The cybersecurity skills gap is real and growing; there simply aren’t enough cybersecurity employees to go around.

Cyber crime is rapidly escalating, and board rooms are taking notice. KPMG’s 2017 U.S. CEO Outlook survey shows cybersecurity risk to be among CEOs’ top concerns, yet only 40% of them feel that their organizations are fully prepared to handle a cyber attack. This isn’t surprising in light of the very serious – and worsening – cybersecurity skills gap. The cybersecurity unemployment rate was zero in 2016, and it’s expected to remain there until 2021. Coincidentally, that’s the same year by which Cybersecurity Ventures predicts there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs.

Small and medium-sized firms are being hit the hardest by the cybersecurity skills gap, as the short supply of qualified talent is quickly snapped up by multinational firms that can afford to pay the high salaries and provide the “Cadillac” benefits and perks that this talent has the power to demand. The situation is expected to worsen in light of New York’s new cybersecurity law, which requires finance and insurance firms operating within the state to hire CISOs and “qualified cybersecurity personnel.”

Governments and private-sector organizations are wringing their hands over how to deal with the problem. The mayor of New York City has announced a plan to invest $30 million in in cybersecurity training, academic research, and development labs, with the goal of creating 10,000 new cybersecurity jobs over the next decade. IBM has launched what it’s calling a “new collar” jobs initiative to train both students and older workers in cybersecurity.

Outsourcing the Best Way to Immediately Bridge the Cybersecurity Skills Gap

In light of the cybersecurity skills gap, the best option for most organizations is to outsource their cybersecurity functions to a reputable cybersecurity provider such as Lazarus Alliance. Our Cybervisors® service allows organizations of all sizes to immediately retain the services of the best and brightest subject matter experts in cyberspace law, cybersecurity, risk assessments and management, audit and compliance, governance and policies, and more.

In addition to getting the help you need right away, there are many other benefits to outsourcing your enterprise’s cybersecurity functions, including:

• Significant cost savings. It is almost always less expensive to outsource cybersecurity than to hire and maintain a security team full-time in-house. Even outsourcing just part of your cybersecurity functions, such as compliance, could result in significant savings.
• Allows you to focus on your business’ core competency. Most likely, you don’t hire in-house staff to handle your own legal matters or do your own taxes. You realize that law and accounting are not part of your core competency, so you outsource those functions to attorneys and accountants. (Along the same lines, you probably outsource your building security to a security firm!) Using this logic, why would your firm handle its own cybersecurity? Outsourcing this function to a professional frees up monetary and human resources that can be used to create, innovate, and drive your business.
• Allows you to access a level of expertise most companies don’t have internally. Cyber security is a highly specialized field, and the skill set it requires is quite different than those in other IT areas. It’s also highly dynamic, with new technologies and threat vectors emerging daily. Our Cybervisors® focus on only one thing: cybersecurity. They are highly experienced in this field, they are immersed in it, and they engage in continuous education to stay abreast of the cyber threat landscape.

Initiatives like the ones New York City and IBM have launched are positive steps in the direction of bridging the cybersecurity skills gap, but training new cybersecurity professionals takes time, and organizations need help right now. Your organization can’t wait 10 years, or even six months, to get the security help it needs, at a price it can actually afford. The cybersecurity skills gap is here for the long-haul, and outsourcing is the best way to handle the problem right now.

The cybersecurity experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cybersecurity field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cybersecurity®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cybersecurity needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cybersecurity regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.

Cryptocurrency mining malware may end up being a bigger problem than WannaCry

Organizations that think they dodged a bullet when their older systems did not fall prey to the WannaCry ransomware may want to think again. Weeks prior to the WannaCry attacks, a group of hackers was taking advantage of the same Windows vulnerabilities that WannaCry exploited. Instead of locking down systems with ransomware, these cyber criminals were putting them to work, using a cryptocurrency mining malware called Adylkuzz.

Not only did users have no idea their machines had been turned into cryptocurrency mining zombies, but Adylkuzz acted as a sort of vaccine for machines against the WannaCry malware so that mining operations would continue unimpeded. So, in a bizarre twist, had it not been for Adylkuzz, the WannaCry attacks may have been even larger and more destructive.

That’s not to say Adylkuzz is benign. Just as WannaCry was a warning shot for the destructive potential of ransomware, Adylkuzz sounded the alarm about the next threat on the horizon: cryptocurrency mining malware.

Cryptocurrency 101

Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies that use cryptography to prevent counterfeiting. They are distinguished from “fiat currency” – the dollars, euros, and other money issued by governments – because they are not issued by a central authority or representative of debts. They are sometimes referred to as “hard” or “sound” money and are more similar to gold bars than dollar bills. The most well-known and widely used cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, which was invented in 2009 as a byproduct of the blockchain technology that enables it.

Although there is nothing inherently nefarious about cryptocurrencies, they have come under fire for their popularity among cyber criminals. While many perfectly legitimate businesses accept payment in Bitcoin, it also is the de facto currency of the Dark Net, and most ransomware variants demand payments be rendered in it.

New units of digital currencies are created through a process known as cryptocurrency mining. “Miners” solve highly complex cryptography problems that allow them to add blocks to the blockchain, and they are rewarded for their efforts with free cryptocurrency units. To prevent devaluation, all digital currencies have a cap on how many units can ultimately be mined; Bitcoin’s cap is 21 million units and, as of this writing, about 5 million are left to be mined.

