In the previous article, we discussed the importance of digital transformation to business, and how this process brings various information security issues with it. Now we will talk a little bit about what are the most common cyberattacks on businesses today and what a weak cybersecurity posture can do to your business, particularly in the healthcare, technology, and payment industries.

See below why the loss of privileged credentials poses serious business risks and how your company can initiate a cyberattack response plan.

What Are Privileged Credentials?

 It is becoming more common to hear about cyberattacks developed by people inside an organization than by outside hackers. This happens because its users, and particularly its most privileged users, are the biggest threat to its cybersecurity. After all, privileged credentials are also called keys to the kingdom, as they provide access to critical actions, such as modifying domain controller settings or transferring financial resources from an organization’s accounts.

These users already have keys to your kingdom and therefore it can be incredibly difficult to identify them and prevent them from abusing their privileges. An unsatisfied employee or someone who should never have had access to sensitive data can financially harm an organization and easily destroy its reputation. 

Knowing this, everyone (not just IT and security teams) must understand what it means to be a privileged user and what you can do to help mitigate the threats they pose. Thus, in times of increased regulatory requirements, including new data protection legislation such as LGPD and GDPR, ensuring the protection of privileged credentials is more than reducing cyber risks and avoiding multi-million-dollar sanctions, it is ensuring business continuity.

What Are Cyber Threats Involving Privileged Credentials?

Because your privileged user accounts have higher access levels than other users, they need to be monitored more closely. The threats privileged user accounts pose can generally be summarized into three main categories.

Accidental Insider Threat

A significant proportion of insider threats are unintentionally caused. All users make mistakes, including those with privileged access. Due to the types of data they have access to, the mistakes privileged users make have far more serious consequences. 

A careless user can make a change to critical business data without thinking about the consequences. Or they can grant unnecessary access to a file share when there is no need for such access. All of these actions unnecessarily put data at risk.

Malicious Insider Threat

Because your privileged user accounts already have access to sensitive data, intentional misuse can be harder to detect than a stranger trying to gain illegitimate access. These people sometimes use the fact that they are not monitored as closely as other users to intentionally abuse their privileges. Their attacks can be opportunistic or premeditated, but they can be devastating anyway.

Outside Invader

External attackers often target your privileged user accounts as they can use the elevated privileges to move around the network undetected. They might try to trick your privileged users into providing them with credentials through phishing attacks, or might try to gain access through brute force.

What Are the Strategies That Can Be Used to Respond to Cyberattacks?

When an incident happens, time is crucial. The longer it takes to respond, the more likely the risks will increase. That’s why it is essential to have an incident response plan. By preparing yourself in advance, you can act quickly to identify and mitigate damage. 

Here are five important activities for developing an effective incident response plan.

Understand Cybersecurity Incidents

What is crucial here is that organizations understand what is normal in their environment and what the potential risks are. If an organization does not know what a normal scenario looks like, how would it detect the abnormal or malicious one?

An information security risk assessment conducted annually or whenever you make significant changes to your organization will help you answer these questions as you analyze how your confidential information is used and how issues can arise.

Make Sure Your Scope Is Appropriate

The number of risks you identify will be incredibly huge, and realistically you won’t be able to deal with all of them.

You must therefore decide which risks to prioritize. Your decision should be based on an assessment of each threat’s potential damage and the likelihood of its occurrence.

Create An Incident Response Plan

With your most important threats identified, it is time to create an incident response plan to deal with them. This is a six-step process:

Preparation: The policies, procedures, governance, communication plans, and technology controls you will need to detect a security incident and continue operations once it occurs.

1. Identification: Organizations need to be able to detect a potential incident. They must understand what information is available and in what location. Logs also need integrity. Can you trust that an attacker has not changed the logs?
2. Containment: How you will isolate the problem and prevent it from causing further damage.
3. Eradication: You should confirm what happened and answer any other questions the organization has.
4. Recovery: The process of returning to business as usual.
5. Lessons Learned: The processes of evaluating the implications of procedures and policies, collecting metrics, meeting reporting and compliance requirements, and identifying lessons that need to be learned.

Train Your Team

The success of your incident response plan depends on how well your team executes it. This includes not just the people responsible for creating and executing the plan, but everyone in your organization.

After all, their work can be interrupted when the plan goes into effect, so you need to make sure they are prepared. This means informing them of the plan, explaining why it is in place, and providing the necessary training to enable them to follow it.

Roles, responsibilities, dependencies, and authorization are also critical. Is the incident team empowered to make difficult and important decisions that could impact the organization’s operations?

Final Thoughts

Cybersecurity is an important topic for every business in today’s hyperconnected world. With fast-growing technologies like cloud, mobility, and virtualization, the security boundaries are a bit blurred and not every organization adequately protects its valuable and confidential information. 

