J2SECOPS WEEKLY NEWS: This week in the J2 CSC, I’ll take the win, especially considering how few and far between victories can be; as we look at collaboration and its positive inroads into global Cybersecurity ills.

I received an Email this morning from a long-time customer, you know the one, the potentially dreaded: “We have been compromised!”, which quickly took a really unexpected turn. I don’t think we as Cybersecurity professionals spend enough time discussing the wins,
I think we spend way too much time on the losses.

The email had the Subject Line: “Thank You” and ominously started with: “Gentlemen,”

It then continued: “As you know, we successfully (and highly so) thwarted a potential Ransomware attack. The succinct and active automated response from our technology platforms along with J2, promptly followed by mails and calls from your team”.

“This in itself is a testament to the phenomenal service and response time of j2, but upon further inspection, it would appear that the Ransomware in question had its latest update on the same day as the detection date, which means not only did we as Security Team respond and stop a potential catastrophe, it was with a zero-day attack!”

It finally concluded: “Hats off to your team, it has been, is and will be for a long time to come, an absolute pleasure to partner with you on our digital security adventure.

My first though was back to the conversation when this incident occurred and that my first Instinct, at the time, was to think about all the things that could have gone wrong, and better understand the attack vectors and what could have been done differently, and what we could have done better, then I had an a moment of enlightenment; this was a win! Through a combination of Technology, People and specifically collaboration, Automation or AI, we were collectively, able to thwart the attack – so we should take a moment to enjoy this brief moment in time;

So this one goes out to all the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers and customers that have to put up with this mad lot and that get up each and every day and fight the good fight,

I think the quote by Rob Siltanen is quite appropriate to celebrate this one small step:
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

I’ll take the win!

And with this in mind, enjoy our roundup of stories for this week…

When Data-Centric Security is the “Secret Sauce” of Cybersecurity

As the name implies, data-centric security protects information at the data level instead of just protecting devices, applications and the perimeter. Data-centric security allows companies to automatically enforce adaptive usage controls on sensitive information, and critical systems; not only controlling who can access information, but what actions (view, edit, copy, print, share or screen share) are allowed once access is given and from which device or geo.

Collaboration is essential - from working with vendors to third-party contractors, it is key to getting the job done and staying competitive.
While data security may not be equally top of mind for companies across all industry, the proof is in the numbers - companies in every industry must be prepared.

Protecting Your ‘Secret Sauce - Why Data-Centric Security Is Key|  Vishal Gupta

Cybersecurity collaboration is key to dark web deterrent

Vigilance remains high as cyber intelligence experts anticipate the next big ransomware threat.
As well as adding more patches, experts say companies and public bodies need to collaborate more to tackle the threat from leaked cyber weapons.
It is estimated that at least a dozen NSA tools are being discussed and worked on by hacking forums on the dark web.

Cyber security collaboration is key to dark web deterrent |  The Financial Times

Cyber security demands change in approach

We are already witnessing a coming together of sorts of technologies and their application like AI and People, where systems together with people are acting and providing analytic data that indicates ransomware attacks and if it is successfully exploiting weakness within the organisation at this very moment.

Already we are seeing a paradigm shift in incident response which fundamentally differs from our prejudiced understanding. Incidents are already the becoming mere possibility of a breach. Incidents are the proactive insights and remediation through active collaboration between technology, people and AI.

Cyber security demands change in approach | Warwick Ashford