An actual cyber security breach would put Hard Rock Hotel and Casino at the front of the corporate wreckage A-List and be hard hitting on both the business and careers.

The past twelve (12) months have produced cyber security breaches at Sony, Target, Neiman Marcus, Michaels, Affinity Gaming, P.F. Chang’s, Albertson’s and SuperValu, Home Depot, JP Morgan Chase, Staples and the list goes on. News that the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino may be joining the roster was reported by CNBC on May 4th 2015.

For the first time in history CEOs are losing their jobs because of data breaches. Scrutiny of corporate leadership’s management of cyber security preparedness and incident response will undoubtedly continue to increase in the form of litigation and regulatory action after a major incident. The impact an actual cyber security breach would have on Hard Rock remains to be seen.

The escalating prevalence of widely publicized cyber security breaches has lit the fires for change in the attitudes of business leaders and consumers when it comes to cyber security. Gone are the days when board members and the C-suite ignore the drastic business impact a cyber security breach has on a company.

Within this firestorm, consumers are adding fuel by demanding more transparency, accountability and rapid remediation from businesses after a data breach occurs. The result is that cyber security is one of the highest priorities facing businesses and regulators. All of these high-profile security breaches were avoidable through the diligent application of proactive cyber security assessment, audits and strategy.

Michael Peters, CEO of Lazarus Alliance said “It is undeniable that prevention is the better alternative to incident response. A company can be either proactive or reactive to cyber security and only one approach will keep a company off the breach reports!”

Despite overwhelming evidence, businesses will increase focus more on cyber security breach controls against external hackers and cyber criminals this year, many more will miss the importance of protecting against insider and trusted partner threats. Employees and trusted Third-Parties negligence will continue to be the leading cause of cyber security breach incidents for the foreseeable future.

Between human error and trusted insiders with malicious intent, history has shown that the majority of cyber security breaches originate inside the company’s technological and physical walls. Employees and negligence are the leading cause of cyber security incidents but remain the least reported issue.

The Proactive Cyber Security™ services at Lazarus Alliance is years ahead of this issue by offering IT Audit & Compliance, IT Risk Management and IT Governance & Policy solutions to companies that would rather proactively prevent data breaches than be in the news and in the next industry data breach report. These services include proactive SSAE 16 internal audit services.

Lazarus Alliance assessors have a deep wellspring of cyber security, regulatory and assessment experience to draw from. Continuing to shape the industry with breakthrough proprietary technology such as the IT Audit Machine (ITAM), the Policy Machine and Proactive Cyber Security™ methodology all of which exceed baseline requirements providing superior results to our clients.

Learn more about Lazarus Alliance and why Lazarus Alliance is Proactive Cyber Security™

Lazarus Alliance unveils the next generation of cyber crime prevention.

Lazarus Alliance released the next generation weapon in the corporate arsenal to fight cyber crime, corporate fraud and criminal cyber-misconduct with the IT Audit Machine (ITAM).

Considered to be the best assessment tool for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) in the global business community, this next generation of ITAM ups the ante by managing big data and frameworks with virtually endless possibilities. These new enterprise capabilities coupled with the already powerful analytic and logic features are a technological force to be reckoned with.

Michael Peters, CEO of Lazarus Alliance said “The IT Audit Machine is just one of the many innovations from Lazarus Alliance that really sets us apart from other cyberspace security, governance, risk and compliance firms.”

Gone are the days where audits, assessments and compliance work was overshadowed by endless spreadsheets, version control madness, escalating costs and audit anarchy. The IT Audit Machine puts the power of technology, collaboration and simplicity to work for the entire enterprise and does it in a progressive, proactive way.

Cyber crime prevention is of paramount concern to organizations of all sizes, all industries and on all parts of the world. Lazarus Alliance put its extensive experience in cyber crime and fraud prevention in the governance, risk and compliance (GRC) spaces to work for the global business community.

“We have for the first time in history seen the CEO of major global brands lose their jobs because of cyber crime. These criminal acts could have been prevented through a proactive cyber security position. Lazarus Alliance is proactive cyber security.” said Peters.

Lazarus Alliance’s primary purpose is to help organizations attain, maintain, and demonstrate compliance and information security excellence, in any jurisdiction. Lazarus Alliance specializes in IT security, risk, privacy, governance, cyberspace law and compliance leadership solutions and is fully dedicated to global success in these disciplines.

Learn more about Lazarus Alliance and why Lazarus Alliance is Proactive Cyber Security™!

Recently Michael Peters, CEO of Lazarus Alliance, spent time with David Cogan of Money Radio and eLiances discussing the differences between proactive cyber security and reactive cyber security. You can replay the broadcast as heard on money radio.

An overview of the discussion was when you think cyber security, what comes to your mind first?

I’ve posed that question to many an audience over the years and most frequently the response is what folks see on the nightly news or through some new source. Recently people will respond with examples such as Home Depot, Target, Sony, JP Morgan and the European Central Bank which of course are just a few of the most notable instances of breaches we seen in the news over the last twelve months.

I point out to these same groups that in reality, there are only two forms of cyber security and its Proactive Cyber Security and Reactive Cyber Security. I’ll explain what that means and let’s see if you agree.

Reactive Cyber Security situations are going to be in the news because something bad has happened. Reactive security companies help you clean up the mess. When you become aware of a cyber security breach at some company, it’s probably because you are watching the business catastrophe unfolding through some syndication source. You eventually get a notification by the company, your bank or credit card provider informing you that your private and personal information has been stolen which leaves you to worry and watch hoping that nothing bad happens to you.

From a business standpoint, it has become painfully obvious at all levels including shareholders that cyber breaches have a really negative impact on business value not to mention careers of everyone involved especially at the highest levels of the company. We have all seen for the first time in 2014 CEOs, CIOs and CISOs losing their jobs as a direct result of culpability or negligence on their part.

No doubt about it, cyber security breaches have a hugely negative impact on the financial health and reputation of the victim company.

So this brings me to the second form of cyber security which is proactive cyber security. Proactive Cyber Security is all about keeping you out of the news by implementing the right controls and countermeasures. We know it’s not enough for the government or the private sector to have rules and regulations. PCI DSS certification did not save Target, Home Depot or other retailers. The FFIEC or the NIST Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity did not save JP Morgan or other financial institutions from their breaches.

You need qualified assistance to make it effective. It’s tough when there are not enough talented cyber security professionals to go around. Businesses are short-staffed. Academia is not training and educating enough to keep up with the demand.

The best possible course of action to avoid being the latest corporate cyber security breach is to take a proactive approach. I’m the CEO and Lazarus Alliance is Proactive Cyber Security™.

Be sure to check out the dynamic group of hybrid entrepreneurs who spend time together at eLiances where entrepreneurs align hosted by David Cogan.

Thank you to Money Radio for inviting me to discuss the differences between Proactive and Reactive Cyber Security.