As a result, cyberattacks and data leaks occur more frequently and that is why they are no surprise in the field of Information Security. With the increasing sophistication of attacks on organizations of all sizes, the question is not whether a company will suffer a cyberattack, but when that attack will occur and what the consequences will be. 

Controlling privileged actions in an organization’s infrastructure enables IT systems to be protected from any attempt to perform malicious actions such as theft or improper modifications to the environment – both inside and outside the company. 

In this context, a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution can be considered an important tool to speed up the deployment of a cybersecurity infrastructure. Privileged Access Management is an area of identity security that helps organizations maintain full control and visibility over their most critical systems and data. 

A robust PAM solution ensures that all user actions, including those taken by privileged users, are monitored and can be audited in the event of a security breach. Privileged access control not only reduces the impact of a breach but also builds resilience against other causes of disruption, including insider threats, misconfigured automation, and accidental operator error in production environments. 

Schedule a demo and find out why senhasegura is the best-rated PAM solution (4.8/5) among competitors in Gartner Peer-insights.

The rise of smart devices and shifting customer preferences have driven the global digital transformation at full steam. As a result, companies are discovering more and more opportunities and cutting-edge resources for competitive advantage and growth.

Moreover, the pandemic has forced many organizations to switch to remote work, which has spurred an increase in the adoption of new technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning, internet of things (IoT), big data, and social media. That’s when digital transformation shifted from a long-term goal to reality.

However, the rise of digital transformation initiatives in companies of all sizes is revealing specific vulnerabilities for most organizations. With the emergence of these new technologies, the threat is continually increasing.

This has made it critical for businesses and security teams to manage the risks of digital transformation, increasing and enhancing IT and cyber risk management capabilities to support this new paradigm.

Let’s move on and see how the digital transformation is changing IT and cybersecurity programs.

What Are Cyberattacks Types And Trends?

The future of cybersecurity brings with it many changes, some of which we can predict today. Companies tend to be unprepared for the fastest-spreading threats, including ransomware. Ransomware prevalence increased 365% between Q2 2018 and Q2 2019 and then grew another 148% during the COVID-19 crisis, according to research by Osterman Research.

Attackers’ strategies and techniques change quickly. According to IBM Security X-Force Incident Response, which saw an explosive increase in ransomware attacks especially in Q2 2020, today’s attackers are very agile. Ransom demands are steadily increasing as attackers narrow their focus to victims, such as manufacturers who can incur millions of dollars in losses for a day of downtime and therefore have little tolerance for it.

Threat agents are also combining new extortion tactics based on data theft into ransomware attacks, stealing confidential company information and threatening to make it public if their victims do not pay for the decryption key. These tactics require a review of incident response and crisis recovery plans, but many security teams are not keeping pace.

Learn about the most common types of cyberattacks in companies below.

Malware

Malware is a term used to describe malicious software, including spyware, ransomware, viruses, and worms. Malware breaches a network through a vulnerability, typically when a user clicks a dangerous link or email attachment that installs dangerous software. Once inside a system, malware can do the following:

• Block access to key network components.
• Install additional malware or harmful software.
• Secretly obtain information by transmitting data from the hard drive.
• Stop certain components and make the system inoperable.
  
  

Phishing

Phishing is the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a trusted source, usually via email. The purpose is to steal sensitive data such as credit card and login information or install malware on the victim’s machine. Phishing is an increasingly common cyber threat.

Man-In-The-Middle

Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, also known as spy attacks, occur when attackers enter into a two-party transaction. Once attackers disrupt traffic, they can filter and steal data.

Two common entry points for MitM attacks are:

1. In insecure public Wi-Fi, attackers can insert themselves between a visitor’s device and the network. Without knowing it, the visitor passes all information through the attacker.

2. After a malware has breached a device, an attacker can install software to process all of the victim’s information.
   
   DDoS (Denial-of-Service)

A denial-of-service attack floods systems, servers, or networks with traffic to exhaust resources and bandwidth. As a result, the system is unable to fulfill legitimate requests. Attackers can also use multiple compromised devices to launch this attack. This is known as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

SQL Injection

A Structured Query Language (SQL) injection occurs when an attacker inserts malicious code into a server that uses SQL and forces the server to reveal information it normally would not. An attacker could perform a SQL injection simply by sending malicious code to a vulnerable website search box.

Zero-Day Vulnerability

A zero-day exploit occurs after a network vulnerability is announced, but before a patch or solution is implemented. Attackers target the vulnerability disclosed during this period. Detecting zero-day vulnerability threats requires constant awareness.

