Cyber security is key to a sustainable, future-proof digital transformation

The rise of ecommerce, particularly mobile ecommerce, has fundamentally altered both consumer and business buying habits. Organizations are embracing digital transformation in an effort to appease modern buyers and enhance the customer experience while cutting costs and improving efficiency. The 2018 State of Digital Business Transformation survey by IDG found that 89% of organizations have either adopted or plan to adopt a digital-first strategy.

While cutting-edge technologies such as the IoT and IIoT, cloud computing and multi-cloud networks, and low-code platforms provide great benefits to organizations and their customers, they also gift cyber criminals a much larger attack surface. Today’s hackers are more skilled, educated, and well-funded than ever, and the attacks they launch are highly organized, complex and, if successful, destructive. In a survey of IT business leaders by Frost & Sullivan, respondents listed cyber security as their top challenge to navigating digital transformation.

Despite these concerns, too many organizations still view cyber security as an afterthought at best, a stumbling block to innovation at worst. Security can get pushed to the wayside in the rush to implement the day’s newest, shiniest technologies. However, digital transformation isn’t supposed to focus on what’s hip and trendy now; the goal is to ensure that your organization is prepared not just for today’s trends but tomorrow’s opportunities through implementing sustainable, future-proof solutions, and cyber security plays a critical role in this process. Here are a few best practices for integrating cyber security into your digital transformation plans.

Integrate Cyber Security from the Beginning

Digital transformation involves implementing new technology and finding new uses for existing technology. However, application security is often addressed very late in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Three-quarters of security and IT professionals surveyed by Dimensional Research felt that security was addressed “too late in the [development] process, and [applications] must be retrofitted after key decisions have been made.”

Attempting to secure an application late in the SDLC makes the entire process more complex, resulting in delays, budget overruns, or possibly even a failed project. Cyber security should be baked into the SDLC of every digital transformation initiative from the beginning so that potential risks can be identified and addressed early on, and applications can be patched as new cyber threats emerge post-deployment.

Involve Your Security Team in All Important Decisions

Often, cyber security personnel are not included in marketing or business meetings, even though critical decisions are made that impact the technical aspects of the digital transformation initiative. Worse, the security team may not be included in IT meetings or involved in the project at all; only 18% of respondents to the Dimensional Research study reported cyber security personnel being involved in all digital transformation initiatives.

If security personnel are not present to provide input at critical junctures of the project, the end result could be an application that is riddled with security holes. Instead of having security experts swoop in only after an attack has occurred, organizations should take a proactive approach, involve their security teams in all project meetings and decisions, and prevent attacks from happening in the first place.

Don’t Forget the Human Factor

The weakest link in any organization’s cyber security is its own people. Often, organizations lean too heavily on technology to defend against cyber attacks, train only their IT staff on cyber security best practices, or both. Every employee who touches a computer must be trained on cyber security best practices, and the organization must adopt a security-first culture on all levels, from the C-suite down to the reception desk. The human factor is also another reason to involve security at all junctures of a digital transformation initiative; one aspect of secure development is to design applications in such a way as to limit the ability of human error or malicious acts to open up the system to cyber attacks.

Integrating proactive cyber security into digital transformation efforts from the very beginning and creating a security-first culture on all levels of the organization doesn’t just protect against hacks; it also ensures that digital transformation efforts are sustainable and future-proof.

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security 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 cyber security®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.

Yes, U.S. companies must worry about EU GDPR compliance, too. Is your company ready?

With just over three weeks to go until the May 25, 2018, deadline, many U.S. companies are woefully unprepared for the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. In fact, quite a few of them don’t yet realize they have to achieve EU GDPR compliance. A new survey by CompTIA found that “A full 52 percent of 400 U.S. companies surveyed are either still exploring the applicability of GDPR to their business; have determined that GDPR is not a requirement for their business; or are unsure.”

Additional findings from the CompTIA study include:

• Only 13% of U.S. companies surveyed reported having achieved full EU GDPR compliance, with 23% “mostly compliant” and 12% “somewhat compliant.”
• Only 25% of U.S. companies surveyed reported being “very” familiar with the EU GDPR.
• Only 22% of U.S. companies surveyed have developed a GDPR compliance plan, and only 21% have conducted data audits and readiness assessments
• Nearly one-third of U.S. companies surveyed mistakenly believe that the deadline for GDPR compliance is the end of 2018.
• 64% of U.S. companies surveyed are unaware of the [very stiff] penalties for not complying with the GDPR.

Respondents to the CompTIA survey listed accountability and allowing users to correct inaccuracies; data transparency and the rights of users to access their data; user consent; data portability; and the “right to be forgotten” as the most challenging aspects of EU GDPR compliance.

