By Scott Singer July 17, 2021 The connected nature of today’s world creates great opportunities for reaching people and customers, but it also allows the same opportunity for hackers. Covid 19 pushed the workforce outside the normal network perimeter generating even more opportunities for hackers. In this environment, it was only a matter of time before ransomware attacks evolved and combined with supply chain attacks. Ransomware is Increasingly Lucrative for AttackersRansomware as a Service (RaaS) is a business model where bad actors can lease software similar to what legitimate Software as a Service (SaaS) developers create. Anyone can subscribe to ...

By Daniel L. Mooradian and Michael Johnson July 17, 2021 When people think of Medical device cybersecurity they most often think about privacy, the protection of patient data and HIPAA compliance. While this remains the focus of many in the industry, cybersecurity professionals are increasingly concerned about the potential impact of security on patient health and safety. Rapid advances in computer science, engineering and electronics have led to a new generation of connected medical devices that permit access to real-time patient data and the opportunity to monitor and adjust treatment remotely. These advances offer benefits to patients and caregivers alike ...

By Lysa Myers July 17, 2021 With new ransomware attacks making daily headlines, it’s hard to imagine any part of this type of malware being considered an “emerging threat”. But as it becomes more mundane, ransomware is also becoming more painful. Recovering from an attack is now not just a matter of restoring from backup, or of paying criminals and hoping that their decryption tool works properly. It’s now about mitigating a toolkit of terror that threat actors have at their disposal. Attacks get wider, deeper, and dirtierAs victims have gotten wise to the ways of getting around previous iterations ...

By Judy Hatchett June 16, 2021 Up until a few years ago, people in general did not take information security very seriously. Today, the ransomware attacks, data thefts, and disruption have increased, significantly heightening the awareness of how critical information security is to an organization. All businesses, small, medium and large are investing in information security as a part of their core business. It is no longer optional, it is a “must do”. Whether you are a CISO, CSO, Director of Information Security or Manager of Information Security, you are challenged with running your information security department as a business ...

By Tina Meeker June 16, 2021 Whether you have an MBA, an undergraduate degree in business or took a DECA class in high school, you likely are familiar with The Marketing Mix (or 4 Ps) Product, Price, Placement and Promotion. In simply put marketing speak, ‘Product’ is the thing you are selling, ‘Price’ is the cost of the thing, ‘Placement’ is targeting your customers (think demographics or “target market”), and ‘Promotion’ is how you let people know the thing exists AND that they need it. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, Marketing is defined as the process or technique of promoting, selling ...

By Tony Sager June 11, 2021 Have we reached the point where cyber security is a business function? Well, recent events have reminded us that a business doesn’t function without security. But our goal is not security for its own sake. Cybersecurity is not some magical end-state; it’s an essential step on the road to confidence in our business and personal decisions. The focus of cybersecurity has traditionally been on technical things - designing and building technology that embodied desirable security properties, like confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Evidence to support “trust” and confidence would be inherent in the underlying model ...

By Dr. Massoud Amin, Professor – University of Minnesota and Cofounder/Past Chairman – Cyber Security Summit with Lindsay Lien Rinholen, Attorney – OFT Food Safety & Injury Lawyers May 18, 2021 Winston Churchill said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” and the recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, which supplies fuel from Houston to New York, is the perfect example. Pipelines have an opportunity now to strengthen their security by improving strategies and planning to proactively curb cyber attacks. Electric utilities have been in this position and offer two important lessons in developing comprehensive cybersecurity standards. As we ...

by Chris Veltsos  May 19, 2021  Photo credit: Geneva Flower Clock (Geneva, Switzerland) by Phil Veltsos Centuries before dreaming of endless cycles of technology and business disruptions, humans dreamed of beautiful and plentiful gardens. Fast forward to 2021 and in addition to flower gardens and vegetable gardens, humans have built and grown technology gardens. Those gardens support the daily needs of organizations large and small, and enable them to compete and thrive in a global marketplace. Yet, much like regular gardens, our technology gardens suffer when we fail to properly plan, care for, and improve them. This article encourages you ...

By Christopher Buse May 19, 2021 If you ask my wife Beth, what is love? She would say that love is like the two of us walking down a quiet beach at night under the moonlight. But to me, love is all about sitting on a northern Minnesota lake with my friends catching walleyes and drinking some refreshing pale ales. Over my career as an IT security professional and a CPA, it became clear to me that risk assessments are a lot like love. The term means something different to everybody. Absent a generally accepted definition, in this article I ...