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™

Resistance is NOT Futile for Cyber Insurance Insurers

If you think that the business general liability or even purpose built cyber insurance policies will cover you in the event of a cyber-security breach, it’s highly likely you are mistaken. In fact, it is in your carrier’s best business interest to deny your claim.

Chances are the exemptions in your cyber insurance policy exclude coverage for access to or disclosure of confidential or personal information which accounts for the majority of claims. Cyber criminals are in it for profit which means they are going after confidential or personal information.

Cyber insurance claims are being denied when breaches occur as the result of hackers exploiting commonly known security vulnerabilities which amounts to negligence on the insured. When on average 96% of all breaches are avoidable, the only thing that stands between being breached and having your cyber insurance claim denied is the effective implementation of controls and countermeasures from taking a Proactive Cyber Security approach.

Lazarus Alliance is Proactive Cyber Security™

Lazarus Alliance will examine your policy during an IT risk assessment or Cybervisor™ readiness review and help you understand where your vulnerabilities and threats to your business may be. It may very well be that cyber insurance policy you purchased to protect your business.

Risk management is so fundamentally important to business survival. Organizations all around the world are suffering through cyber-attacks; some unsuccessfully too. Espionage and Hacktivism is on the rise. Additionally, the global economic crisis exposed major weaknesses in the systems of financial institutions, motivating companies to reassess their IT. As if that were not enough, increased regulatory demands, pressure from top management for faster and better business information, and advances in risk management by top-tier competitors are prompting smart companies to transform their risk IT functions.

Is Anyone Exempt From Cyber Crime Anymore?

With a show of those virtual hands, who has been notified by their credit card company about their personal information being exposed to cyber-crime? Now, with a show of those virtual hands; who has never been notified?

If you think the problem is that cyber criminals are too good; you are mistaken. The problem is that companies protecting your personal information are not doing enough to be better. It is not too difficult to be proactive and prevent cyber-crime. It is not too difficult to deter cyber-criminals. It takes Vigilance-Technology-Governance (aka. The Security Trifecta™) coupled with qualified security practitioners to effectively implement the controls and countermeasures.

Cyber-criminals are increasingly working in teams because one person does not have all of the answers, but collectively teams tend to. The same scenarios applies to security and risk professionals fighting the good fight. We are better when we work as a team.

Your Personal CXO ® Cybervisor ® Service Overview

Lazarus Alliance supports our customers as a trusted cyber advisor, providing consulting services which identify and improve our customers’ operations across Information Technology (IT), finance, human resources and other mission-critical areas preventing cyber crime.

Lazarus Alliance services include:

• Cyberspace Security: Part of your cyber crime prevention road-map to success includes evaluating and transforming technology that finds equilibrium between high security and high productivity. Lazarus Alliance will get you there by leveraging our extensive industry recognized risk management methodology, business acumen and cutting edge approach to transforming your business.
• Cyberspace Law: Lazarus Alliance is a highly specialized and experienced cyber investigation and digital forensics firm that helps Corporations, Small Businesses, Law Firms and Private Individuals with complex technology issues. Lazarus Alliance is a leading cyber investigation company and litigation support firm that will work on your behalf quickly and accurately achieving the desired resolutions.
• Regulatory Compliance: Lazarus Alliance is a specialized firm providing international value added assurance, IT security and IT compliance services; focusing on designing solutions for customers seeking to comply or in the process of becoming compliant. It is our goal to provide excellent customer service while empowering our clients to understand all elements of compliance. We team with our clients to meet their needs and the stringent demands of their customers and vendors.
• Governance: Lazarus Alliance provides support to cyber security programs by building and evolving effective governance strategy in order to establish the proper authority and accountability. Grounded within Lazarus Alliance’s HORSE Framework and The Security Trifecta methodology, our approach leverages a holistic understanding of the key mission, people, process, and technologies within the organization to develop a governance program aligned to the culture and mission of the agency or company.
• Risk Management: Lazarus Alliance understands that in order for organizations to effectively manage risk and cyber crime they must have the ability to forecast and model events based upon an aggregation and correlation of prevailing data through key risk indicators that align with business objectives. We provide our customers with services to build a risk management capability so that they can transform into more risk aware organizations, with the ability to quickly and effectively identify and address risk.
• Strategic Planning: How do you get to “Point B” if you don’t own a map? Lazarus Alliance sets you up for success by providing meaningful insight into your business through risk assessments and leveraging our wellspring of intellectual property.
• Technology Transformation: Part of your road-map to success includes evaluating and transforming technology that finds equilibrium between high security and high productivity. Lazarus Alliance will get you there by leveraging our extensive industry recognized risk management methodology, business acumen and cutting edge approach to transforming your business.
• Human Capital Assessments: We have been in the business of assessing risk to business for a long time and along the way have developed leading edge risk assessment techniques and technologies that in part, help in evaluating the risks from your human capital. It’s a well-established fact that our trusted insiders present more of a risk to our business than external threats do. Lazarus Alliance is leading the way in human capital assessments.