U.S. Companies and EU GDPR Compliance

The applicability of the GDPR to your business is not based on where your company is located, but on where your customers are located. If you conduct business with any individuals or organizations in the European Union, you must comply with the GDPR. Further, in addition to customer data; it also governs employee and human resources data.

How serious is the EU about enforcing GDPR compliance among U.S. companies? Last week, EU authorities flatly rejected a request from U.S.-based ICANN, which is in charge of the WHOIS “internet phonebook,” for more time to make WHOIS GDPR-compliant. Yes, that ICANN, and that WHOIS. This was not foisted on ICANN at the last moment; the organization had a two-year lead time to come up with a solution but dragged its feet. Because of the ICANN GDPR debacle, cyber security experts, law enforcement agencies, and IP attorneys fear that the WHOIS directory will become fragmented or go dark on May 25.

What Does the EU GDPR Mean for U.S. Companies?

The EU GDPR is arguably the most comprehensive, far-reaching data privacy law ever enacted. Among other things:

• It will require impacted companies to fundamentally alter their data governance and bake data security into their products, policies, procedures, and systems from day one.
• It will hold your organization responsible if one of your third-party vendors is breached.
• It grants EU “data subjects” sweeping data privacy rights, including data portability, the right to access their data, the right to withdraw consent, and the “right to be forgotten.”
• It mandates that organizations notify the authorities and affected customers within 72 hours of detecting a breach.

Much like HIPAA, the EU GDPR specifies what organizations must achieve, but it does not prescribe the specific technical controls to get there.

Is your organization ready for the GDPR compliance deadline on May 25? Lazarus Alliance has a free GDPR readiness tool. Click here to take your GDPR readiness assessment and download your free report today!

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security 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 cyber security®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.

The Under Armour breach provides lessons in the do’s and don’ts of enterprise cyber security and compliance with the EU GDPR

Last week, athletic apparel manufacturer Under Armour announced that its popular MyFitnessPal weight loss and fitness tracking app had been hacked, compromising 150 million accounts. The Under Armour breach is the largest data breach so far this year and ranks among the top five to date. It also makes a good case study in the do’s and don’ts of enterprise cyber security. Let’s examine the lessons enterprises can take away from the Under Armour breach and its fallout, especially as the deadline for the EU GDPR approaches on May 25.

If a breach does happen, prompt disclosure is crucial.

The Under Armour breach was discovered on March 25 and disclosed only four days later; compare this to Equifax, which waited several weeks to notify users it had been hacked (and then chose to do so while the nation’s attention was focused on Hurricane Irma), and Uber, which waited more than a year (after attempting to cover the breach up). Prompt disclosure is going to be even more important under the GDPR, which will require organizations to report breaches within 72 hours.

Segment your data, and collect only the data you need.

The Under Armour breach involved only user names, email addresses, and encrypted passwords. The MyFitnessPal app does not collect Social Security numbers or other government identifiers, and payment information is stored separately, in a part of the system the hackers did not breach.

The GDPR requires organizations to bake data security into their products, policies, procedures, and systems from day one. While network segmentation alone does not constitute data security, it goes a long way towards demonstrating due diligence.

The GDPR will also require organizations to provide users with a plain-language explanation of what user data they are collecting and what they intend on doing with it. If you don’t absolutely need a particular piece of personal information to conduct your business, don’t collect it.

Properly encrypt and salt user passwords.

This is where Under Armour dropped the ball. The company states that while “the majority” of the compromised passwords were hashed using the robust bcrypt hashing function, at least some of the passwords were hashed using the notoriously hackable SHA-1 function. Under Armour has not disclosed why only some of the passwords were encrypted with bcrypt. It also has not specified whether the bcrypt-hashed passwords were salted for extra protection, which involves appending random data that is unique to each user and saving it along with their password.

To properly protect user passwords and fulfill the security requirements of the GDPR, make sure you are using a robust hashing function and salting user passwords. As strong as bcrypt is, it is not unbreakable; the Ashley Madison hack involved 36 million passwords hashed using bcrypt.

Do not reuse passwords.

Although the Under Armour breach yielded “only” email addresses and login credentials, not payment data or sensitive personal data like Social Security Numbers, a lot of people use the same set of login credentials on multiple sites. Armed with these credentials, hackers could attempt to use them on banking, shopping, or social media sites and to access victims’ email accounts. This underscores the importance of using a different, strong password for every system, website, and app.

If you have a MyFitnessPal account, you should log in and change your password right now. If you reused your MyFitnessPal password on any other sites, make sure to change those, too.

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security 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 cyber security®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.