Cybersecurity & Networking

Operationalizing the IT requirements for a remote workforce for many businesses means accelerating digital transformation initiatives, which leverage a range of cloud services. As a result, an organization’s cloud footprint increasingly includes a mix of third-party SaaS applications as well as internally developed cloud-native apps to support critical back, middle, and front office operations. But different organizations are in different stages of cloud adoption from born-in-the-cloud companies fully indexed on the cloud to enterprises who operate in a hybrid, multi-cloud world.

 A challenge shared by all companies, however, is unifying security policies across disparate environments. Maintaining consistency across data centers and public cloud environments where cloud-native applications are deployed was cited by 43% of respondents who participated in ESG’s annual Secure DevOps study as the biggest challenge securing those applications. In this second of a two-part video series, Greg Keller, JumpCloud’s CTO, and I discuss how the use cases of a directory-as-a-service (DaaS) offerings meet the needs of businesses at different stages of their cloud journey.

The IT implications of the pandemic-induced surge in remote work are headlined by an increased reliance on cloud applications and services. Supporting and securing direct-to-cloud access has necessitated a focus on identity and access management (IAM) initiatives including:

• Extending single sign-on (SSO) to additional SaaS applications
• Implementing MFA (finally!) to secure access to an organization’s most critical and sensitive apps and data
• Rethinking privilege access management (PAM) in a cloud context
• Monitoring user activity to detect both insider threats and stolen credentials
• And, because new devices are being used by remote employees, extending trust-based authentication to device profiles

Updating these aspects and others of an IAM program to secure a remote workforce starts with a focus on policies. However, developing and adjusting policies to support the increase in the work-from-home population is the top security challenge associated with remote work as reported by a third of the respondents in a recent ESG study. In this first of a two-part video series, Greg Keller, JumpCloud’s CTO, and I discuss the challenges and solves for the strategic imperative to secure the identity perimeter expanded by remote work. Click here to watch Part 2 »

Zero-trust has seen an explosion in interest over the last few years. As the perimeter has become increasingly porous due to cloud usage and distributed network architectures, a fresh look at some of the foundational cybersecurity concepts was sorely needed. This has only been exacerbated by the pandemic, with many organizations not only supporting a primarily remote workforce, but also trying to complete their digital transformation journey in a matter of months, rather than the years they originally planned.

Despite the clear applicability, there remains some confusion in the market regarding exactly what implementing zero-trust entails, where to start, and how to ensure the initiative is successful. The recent finalization of the NIST guidelines on zero-trust architectures may help provide some clarity, but much work remains.

With all that in mind, Mark Peters posed several questions to me on the topic of zero-trust as a part of Enterprise Strategy Group’s recent virtual breakfast at Black Hat 2020. In the following video, Mark and I touch upon:

• Zero-trust interest and adoption. By now, nearly everyone even tangentially involved with cybersecurity has some awareness of zero-trust. In fact, Enterprise Strategy Group research has found that 88% of respondents are very or somewhat familiar with the concept. However, when we consider adoption, the data simply doesn’t match up with real-world scenarios, pointing to the aforementioned confusion.
• Data security as a component of zero-trust. The short answer is that it is a part of a complete zero-trust strategy. However, it should not be the starting point.
• How to incorporate zero-trust. We don’t provide an exhaustive list, but do touch on some of the high-level keys to success with these projects, including starting small while maintaining a long-term vision and how to think about vendor partnerships.

Old friend and Cybereason CSO Sam Curry and I got together (virtually) to chat about all things SOAPA. In part 2 of our video, we focus on:

• This newish thing called XDR. My colleague Dave Gruber and I are all over XDR as analysts, so I asked Sam for his thoughts. Sam thinks of XDR as taking EDR to the next level. He even broke down the acronym stating that the X signified telemetry independence. The “D” in XDR is somewhat overstated, Sam is really focused on the importance of the R, response, as security is about blocking (not finding) the bad guys. In the end, XDR should be a force multiplier for the cybersecurity staff.
• What about analytics? In my eyes, vendors with the best security analytics win. Sam agrees but mentions that analytics must be complemented with what he calls, “judicious automation” that is continuously monitored and improved.
• The Cybereason ASOC concept. Cybereason has a vision of what it calls the autonomous SOC, so I asked Sam to provide some detail. Sam describes a “task focused” architecture that widens the security analytics lens, simplifies SOC analyst duties, and automates actions. Sam reinforces the fact that it’s all about the tasks, not the tools.
• The future of SOAPA. I ask all my guests their view on where SOAPA is going. Sam sees SOAPA as a technology platform that facilitates cybersecurity goals and mission. Since cyber-adversaries are always innovating, SOAPA will never commodify and continue to evolve moving forward.

Many thanks to Sam and Cybereason for participating in the SOAPA video series, I always feel like I learned something when the two of us get together. More SOAPA videos soon.