Cyber Forensics Protect the Innocent

It is always rewarding when cyber security and cyber forensics protect the innocent.  Monique Vivien Macias of KPNX 12 News Phoenix discusses with Lazarus Alliance and Continuum GRC’s CEO Michael Peters how cyber forensics has become such a vital resource in law enforcement’s toolkit.

Christopher Thomas McKenna, the former Chaparral High School teacher and girls’ track coach facing charges for having an on-going sexual affair with a student from another school is facing more charges for allegedly continuing to contact and see the teen.

According to court documents, after his arrest last December, a judge ordered McKenna to wear an ankle bracelet to track his movements as part of his release.

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It’s one piece of a cyber puzzle Scottsdale police reportedly used to obtain evidence McKenna and the now 17-year-old girl were meeting up, continuing to talk over the phone and also, possibly, contacting each other through social media.

“It’s just an extremely valuable tool,” said Michael Peters, a cyber security expert and CEO of Lazarus Alliance Inc. and Continuum GRC software.

Peters has previously used his training in computer forensics to help various law enforcement agencies including the FBI.

“For both solving crimes and preventing crimes,” Peters said, “there are numerous applications that are constantly locating individuals.”

Court papers show location data collected by online apps on the teen’s cellphone show she and McKenna were in the same spot, at the same time on several different occasions and that the teen had been near his house on multiple instances.

“Whatever kind of application you’re using, you start leaving bread crumbs,” Peters said. It can happen multiple ways but mostly, “through networks, through cell towers, Wi-Fi access points,” he continued.

Documents also allege McKenna bought the teen a new TracPhone, also known as a burner phone, to continue hiding their relationship.

However, the report says police used cyber forensics to trace the phone and were able to create a timeline of where and when the phone was purchased and also when McKenna allegedly met the teen and gave it to her.

It went on to say investigators linked McKenna’s debit card to the phone’s purchase.

McKenna is now facing charges for failing to comply with a court order, in addition to a list of other charges which including the sexual exploitation of a minor and luring a minor for sex.

Jail records say he has been released from jail.

Source: 12 News KPNX-TV

Defeating Cyber Security Deficits with a 1-2 Punch

Steve Morgan, a professional acquaintance who writes about cyber security for Forbes published One Million Cybersecurity Job Openings In 2016 and revealed some jaw-dropping statistics concerning the growing deficit in hiring qualified cyber security employees. To make matters worse, this chasm is exacerbated by the explosion of corporate breaches impacting and even decimating businesses in financials, education, business, government and especially healthcare.

In 2015, there were nearly 170,000,000 records exposed and that astronomical figure is just what we have been able to catalog. When cyber criminals run wild on your networks on average for 200 days before you know about it, that number most assuredly falls short of the actual impact. Cyber security breaches are increasing with a magnitude that is overwhelming.

Who is going to help turn the tide against these alarming trends? A recent report revealed that “More than 209,000 cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. are unfilled, and postings are up 74% over the past five years, according to a Peninsula Press (a project of the Stanford University Journalism Program) 2015 analysis of numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” It is pretty clear that while there currently is not enough talent to go around; this is only getting exponentially worse!

The upside for people who currently are in the cyber security profession or those who want to get into it means that:

1. You are going to make about 9% more than other IT workers do at current compensation rates.
2. There is a 36.5% growth rate in cyber security career fields which is not sustainable for companies and puts existing employees in higher demand to the highest bidder.

Another report included “A report from Cisco puts the global figure at one million cybersecurity job openings. The demand for the (cybersecurity) workforce is expected to rise to 6 million (globally) by 2019, with a projected shortfall of 1.5 million” stated Michael Brown, CEO at Symantec, the world’s largest security software vendor.” This only turns up the anxiety level on companies who are scrambling to avoid being the “breach du jour”.

Compounding matters are that there is a significant increase in regulatory and compliance requirements across all industries. Every compliance framework out there went through major overhauls in 2015. In some cases as is the case for the SSAE 16; doubled in complexity. The situation just got more expensive and complex.

The only clear answers for businesses who want to remain viable in the global cyber threatscape come in the form of increased efficiencies and leveraged resources. Two of the best solutions that have emerged to address these challenges are:

Retain a Cybervisor®

Why should only big business be able to afford world class technology security executive representation? You retain attorneys and accountants to perform complex tasks and represent you; retain technology security executive services and subject matter experts just the same! Even with 7% to 15% average annual increases by cyber security providers it is still less than 50% of the cost increases associated with employees.

Retaining the help from dedicated and verifiable cyber security experts costs less than the expense of hiring just one (1) cyber security employee. And yes, that was a plural not singular expert. With professional Cybervisor services companies get the expertise of many seasoned experts who collaborate and stand together to support their clients.

Automation is Your Friend

It’s time to work smarter and not harder! By utilizing automated cyber security and GRC tools, we have discovered that employees are so much more efficient and effective. In fact utilizing a tool like ITAM consistently makes the cyber security, GRC assessments and reporting processes a whopping 180% more efficient on average. When time is money, ITAM is like getting three (3) dedicated cyber security employees for less than the cost of one (1).

This concept of working smarter not harder applies to all cyber security and GRC service providers world-wide. Why pay for your current third-party provider’s overhead and antiquated assessment processes when you can significantly reduce your expenses and increase your profit margins simply by using a modern, intelligently designed cutting-edge GRC tool like ITAM?

ITAM is an intelligently designed GRC tool that gets you from zero to compliance in record time by eliminating the audit anarchy you are accustomed to. There is a superior solution to this old-school problem and ITAM is keystone to that solution.

Why are data breaches escalating?

Could it be that this problem threatening business and consumers alike is directly related to service auditors and security assessors are still using the same audit and assessment tools again this year? Data breaches are escalating and the technology your service provider is using and the way they conduct assessments may be the problem.

Fact 1

Traditional audit and assessment sampling rates are up to 15% of the total population of available evidence and artifacts. This leaves an 85% margin of error! Imagine of you lost 85% of your vision. How well would you be able to see the world around you?

ITAM enables a sampling rate of 100% through advance automation and proactive assessment capabilities giving you and your assessors perfect 20/20 visibility into your organization. You will spot the problems before cyber criminals do.

FACT 2

Traditional audit and assessment tools involve the square peg in a round hole adaptation of a simple spreadsheet. There are huge implications and opportunities for the breakdown of cyber security, audit and compliance assessment efforts simply due to the technical limitations of a spreadsheet. Adding insult to injury is that, due to this antiquated approach, it is impossible to document audit and assessment responses in a meaningful way.

ITAM has Big Data capabilities engineered into it with unlimited assessment field and 100% SQL table usage maximizing your ability to manage assessment information and meaningful responses. Check out exactly what the technical limits are on that spreadsheet.

Fact 3

When an estimated 96% of all data breach potential is eliminated by simple and intermediate controls. The identification and examination of these requires an approach that is well established in best practice proactive methodologies; that is considering the big picture and not a paltry 15%; that provides an active roadmap and gets you to the successful destination regardless of your level of expertise; and does not break the bank.

The IT Audit Machine provides all of these advantages and so much more in an extremely affordable package any organization can afford and avoid being on the next industry report of data breaches. When 60% of SMB’s are out of business within 6 months of a data breach, why risk your company, livelihood and reputation?