DNS Tunneling

DNS Tunneling uses the DNS protocol to communicate DNS traffic over port 53. It sends HTTP and other protocol traffic through DNS. There are several legitimate reasons to use DNS Tunneling. However, there are also malicious reasons to use DNS tunneling via VPN services. They can be used to mask outbound traffic such as DNS, hiding data that is normally shared over an Internet connection. For malicious use, DNS requests are manipulated to extract data from a compromised system into the attacker’s infrastructure. It can also be used to command and control callbacks from the attacker’s infrastructure to a compromised system.

What Are the Risks of a Cyberattack for Companies?

The PWC 2020 Annual CEO Survey has found that North America’s top executives reported cybersecurity as their number-one concern, with half of the respondents describing “extreme concern” regarding their cyber vulnerabilities. As data breaches and attacks become more ubiquitous, with estimates reaching 1 every 5 minutes since the GDPR laws went into effect, organizations are bracing themselves for these cybersecurity threats.

While cybercriminals rarely discriminate, some industries are more vulnerable than others. So, here are some of the industries and sectors most at risk for cyberattacks and breaches.

Healthcare Industry

Healthcare organizations continue to be the ones most exposed to cyberattacks this year. Data breaches and ransomware attacks in the past year alone have cost the industry an estimated $4 billion, with the industry accounting for more than four out of ten breaches as well.

Technology Industry

With the launch of 5G, it is expected that more devices and sensors will be connected to supply chains, communities, organizations, and locations. Although this kicks off a new wave of the communications revolution, experts note this poses new risks for consumers and businesses. As it is a move to all-software networks and wider bandwidth, high-level hackers can exploit these emerging vulnerabilities and have a larger attack surface to work with. Meanwhile, the ubiquity of sensors and devices will require a newer and more rigid framework for endpoint security across all industries.

Financial Market

It is no surprise that cybercriminals are targeting financial data from the banking and finance industry. In fact, a Clearswift survey in the UK has found that over 70% of financial institutions were victims of cyberattacks in the past year. But as institutions and organizations implement stricter protections and protocols, some sectors of the industry remain vulnerable. While relatively small in scale, attacks on retirement accounts carry enormous risks.

The losses are not just monetary: according to a McAfee survey, 92% of companies felt other damages rather than just monetary losses. These losses include reduced efficiency and downtime, operational costs for incident response, and reputational damage. Nowadays, more and more people are considering trust as an aspect when relating to companies. In times of digital transformation and greater competition in the market, this makes all the difference.

Loss of customer and stakeholder trust can be the most damaging impact of cybercrime, as the vast majority of people would not do business with a company that has been breached, especially if it did not protect its customers’ data. This can translate directly into business loss as well as the devaluation of the brand you have worked so hard to build. Accepting a reputation scam can also affect your ability to attract top talent, vendors, and investors.

So far, how do you assess your company’s cybersecurity posture? If you believe there are actions to improve your posture, keep reading the article in part 2 available here.

According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the world ended 2020 with 300 billion passwords to protect. And the trend shows this number will increase dramatically. Email accounts (personal and professional), banking services, corporate systems, devices, and applications are some examples that require authentication through passwords. And with the increase in the number of data leaks, it is easy to find compromised credentials on forums on the dark web being sold for pennies.

And yes, we know that it is not easy to manage so many passwords. Even the most tech-savvy can struggle to manage and protect credentials in so many different environments. In times of personal data protection legislation, such as LGPD and GDPR, ensuring the protection of such data has become more than a security requirement – it is a business must.

Despite all the risks associated with their use, many users and companies use passwords that are easy to guess, such as numbers or sequential letters (123456 or abcdef). SolarWinds itself, the victim of a serious attack on its supply chain, was using the password solarwinds123 in its infrastructure. Certainly, your email password or mine is stronger than the one used by this American technology company.

So, on this World Password Day, here are some tips that should be considered by users to keep their data protected:

1. Use long and complex passwords. This prevents hackers from using techniques to guess them. However, just using complex passwords may not be enough to protect them from hackers.
2. Many devices are configured with default passwords. Change them immediately.
3. Avoid reusing your passwords on different accounts. Also, constantly check if you have already been the victim of a data leak through senhasegura Hunter. If so, change your passwords immediately.
4. Configure your passwords to be changed frequently. The ideal is at least every 3 months.
5. Do not write down, store in an easily accessible place, or share your passwords with others, thus avoiding unauthorized access.
6. Consider password management solutions, or even privileged access management (PAM), to manage the use of systems and devices.
7. Use Multiple-Factor Authentication (MFA) mechanisms to add a layer of security to your accounts.
8. Set up means of retrieving access, such as including phone numbers or emails.

