Like many of my peers, my role as a Chief Security Officer (CSO) has dramatically changed as we work to understand and adapt to COVID-19. It’s hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, my mind was focused on things such as FedRamp and the California Privacy Act (CCPA), now the majority of my time is focused on ensuring our employees safety and productivity, so they can continue to deliver products and support our customers and partners.

The global corporate landscape is on the brink of a complete premises lockdown in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Service disruption is inevitable, and enterprises’ business continuity plans are being put to the test. Despite this challenge, it’s heartening to see companies across nations take quick steps to ensure the health and safety of their employees during these trying times.

March 2020, the Coronavirus is pretty much everywhere. As I am writing these lines, the number of cases worldwide is 341,334 and 192 different countries have experienced infections.The world is fighting this epidemic and travel limitations are widely used in order to control the spread of the disease. While some say these restrictions are critical, others claim it to be ineffective and redundant. I am not an epidemiologist and will leave that analysis to the experts.

There are a lot of security ratings platforms out there, and choosing the right one can be overwhelming. We've written the post to make it as easy as possible for you to compare BitSight and UpGuard. Regardless of whether you're a CISO, Vice President of Security or an individual contributor, it's safe to say you understand the importance of cybersecurity risk management.

Windows Server 2019 ships and installs with an existing level of hardening that is significantly more secure compared to previous Windows Server operating systems. Gone are the bloat of Xbox integration and services and the need for third-party security solutions to fill security gaps. Operating System (OS) hardening provides additional layers of security and preventative measures against both unauthorized changes and access.

In 2019 multiple cities, hospitals and educational institutions in the U.S. were crippled by ransomware, including Baltimore, Atlanta, New York City, Regis University in Denver and Monroe University in New York. In the the last 12 months, the infosec community has seen these ransomware operators seriously upping their game (see Ryuk ransomware).

The old adage warns “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The saying becomes even more pointed for threats that, unfortunately, do not yet have a cure. But the lessons of risk management offer a path forward, where prevention takes the form of avoiding, mitigating or reducing risks. As people and organizations confront COVID-19, the novel threat has inspired an array of new strategies to combat the pandemic.

Malicious actors are increasingly leveraging COVID-19 as a theme for new digital fraud attacks. In February 2020, for instance, Action Fraud received 21 reports of fraud relating to the coronavirus. This number of reports more than doubled to 46 between March 1 and March 13, 2020. Between March 14 and March 18, 2020, the United Kingdom’s national fraud reporting center collected 38 reports alone. Those 105 reports represented a collective total of £970,000 in losses.

In a previous post, I shared some expert insight into how organizations can address the challenges of hiring skilled talent despite the ongoing infosec skills gap. Organizations can’t rest easy once they’ve brought on new talent, however. They need to make sure they hold onto their existing workforce. That’s easier said than done. Cybersecurity Ventures forecasted that a total of 3.5 million infosec-positions will be unfilled in 2021.

Employees are both the biggest asset of a company and also the biggest risk factor. Forensic software is designed to provide visibility when malicious or incompetent employee behavior is suspected that could present a threat to the company. Trying to gather proof of these issues manually is both time consuming and high risk. If you tip off the staff member, they can cover the tracks, and you may never know what was done.