I read a Tweet recently from “Accidental CISO” about collecting laptops from terminated employees during the pandemic that I deemed retweetable (if that is a word).  Some comments focused more on the hardware – how to get it back – but this got me thinking more about what is actually on the hardware. What sensitive information, like intellectual property, might reside on them?  It also made me think, in a situation like this, how the potential for insider theft is far greater.

Files containing IP can be either printed on home printers, sent over email to personal accounts, saved on a USB stick, screen captured and so on.  These are not necessarily actions of malice, but obvious desperation to assist with the basic need for employment.

Why do so many data loss prevention projects either stall or de-scope? Why with significant industry expenditures in the space do we continue to experience record-breaking instances of data breaches and exfiltration? What are the latest methodologies and technologies security and privacy executives should consider to protect their sensitive data and comply with ever-increasing and pervasive privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.

Join Deborah Kish, former Gartner data security analyst, as she shares insights gleaned from hundreds of sessions with CISO, CIO, CDO, CPO and CCOs to offer an insider’s playbook to implementing an unstructured data security and privacy program. Whether migrating from existing DLP point solutions or wondering where your unstructured data lives today, Deborah will provide a life-cycle perspective as to the best methodologies and how to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued enterprise projects.

Register for this webinar and learn how:

• A file-centric approach overcomes data leakage shortfalls of traditional approaches and best meets new privacy requirements
• Aligning data classification with your data protection methods will put your projects on the fast track
• Automation and integration of discovery, classification, access control and file-based encryption is your best first line defense

This year at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in National Harbor, MD there was a lot of focus on reducing business risk through improved cybersecurity that focuses on protecting data as users create and share it.  One area of concern to many organizations is how to find and protect sensitive data without impacting how employees and customers work.  Data protection regulations, like GDPR, are making things more complicated, but companies need to balance security with productivity.

At the Fasoo booth, a lot of people talked about issues with combining different technologies that still focus more on protecting the location of data rather than the data itself.  One executive from a manufacturing company talked about how her DLP system can tell them that sensitive documents were shared with external parties, but can’t really control their access or stop them from going out.  This is a common concern as companies use DLP, CASB and other technologies that can’t control access everywhere.

Ron Arden, Executive Vice President & COO, Fasoo, Inc. spoke to security professionals and executives on how to meet the data-centric requirements of the NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500 cybersecurity regulations for financial services organizations at the 2017 Rochester Security Summit at the Rochester Hyatt in Rochester, NY.

Ron delivered a presentation entitled “Do You Have a Pathway to Data Security and Compliance?” as part of the risk and compliance track during the October 19 – 20, 2017 event.  With deadlines approaching for some of the more challenging components of the NYDFS cybersecurity regulations, timing was right as Ron reviewed results from the recent Ponemon Institute survey on NYDFS readiness and Fasoo’s approach to help meet the technical challenges of protecting unstructured data or data stored in files.  This is an area that most organizations are struggling with, since about 80 percent of their information is not in databases, but is in office documents.

It’s a good question and one that many organizations don’t think about thoroughly.  You take a lot of time onboarding an employee by doing background checks, checking references, and determining what information systems and data access the person needs to do her or his job.  You may have a comprehensive provisioning system that grants access to all applications and data.

But how about when someone leaves?  It’s great that you de-provision access the INSTANT someone becomes a former employee, but how do you protect the confidential data she or he may have been taking out each night for the last few weeks?  Organizations spend a lot of money guarding against cyberattacks from hackers and other external people, but many don’t do enough to protect their data from threats of former employees.

This year at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in National Harbor, MD there was a lot of focus on managing and mitigating risk to a business and how to  improve cybersecurity through data-centric protection.  One area of concern to many organizations is how to comply with some of the newer cybersecurity and data protection regulations, like GDPR, as governments are trying to improve customer and business data security.

With all the recent malware, ransomware and data breaches, there was obviously a focus on how to prevent harm to one’s business.  As businesses move more into the realm of digital business, the concept of trust is becoming a larger issue.  If your customers do not trust you with their data, they will be less likely to do business with you.

Ron Arden, Executive Vice President and COO of Fasoo, Inc., presented Countdown to Compliance with NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500 during FinCyberSec 2017 at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ on May 31, 2017.  Ron was part of a day long event that focused on technical, regulatory, process and human dimensions of cyber threats faced by financial systems and markets.

Dr. Paul Rohmeyer, who organized the conference, started the day with opening remarks that set the stage for how the world of business and cybersecurity has changed in the last year.  With constant attacks, like the WannaCry ransomware attack and the ever changing business and technology landscape, financial services companies have a lot to address as they look to safely promote new business models.

Following our successful event in Rochester, the second of the NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500 roadshow events at Phillips Lytle LLP in Buffalo, NY on May 17, 2017 brought together executives, insurance, legal, and security professionals in a great forum to discuss challenges for financial services organizations to meet the new cybersecurity regulations that went into effect on March 1, 2017.  A full house heard some practical advice designed to assist entities regulated by the New York Division of Financial Services (NYDFS) comply with the new regulations.

Jennifer Beckage of Phillips Lytle LLP started with her “Survival Guide to Navigating the NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation”.  Jennifer talked about the challenges covered entities face not only developing their own cybersecurity programs, but how those spill over to their service providers.  Developing, implementing and monitoring vendor management programs will affect contracts, day-to-day operations and the technology used to secure and control information shared.

Technology advancements and rapid digitization of corporate information has made it easier for modern companies to conduct everyday business transactions. Today, business data is easier to access and share, giving companies the opportunity to reach more customers and conduct business quicker. At the same time, the unprecedented volumes of data created, accessed, shared, stored and the variety of sources is forcing companies to re-evaluate their cyber-security approach.  The collaborative nature of how business is done has extended the corporate perimeter. As a result, companies are seeing an ever increasing need for higher visibility into data, how their users access and use it and the secure it using encryption.

I recently wrote an article for Corporate Compliance Insights that focused on the importance of organizations taking proactive steps to safeguard high-value corporate data from internal and external vulnerabilities. High value information such as trade secrets, product designs, financial data and customer data can change hands often within an organization, including among people who may not need access to this confidential material. It is the sole responsibility of that organization to protect the data from employee error in the greater effort to protect the data from external malicious actors.

As our Ponemon study, “Risky Business: How Company Insiders Put High Value Information at Risk,” taught us, employees, particularly those in the sales department, C-level executives, and finance and human resources, pose the biggest security risk to their companies.  The IT security practitioners at these companies admittedly do not have the resources to prevent data leaking by employees. Not a calming thought for those who trust their information to be safe.