Passwords are one of the oldest security mechanisms in the computing world and are also one of the main attackvectors by hackers. And in the “new normal” era, with increasing threats resulting from the covid-19 pandemic, it is vital that users be alert and properly protect their digital identities. In this way, we can avoid cyberattacks that can cause considerable damage not only to people, but also to companies. And on this World Password Day, remember: security starts with you!

Protecting privileged credentials is essential in the cybersecurity strategies of companies of all sizes and verticals. According to Verizon in its Data Breach Investigations Report 2021, 61% of data leaks involved privileged credentials. No wonder they are called “keys to the kingdom”, as they allow access to valuable information from the organization and which are often targeted by cybercriminals. Thus, protecting these “keys” from malicious attackers, granting secure access, and properly monitoring the actions performed in the environment through privileged access is essential not only in your cybersecurity strategies but also for business continuity. 

It is no wonder that Gartner has chosen Privileged Access Management, or PAM, as the number-one security project for two years in a row. But what are the main trends and which capabilities offered by senhasegura meet the requirements established by the market according to Gartner?

First of all, we need to address what Gartner is and its importance to the technology market. Founded in 1979 in the city of Stamford, Connecticut, Gartner works through its network of 16,000 associates spread across 100 countries, assisting organizational leaders with their business insights. What makes Gartner different from other companies in this market is that, while most of them work only with management consulting for their clients, Gartner also works in the development of market research, in addition to events, when its analysts offer tech-related sessions for their clients and non-clients. 

Gartner defines the PAM market as a fundamental security technology that aims to protect human and non-human accounts (also called machine accounts or service accounts), credentials, and operations that offer a high level of privilege. This type of privileged access differs from others in that it allows maintenance features, configuration changes, and adjustments to the security controls implemented in an organization’s infrastructure. Thus, it is necessary to properly manage all accesses performed in the environment, and only authorized users should be able to access data and systems. It is worth mentioning that in a scenario of increasing cyberattacks and data leaks, one needs to implement strict controls to manage privileged user access. It is estimated that, by 2022, 90% of organizations will recognize that mitigating PAM risk is fundamental risk control, a 70% increase over 2020.

Since 2020, Gartner finds that the PAM market continues to mature with accelerated adoption. It is estimated that the size of this market will reach $2.9 billion in 2024, an increase of more than 50% if compared to 2018, and that it will reach $2.2 billion in 2021, an increase of 16% over the previous year. Also, Gartner estimates that, by 2022, 70% of organizations will implement practices associated with PAM across all of their use cases, a 40% increase over 2020.

This expansion comes through the increased adoption of PAM by companies of all sizes. Once limited to medium and large companies, we have seen increasing PAM implementation in small organizations, primarily due to the shift in cyberattackers’ focus. As global companies already have a certain maturity in cybersecurity, hackers have preferred to take advantage by exploiting vulnerabilities in those most vulnerable companies, which in many cases do not even have a specific area for Information Security. By 2022, 60% of organizations will realize the benefits of PAM, in addition to the greater reliability and faster responses to changing IT environments, a 30% increase over today. And to respond to this scenario, also considering the migration to remote working models, PAM vendors started to offer solutions in SaaS environments. This implementation model allows lower licensing, deployment, and operation costs as well as lower Time to Value.

In this scenario, while small businesses are starting with basic PAM use cases such as credential discovery, remote session management, and elevation of privilege, larger companies have been exploring more advanced use cases. These cases include, for example, protecting credentials used by machines and software, the so-called secrets, and auditing privileged sessions. In addition, global and large organizations have also been demanding more elevation of privilege for a limited time through Just-in-Time (JIT) approaches, allowing for a smaller attack surface and reduction of cyber risks. 

To help organizations of all sizes choose which PAM solution to deploy in their infrastructure, IT leaders should use Gartner’s Magic Quadrant reports as a guide. The Magic Quadrant for PAM allows you to assess different vendors and their market positioning, as well as their vision and how they perform according to Gartner’s market vision. This is done through the two axes of the quadrant: one axis representing the vendor’s market awareness, called Completeness of Vision, and the other that reflects the Ability to Execute its market view.

In the Magic Quadrant for PAM 2021 report, Gartner highlights the attention vendors have paid to remote privileged access and secret management in DevOps environments, as well as how PAM is currently a mature market. Even with a reduction to 10 vendors in the Magic Quadrant, once again, senhasegura was present as the only one from Brazil and Latin America. Positioned as a Challenger vendor, senhasegura stood out for its considerable evolution in the Ability to Execute axis. 

As a strong point, Gartner’s report brings the rapid improvement in senhasegura’s capabilities and our ability to deliver new product features in the last year. According to Gartner, senhasegura has one of the most technically advanced PAM solutions. Also, the report highlights our ability to discover and add privileged accounts and to automate privileged tasks, or PTA. Gartner chose senhasegura as the best solution on the market in these aspects. Another highlight in the report was our pricing policy, which is considered highly competitive and below average for all scenarios assessed by Gartner. 

