Today’s new cyber world necessitates protection of what is most important to you.
The cyber landscape continues to change on a near daily basis and shows no signs of slowing. K2 Intelligence’s Jeremy Kroll and Austin Berglas recently joined more than 13,000 attendees at eMERGE Americas, a Global Idea Exchange and Innovation Launch Pad that has quickly become one of the most significant events focused on digital technology, innovation, and human culture. Much of Jeremy and Austin’s conversations among the more than 500 participating companies and 125 start-ups from Latin America, North America, and Europe centered on emerging cyber trends and how business and professionals can stay safe and secure in this new cyber world. Here are their three top takeaways on protecting what is most important to you, your family, or business.
The most frightening cyber trend could be numbness leading to complacency. Regardless of your industry or geography, protection of what is most important to you remains crucial. Yes, there may be a numbness setting in as a never-ending barrage of threats present themselves each day, but we must try to overcome the numbness—and avoid complacency. Heightened situational awareness is crucial in order to fight back. Some tips: Limit access to the crown jewels within your organization. Don’t click on embedded email links without determining if they are real. Take the time to make a call and verify. Insist on multifactor authentication within your company.
Deal play—in fact, any type of business partnership—comes with cyber risk. Organizations that do not vet prospective partners, investments, or third-party vendors run the risk of getting into trouble. You cannot assume that your new business or merger partner, supplier, or investment property has taken cyber risk as seriously as you do. When buying a home, you do a home inspection. The same holds true with business investments when it comes to cyber due diligence—you need to know whether you are inheriting a major crack in the foundation or are just dealing with loose windows and doors that need to be tightened. Today, noninvasive options exist to examine potential partners and assess the risk to your business. It is possible to determine whether an organization shows signs of unsanctioned Internet activity or exhibits indicators that may point to the presence of malware on a system.
In a world where shared access and trusted relationships are commonplace, spear phishing and business email compromise continue to top the cyber threat list. No matter how much money you spend to defend and harden infrastructure, your employees remain the weak links inside your organization. The bad guys may phish with a wide net and hope to get a number of your personnel to click on the malicious link embedded in the email, or they might spear phish and target an individual they believe has access to strategic assets. Your social media profile, which may reveal you as a member of the accounting department or as an executive assistant, may make you a valuable target. Business email compromises, such as CEO email impersonations, are causing millions of dollars in losses per day. All it takes is one well-crafted email. Educating your employees—even your family—is a necessary first step for defense.
