In today's turbulent world, many U.S. authorities state hacking of networks and intrusions to steal or change data are a form of terrorism just as a serious threat as ISIS. From our government agencies to hospitals, retailers to banks, movie studios to utility companies, unscrupulous individuals and governments are trying to gain control of equipment running electrical power plants and water dams, to stealing employee data as social security numbers and medical records.

No matter what the illegal intrusion is, it can cost your organization more than the money it would take to fix your IT department's security. Think as... paying credit service companies as LifeLock to cover 1000's of employees against further losses due to unauthorized purchases. And have you considered the damage to your organization's reputation in the marketplace? Employee morale? Consumers confidence being shaken using their credit and debit cards in the future on your brand?

The cold hard truth for any Fortune 500 CEO or SMB business owner, and of course CISO's and CTO's is that... no company is safe from attempts of network intrusions because criminals and foreign governments have nothing to lose by trying!

 

Just a few 2015 cyber statistics at-a-glance:

• Cyber security incidents have surged 38% since 2014.
• Malicious cyber attacks cost US $300B to $1 Trillion a year!
• Data breaches average $154 per record, while the average cost per data breach has reached $3.79M.
• Attackers often have more than 200 days before being discovered.
• Privilege misuse is #3 out of nine attack patterns found in 96% of all breaches, according to the 2015 Verizon

  Data Breach Investigations Report
• While deal makers are generally aware of the effect that cyber security risks can have on a pending M&A deal, 78 percent “believe cyber security is not analyzed in great depth or specifically quantified as part of the M&A due diligence process.”
• Asked which stage of an attack is the most difficult to mitigate: 61 percent of IT security executives cited privileged account takeover; versus 44 percent in 2014

What is your organization's cyber security disconnect?

• 80 percent of board members say that cyber security is discussed at most or all board meetings, yet, two-thirds of CIOs and CISOs say senior leaders in their organization don’t view cyber security as a strategic priority.
• Despite almost daily reports revealing the contrary, 44% of organizations still believe they can keep attackers off their network entirely.
• 28% of organizations claim to have a “problematic” shortage of cyber security skills on-staff

   

Which Industry are you in? How lucky do you feel?

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UBB's cyber security division, CyberSecurityLock, provides services that address 8 domains organizations must look at in their IT department:

• Security and Risk Management (PCI Data Security Standards, Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) compliance, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), and other Laws, Regulations, Business Continuity Plans)
  • Confidentiality, integrity, and availability concepts
  • Security governance principles
  • Compliance
  • Legal and regulatory issues
  • Professional ethic
  • Security policies, standards, procedures and guidelines

• Asset Security (Protecting Security of Assets)
  • Information and asset classification
  • Ownership (e.g. data owners, system owners)
  • Protect privacy
  • Appropriate retention
  • Data security controls
  • Handling requirements (e.g. markings, labels, storage)

• Security Engineering (Engineering and Management of Security)
  • Engineering processes using secure design principles
  • Security models fundamental concepts
  • Security evaluation models
  • Security capabilities of information systems
  • Security architectures, designs, and solution elements vulnerabilities
  • Web-based systems vulnerabilities
  • Mobile systems vulnerabilities
  • Embedded devices and cyber-physical systems vulnerabilities
  • Cryptography
  • Site and facility design secure principles
  • Physical security

• Communication and Network Security (Designing and Protecting Network Security)
  • Secure network architecture design (e.g. IP & non-IP protocols, segmentation)
  • Secure network components
  • Secure communication channels
  • Network attacks

• Identity and Access Management (Controlling Access and Managing Identity)
  • Physical and logical assets control
  • Identification and authentication of people and devices
  • Identity as a service (e.g. cloud identity)
  • Third-party identity services (e.g. on-premise)
  • Access control attacks
  • Identity and access provisioning lifecycle (e.g. provisioning review)

• Security Assessment and Testing (Designing, Performing, and Analyzing Security Testing)
  • Assessment and test strategies
  • Security process data (e.g. management and operational controls)
  • Security control testing
  • Test outputs (e.g. automated, manual)
  • Security architectures vulnerabilities

• Security Operations (Foundational Concepts, Investigations, Incident Management, and Disaster Recovery)
  • Investigations support and requirements
  • Logging and monitoring activities
  • Provisioning of resources
  • Foundational security operations concepts
  • Resource protection techniques
  • Incident management
  • Preventative measures
  • Patch and vulnerability management
  • Change management processes
  • Recovery strategies
  • Disaster recovery processes and plans
  • Business continuity planning and exercises
  • Physical security
  • Personnel safety concerns

• Software Development Security (Understanding, Applying, and Enforcing Software Security)
  • Security in the software development lifecycle
  • Development environment security controls
  • Software security effectiveness
  • Acquired software security impac