Finally, the report brings the Customer’s Choice distinction as a strong point of senhasegura, which is obtained through the Peer Insights review platform. In their reviews, clients positively rated the ease of use of our PAM platform, highlighting the user-friendly interface and easy-to-implement features.

As a roadmap, Gartner highlights our plans to use Artificial Intelligence to analyze sensitive data in automation scripts and source code, in addition to the inclusion of Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) capability.

We at senhasegura are proud of the work we have done and the recognition of all this effort not only by Gartner, through the Magic Quadrant report, but also by our clients through the Peer Insights platform. These results indicate that we are on the right path towards the next magic quadrant: the leaders.

Currently, the use of information is a great ally for companies from different industries. However, along with this, comes the need to protect this information with what is called information security. But do you know what the pillars of information security are?

This article will address these pillars to bring greater clarification and knowledge on the topic, which is of great importance.

Importance of Information Security

Information security works to protect the data and information that a company has against external attacks and data theft. That is because, with technological transformation, the data that a company owns has become one of its most important and valuable assets.

Also, concerning data from third parties, such as customers, it is essential to have protection for a company to work in compliance with the Brazilian legislation that deals with the matter.

In this sense, the company must have excellent information security behavior, with strategies and mechanisms that are efficient and guarantee the integrity and complete security of all data. 

To guide the entire protection network, some pillars are used to obtain the maximum level of security.

They are the following:

• Confidentiality;
• Integrity;
• Availability.

In the following topics, take a look at what each of the pillars described above means to understand more how information security works.

Learn More About Confidentiality

With the Confidentiality pillar, information security works with limited access to the content of stored data. Access to information can only be allowed to authorized people.

With that, not everyone can have unrestricted access, and the system is designed to open information exclusively under authorization.

Learn More About Integrity

In addition to the pillar above, Integrity is another one that must be respected so that information security is robust and adequate.

In other words, integrity means that there must be confirmation that the information is truthful. For this, the pillar protects the data so that it is not tampered with or changed without the proper authorization of those who have access.

Visit our website and find other articles like this one to learn more about information security and related topics of great importance!

Learn More About Availability

Furthermore, the third pillar is Availability, which states that, whenever necessary, data will be available for access. Of course, as the pillars are complementary, this one is only valid for authorized accesses.

Therefore, it offers, within the system, the guarantee that data will not be deleted or relocated and that it can be requested and accessed by authorized people, entities, or processes when it is necessary to have access to the stored information.

So, by integrating these three main pillars, an organization is robust and prepared to offer what the information needs in terms of security.

When all pillars are in place, the company does not have the risk of losing data, suffering unwanted changes, or even theft or unwanted leaks.

This is all thanks to the pillars guiding the protection system and that will work whenever something contrary to the guidelines is identified, such as in the case of an unauthorized person trying to gain access to information.

Also, depending on the type of system created, whenever an attack attempt happens, it is recorded in the system so that further action can be taken, such as investigation and verification of where the found threat came from.

With this, this type of system becomes even more secure and data is more protected.

Therefore, it is through these pillars that companies must protect data they have and that is of great value to their activities and to prevent the law from being breached, especially in relation to customer data and information.

That is because companies that keep personal customer information must maintain strict confidentiality and are responsible for protecting this data, under penalty of even suffering legal consequences.

Thus, the use of information security is extremely important and must always be done carefully, using what is most developed in the industry, because it is one of the segments in which updates and the speed of monitoring must be compatible with the emergence of new systems.

In a world of constantly evolving technology, SysAdmin is one of the oldest and most in-demand roles in the technology field. 

While not always getting all the glory, SysAdmin is a critical piece of the technology organization and essential to the success of a business.

SysAdmin or Systems Administrator is the person responsible for configuring and managing a company’s entire infrastructure, including all the hardware, software, and operating systems required to support the business’ operations.

With the evolution of DevOps, traditional SysAdmin has become a more hybrid role, often wearing multiple hats and helping with a variety of tasks and actions that may require some development and programming. 

As such, this type of administrator must have a solid knowledge of hardware and software to effectively configure a resilient and secure architecture to protect the business and ensure a seamless customer experience.

Keep reading and learn more about the responsibilities of a SysAdmin and the differences between SysAdmin and DevOps.

What does a SysAdmin do?