Cryptocurrencies have another failsafe to prevent devaluation and other forms of abuse: The problems miners must solve suck up enormous amounts of processing power, which means that miners who want to use their own equipment are looking at a capital investment in highly specialized hardware. For those who don’t want to spend the money, cryptocurrency mining malware such as Adylkuzz has emerged. Although Adylkuzz takes advantage of the same Windows vulnerabilities as WannaCry, it behaves more like the Mirai botnet. It does not lock down systems or access data; instead, it goes after a machine’s processing power, hijacking it and using it to mine units of a Bitcoin competitor called Monero, a “next-generation” cryptocurrency that is growing in popularity among cyber criminals because it promises even stronger anonymity than Bitcoin.

Adylkuzz has proven to be far more lucrative than WannaCry; it’s estimated that rogue Monero miners have raked in 10 times more money than the WannaCry hackers. It’s also not the only cryptocurrency mining malware in town. There’s a Samba bug that attacks Linux machines, and, in a surprising twist, another form of malware that goes after Raspberry Pi devices, tiny computers that are popular among tech enthusiasts. While it may seem counterintuitive to target such a small machine, the idea is not to hijack one device but tens of thousands, as the Mirai botnet did, and harness the combined power of a “zombie army.”

Protecting Your Systems from Cryptocurrency Mining Malware

One of the reasons why Adylkuzz and similar malware are so successful is that many victims have no idea they’ve been hijacked. The symptoms of an infection are vague, consisting of general system sluggishness and a loss of access to shared network resources.

Critics of cryptocurrencies have long been calling for governments to regulate or even ban them, and WannaCry and Adylkuzz have added fuel to their arguments. However, because of the very nature of cryptocurrencies, any attempts to legislate them face a protracted, uphill battle. The best defense against cryptocurrency mining malware is to employ the same proactive cybersecurity measures used to defend against ransomware, data breaches, and other cyber attacks: ensure that all systems and software are up-to-date; install new manufacturer patches as soon as possible; always change manufacturer default passwords; perform regular penetration testing; continuously monitor networks for anomalies; and address the human factor by training employees on cybersecurity best practices.

The cybersecurity experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cybersecurity field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cybersecurity®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cybersecurity needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cybersecurity regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.

A new report by Synopsys and the Ponemon Institute finds that medical device security is plagued by a lack of standards, testing, and accountability.

Healthcare organizations tend to focus their cybersecurity efforts on HIPAA compliance, protecting patient data, and defending against ransomware attacks like WannaCry, with scant, if any, attention paid to medical device security. A Ponemon Institute study released last week by Synopsys, Medical Device Security: An Industry Under Attack and Unprepared to Defend, paints an ominous picture regarding the cybersecurity of IoT devices such as smart insulin pumps, diagnostic and monitoring equipment, and even the mobile apps used to control connected devices:

• 67% of medical device manufacturers expect that their devices will be hacked within the next 12 months, but only 17% are taking “significant steps” to prevent it.
• 56% of healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) expect a hack within the next 12 months, but only 15% are doing anything about it.
• Fewer than half (41%) of device manufacturers have an incident response plan in place in the event of a hack.
• Among HDOs, the numbers are even worse; only 22% have an incident response plan.
• Only 9% of device manufacturers and 5% of HDOs test their medical devices at least yearly. Over half of HDOs, and 43% of manufacturers, either do not test their devices at all or are “unsure if testing occurs.”

No Testing, No Standards, No Accountability: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

One would think that, given the fact that a faulty connected medical device could result in a dead or maimed patient, these devices would be subject to strict regulations and exacting security standards.

This is not the case at all. Medical device security is no more robust than general IoT security. The respondents to the Synopsys/Ponemon study cited a complete lack of security standards, testing, and accountability for medical device security, along with intense pressure to push products to the market as soon as possible. These are the same problems that plague the overall connected devices industry. Smart watches, smart doorbells, smart toys, and even smart cars are designed for ease of use and cutting-edge features, not cybersecurity.

Smart medical devices are no different. The FDA does have a set of voluntary guidelines addressing medical device security, but according to the study, only 51% of manufacturers and 44% of HDOs followed them.

Medical Device Security Cannot Be Reactive

Perhaps the most horrifying finding from this already frightening report is that most device manufacturers and HDOs stated that only a “serious hacking incident” would prompt their organizations to increase their medical device security budgets. Yes, you read that correctly: The majority of players in the medical device industry are relying on reactive cybersecurity, waiting until a breach has actually happened – which, in this case, could mean that someone dies or is maimed – to address device vulnerabilities.

Last fall, medical device maker St. Jude Inc. announced that it was forming a medical advisory board focused specifically on medical device security. This is a positive step, but it happened only after allegations that its smart cardiac implants were vulnerable to hacking, which prompted an investigation by the FDA.

The current reactive approach to medical device security is completely unacceptable. Knowing this, the FDA has cited the cybersecurity of medical devices as one of its top regulatory science priorities in 2017. However, the wheels of government turn very slowly; manufacturers, HDOs, and patients cannot afford to wait for the government to step in and save the day. The healthcare industry needs to start taking the same proactive approach to cybersecurity that it does to disease prevention. This isn’t just about money or reputation; human lives depend on it.

The cybersecurity experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cybersecurity field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cybersecurity®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cybersecurity needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cybersecurity regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.