaways from the Matrix 1. Multi-layered Security: Many controls address multiple attack types, emphasizing the importance of defense in depth. 2. Balance Between Probability and Impact: Controls like patch management and EDR reduce both the likelihood of attacks (probability) and the harm they can cause (impact). 3. Tailored Controls: Some attacks (e.g., DDoS) require specific solutions like DDoS protection, while broader threats (e.g., phishing) are countered by multiple layers like email security, IAM, and training. 4. Holistic Approach: Combining technical measures (e.g., WAF) with process controls (e.g., training, third-party risk management) creates a comprehensive security posture. This matrix can be a powerful tool for understanding how individual security controls align with specific threats, helping organizations prioritize investments and optimize their cybersecurity strategy. Cyber Security News ®The Cyber Security Hub™

🛡️ Exploring Microsoft's Advanced Cybersecurity Solutions – Episode 3 of the 'Microsoft Revealed' Series In this third episode of the 'Microsoft Revealed' series, following our discussions on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Entra ID, I dive into Microsoft's holistic approach to cybersecurity. Let's explore how these solutions address critical security domains and empower organizations worldwide. Key Domains Covered: 🔒 Cybersecurity Hygiene: Secure your cloud and endpoints with Defender for Cloud & Endpoints, Sentinel, Lighthouse, and Entra ID. 📂 Data Security: Protect your sensitive data with Microsoft Purview. 🌐 Network Security: Ensure safe network operations with Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, and Lighthouse. 💾 Resilience: Leverage Azure Backup and Disaster Recovery for business continuity. 🛡️ Privacy and Confidentiality: Safeguard sensitive information with Purview and Entra ID. 📊 Risk Management: Mitigate risks effectively with Microsoft Priva. 🤖 Transversal: Enhance operations with Security Copilot, powered by AI. ➕ Capgemini and Microsoft: A Partnership in Action At Capgemini, we help organizations implement these advanced tools, enabling robust security architectures that adapt to evolving threats. Our expertise ensures seamless integration of Microsoft technologies into your business environment. 💬 Your Turn! Which of these cybersecurity domains resonates most with your organization? Share your thoughts or drop your questions in the comments! Vincent Laurens Richard Nadolski Gregory Scola-Grimaldi Louise Jeffrey Cyril Derrien Jeanne Heuré Marco Pereira #Cybersecurity #MicrosoftDefender #Sentinel #SecurityCopilot #MicrosoftPurview #Capgemini #CloudSecurity