SysAdmins are always available, whether it is to update their company’s software or repair a corrupt SQL database. Here are other tasks that IT professionals do that you might not even notice:

• A SysAdmin installed the server for this website, installed an operating system, fixed it for security, made sure the power and router were working in the server room, monitored stability, configured the software, and kept backups in case anything goes wrong. 
• Another SysAdmin installed the routers, laid the cables, set up the networks, set up the firewalls, watched and guided the traffic for each hop of the network that passes through copper, fiberglass, and even air itself to bring the Internet to your computer. 
• SysAdmins ensure that your computer is working properly on a healthy network. They back up to safeguard and protect the environment from disasters, protect firewalls from security threats and hackers, and keep printers running. 
• A SysAdmin takes care of spam, viruses, malware, spyware, as well as power outages, fires, and floods. 
• When the mail server goes down at 2 am on a Sunday, a SysAdmin is notified, wakes up, and starts working. 
• A system administrator is an expert who plans, takes care, fixes, pushes, defends, protects, and builds good computer networks.

What is the difference between DevOps and SysAdmin?

Since DevOps encompasses so many different tasks and processes, getting to a clear and comprehensive definition is a challenge.

DevOps is not necessarily about individual tools or roles, but rather a set of practices that developers and operators use to deliver software to end-users more holistically and efficiently. It is another philosophy along the lines of Agile that seeks to break down organizational silos and promote cross-functional teamwork and cooperation.

In other words, DevOps represents a convergence of many different spheres within enterprise IT.

Meanwhile, a system administrator, or SysAdmin, is a person responsible for maintaining, configuring, and reliably operating computer systems, especially multi-user computers such as servers.

As the descriptions above show, there is a clear difference between the two. So where does the confusion come from?

Much of the confusion occurs because “DevOps” has become a buzzword in the tech space.

The word “DevOps” has been misused countless times by companies looking to save money and get things done quickly. Using the word to cover up the desire to save money by reducing staff often creates big problems in the future.

Many companies and startups think DevOps engineers can do everything themselves and will solve all their problems once they are hired. This is not the case. It is wrong to think that a DevOps expert can be called upon to clean up all the mess a company has made until now with its infrastructure.

What to do to become a SysAdmin?

Becoming a system administrator will require learning some specialized skills. Earning a certification can bring you the necessary experience and enhance your resume.

As a SysAdmin, you will need to develop a basic set of skills that will allow you to make sure the computer systems in your organization are running smoothly. Here are the key skills you should want on your resume.

• In-depth Knowledge of Operating Systems: Whether Windows, Linux or Mac, hiring managers often look for competence in administering the operating system used in their company. Windows and Linux operating systems have been widely adopted and are good systems to start with, although it is a good idea to see if your industry favors one over the others.
• Hardware Familiarity: Running physical devices such as servers or printers will be an important part of a systems administrator’s job.
• Cloud Administration Skills: Familiarity with cloud applications like Office365, Google Apps, and AWS can boost the hiring process.
  
  
• Networking Knowledge: Being able to configure and maintain Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN), in addition to configuring network security features such as firewalls, are often expected of system administrators. This can often be the case in smaller companies where IT professionals are expected to play many roles. 
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills: In addition to working as a team, system administrators often must help other employees who do not have the same technical knowledge, through help desk support or other means. Being able to communicate well will be a critical part of the success of a system administrator’s daily tasks.

Final Thoughts

A SysAdmin reviews the big picture to ensure their business is running as efficiently and securely as possible.

This means being able to not only survive a major failure, but also protect against minor issues such as security breaches, system failures, and large financial costs.

The latter may seem like an odd role for IT, but think about it. How many computers does your organization have and how often do you replace them? Are you waiting until they are completely obsolete or fail before replacing them?

A large part of a SysAdmin’s job is to plan and maintain an up-to-date system. This means installing a regular hardware routine based on an approved schedule.

If you are interested in the subject, we also recommend reading the article Risks Associated with the Lack of Protection in Cloud Access below.

Given the importance of protecting employees and the information of an entire corporation, it is essential to understand and put into practice the 5 pillars of information security.

Dealing with information security has already become a routine agenda in management meetings, as it allows for the reduction of financial losses, in addition to creating protection mechanisms in processes, technology, and people, not only against cyberattacks or information leaks but also to ensure security on many other issues that will be reported here.

There are 5 pillars of information security: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Authenticity, and Non-repudiation.

Keep reading to better understand each one of them!

Information Security and Its Importance

Protecting data is the main goal of information security and, during the digital age we live in, information helps ensure companies’ competitive advantage. Therefore, it is necessary to protect this information that generates value and credibility for organizations.

Threats to information security are numerous, such as unauthorized access, data loss, intrusions, leaks, and many others that can come from hacker attacks or even human errors.

With technological evolution, risks increase and require even more effective protection management.

Thus, the defense base of corporate systems and infrastructure are the pillars of information security that work through policies, passwords, encryption software, and other processes required for this risk management.

What Threats Are We Talking About?

