editor’s question
C?
BHARAT MISTRY,
PRINCIPLE
SECURITY
STRATEGIST AT
TREND MICRO
OVID-19 has
already forced
major changes
on organisations
around the world.
CISOs have
most likely been
spending most of their time in recent
weeks trying to close any security gaps
in new remote working processes. The
situation is still uncertain which can
make strategic planning a challenge.
But the good news is that with the right
technologies and policies to hand,
there’s no reason why distributed
workforces should drive significant new
cyber-risk for these organisations.
So, what does best practice security
look like in a new era of remote working?
It must include endpoint monitoring or
patch and asset management tools,
to generate visibility into all home
working machines and keep them
updated and secure. If users aren’t on
corporate laptops, they should have
endpoint security vetted and enhanced
if necessary. A whitelist
of approved, enterprisegrade
video conferencing/
collaboration platforms will
further reduce cyber-risk.
We often talk about employees
remote working under lockdown, but
let’s not forget that most IT staff have
to as well. That’s why CISOs may want
to migrate to virtual Security Operation
Centre (SOC) set-ups. In fact, this could
be a new opportunity to create a truly
24/7 operation that breaks free of the
usual 9-5 constraints, by using staff
working across the globe. The only
caveat is trust.
In the longer term, staff security training
and awareness-raising is essential.
Real-world simulation exercises should
be run during lockdown for all remote
working staff, using some of the latest
CISOs must drive
home the message
whenever they get
the chance – that
information security
is a business-wide
responsibility and
not just in the IT
department’s sphere
of influence.
Security budget
should be
considered outside
the normal IT
budget.
COVID-themed phishing lures spotted in
the wild. Once staff are finally allowed to
return to their offices in greater numbers,
a new wave of training must begin.
Threat levels remain elevated as
cybercriminals target distracted
employees and IT staff, and remote
access infrastructure. That could force
CISOs to take a fresh look at security
solutions that offer greater automation
and advanced capabilities like Machine
Learning, cross-domain correlation and
data analytics. It’s about catching threats
faster, more effectively and potentially
with fewer IT security staff available to
manage controls.
CISOs must drive home the message
whenever they get the chance – that
information security is a businesswide
responsibility and not just in the
IT department’s sphere of influence.
That means security budget should be
considered outside the normal IT budget.
Depending on organisational culture, this
may be a difficult sell. But the events of
recent weeks present an opportunity to
articulate how important technology is to
ongoing business operations — and how,
if mismanaged, security issues can have
a huge impact on business risk. u
30 Issue 27 | www.intelligentciso.com