When we talk about threats that surround the pillars of information security, we are referring to different types ranging from digital to human ones.

Some of them are known for software attacks through viruses, e-mails, and phishing websites, which are responsible for stealing data and passwords, social engineering scams, which manipulate people to steal private information, theft of mobile devices that store confidential information, and denial of service attacks (DoS and DDoS).

In research conducted by the Global Cyber Risk Perception Survey, in 2019, 79% of respondents considered cyber risks to be among the 5 most worrying in their organizations.

Also read about the 7 Signs that Your Business Needs to Improve the Security of Sensitive Data

Learn About the Pillars of Information Security

Considering the many threats that exist, how should companies protect themselves? Let’s learn more about the pillars of information security!

1. Integrity

The Integrity pillar is responsible for maintaining the original characteristics of the data, as they were configured in their creation. In this way, the information cannot be changed without authorization.

If there is an improper change in the data, it means there was a loss of integrity, so it is necessary to implement control mechanisms in order to prevent unauthorized alteration of information.

2. Confidentiality

This pillar protects information from unauthorized access, establishing privacy for your company’s data, avoiding situations of cyberattacks or espionage.

The basis of this pillar is to control access through password authentication, which may also take place through biometric scan and encryption, which has been generating favorable results in this purpose.

3. Availability

The ideal in an information system is for data to be available for whatever is needed, ensuring full-time user access.

This requires stability and permanent access to system data through fast maintenance, constant updates, and debugging.

It is important to remember the vulnerability of systems that are susceptible to blackouts, fires, denial attacks, and many other threat possibilities that exist in this context.

How to Strengthen These Pillars in Your Company?

After learning more about the pillars of information security, one needs to assess whether their practices are following these principles to stay away from the infinite possibilities of threats to their data.

Many solutions are already used by several companies seeking to eliminate risks to security systems, consolidating the pillars of information security in their organization, after all, whoever has information has power in this digital age.

With the evolution of technology and the revolution in the information age, the concern with data security has become more and more constant for companies, governments, and users. Since data are fundamental assets for the growth of companies, investing in protection is essential in organizations’ routines.

As cyber threats and crimes increase, efforts need to be stepped up, putting effective security measures in place. Therefore, there is a need to have a team specialized in security within a company, regardless of the industry, that constantly works to protect the information, relying on an Incident Response Plan (IRP). 

This way, the team can anticipate threats and develop the best actions to combat them immediately, without harming the company’s business.

For that, one needs to ensure this response plan works correctly, following the fundamental steps, and is well managed. In this article, we explain what an incident response plan is, its benefits, and the important aspects of putting one together. 

What is an Incident Response Plan (IRP)?

An IRP is a formal document that contains a set of tools and procedures that an IT team must adopt to deal with security issues that arise in the business. The purpose of these measures is to work on the prevention, identification, elimination, and recovery of cyber threats. 

Not only that, it ensures that actions are taken as quickly as possible, minimizing possible damage to the business, which ranges from loss of data and damage to resources, profits, and loss of customer trust. 

To be successful in an IRP, one needs to follow some fundamental steps that are well managed. The standard plan with these steps is based on the Incident Handler’s Handbook published by the SANS Institute. 

It is a document with six steps to be followed when building the plan, which are:

Preparation

The first step in implementing the plan is defining a specific team to work with the incidents. The team will be responsible for creating the incident documentation, containing the protocols to be followed in the execution of the plan’s actions. 

It is necessary to train the personnel to handle the situations by following the company’s security policies. This helps to understand exactly the risks to which the company is exposed and the preventive measures to be taken in different situations.

Identification 

The responsible team must work to detect deviations from operations, seeking to identify incidents and define their severity. 

In this detection, the type and severity of the problem are documented, as well as all the procedures that are being carried out in this regard. The formalization of this incident must answer the questions “Who, What, Where, Why, and How”.

Containment 

After identifying an incident, the team’s next step is to work on containment, in order to avoid future damage of the same nature. This containment is divided into short-term and long-term procedures.

The short-term containment works on the immediate solution of the problem, trying to prevent possible damage from the attack, while the long-term one refers to more complex actions, which involve the restoration of the entire corporate system, aiming at its return to normality.

Eradication 

Once the problem is contained, eradication actions are initiated. At this step, the focus is on the complete removal of the vulnerability and the necessary measures to avoid a recurrence of the problem. 

These actions can involve a change in authentication mechanisms, such as passwords and access permissions, or even a restoration of all affected systems in the company. The incident level and the most assertive action will be defined by using metric indicators, KPIs.

Recovery

In this step, the team works to verify and correct threats that may have gone unnoticed in the previous step, that is, the remnants of the incident. A scan action and transport of backups into cloud systems can be one of the necessary measures in this process. 

Also, the team assesses the performance of the previous step by analyzing the response time, the damage caused and the performance of the tasks, so that new directions to be followed are defined.

Lessons Learned

In order for the team to be prepared for future problems and to reduce any errors, it needs to record the entire containment process performed, containing the incidents and the procedures to combat them. 

It is a very important step as it documents the entire process and provides a history of occurrences to aid future actions. It is also at this step that mistakes and successes of actions are evaluated, which hindered or enhanced the development of actions.

How Important is an IRP?

A company that has an IRP is better prepared to deal with a wide variety of situations related to the security of its information. The best practices in the plan help the company to assertively anticipate and combat various threats. 

By adopting these practices, the company ensures greater security of its data, prevents the payment of penalties on data recovery costs, and avoids financial losses.

Greater Data Security

The implementation of protection and backup, correction, and access management systems, as well as the correct management of information, generate faster actions to protect and contain incidents.

Cost Reduction

The costs of fighting incidents can be high, due to regulatory sanctions, customer compensation, or the overall costs of investigating and restoring systems. 

An IRP helps to reduce these costs as it constantly works to prevent problems. Moreover, profit losses are also mitigated, in addition to minimizing costs, system downtime also decreases, limiting data loss.

It Maintains and Enhances the Company’s Reputation 

Without implementing an IRP, controlling and combating threats becomes more difficult, which can lead to business loss. This is because incidents do not only affect the technical aspects of the company but are directly related to business continuity. 

Constant and unresolved attacks on customer data undermine the credibility of the company responsible for its protection. Furthermore, it may lose investors and shareholders who stop believing in a flawed and easily breached business. 

On the other hand, quick and effective responses to incidents demonstrate the company’s greater commitment to data security and privacy, which increases its credibility and reputation.

Important Aspects of Putting an IRP Together

Following the IRP steps is critical to your success. However, the company needs to be aware it is not a fixed process and that it must be adapted to the organization’s structure. 

Hence the importance of periodic assessments to constantly evaluate the plan, eliminate its gaps, and adopt the necessary improvements.

To implement the plan, it is not necessary to have a large team of employees, but that they are all properly qualified, trained, and have good tools to ensure the best possible results in carrying out the activities. 

It is also necessary that other sectors undergo training so that they become aware of the company’s security policies and know how to proceed in the face of incidents and how to report them to the responsible team.

Implementing privileged access management to systems in a company is critical to ensuring that there are no information theft and other security issues.

The so-called cyberattacks are responsible, for example, for the theft and hijacking of information in exchange for money, causing several damages to the continuity of an organization’s business. They have become very common and their actions can cause not only financial losses but also image and reputation losses.

Unfortunately, the trend is that over the years, these cyberattacks will become more and more severe and that their number of occurrences will grow.

With this scenario, importance of privileged access management also grows. Cyberattacks happen through classic malware and phishing methods or the exploitation of zero-day software vulnerabilities, in addition to advanced social engineering techniques.

With all that, privileged access management comes to help ensure that organizations function. Thus, it covers the need to protect data, networks, and devices from malicious actions.

Privileged Access Management

Privileged access management allows one to control all access performed through an organization’s privileged credentials in a system, preventing insider attacks and breaches.

Its deployment allows IT departments to be able to reduce access privileges, following tools and groups. In this way, users will have the right to access only those applications and locations on the network they need to perform their duties. This concept is called the principle of least privilege.

Also, IT can have visibility of how user interactions are being done, access times, how many interactions with the system were performed, which servers were used, and what activities were performed by each user.

With privileged access management, a user – be they from the company or a third party – who has a high privilege will have administrative access to the system using a privileged account.

It is through this credential that one can make changes to various settings, in addition to changing security protections or other user accounts.

In this way, all accesses performed in a company’s network environment must be managed. Furthermore, an unauthorized user should never have access to privileged systems and data.

Are you enjoying this post on privileged access management? So, visit our website and learn more about our products and services.

senhasegura strives to ensure the sovereignty of companies’ actions and privileged information. To do so, we work against data theft and through traceability of administrator actions on networks, servers, databases, and a multitude of devices through a PAM solution.

How is privileged access done?

Privileged access to devices can be accomplished in two ways:

• Manually (least recommended); and
• Through specific Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions.

In this second case, PAM controls administrative access to a company’s critical systems to help it achieve its cybersecurity goals.

Controlling privileged actions allows one to protect a company’s IT systems against any attempt to carry out malicious actions, such as improper changes in the environment and theft of information. These blocked actions can take place both inside and outside the company.

In this context, using privileged access management technology is essential to optimize the deployment of a cybersecurity infrastructure in companies.

Moreover, the need for effective use of privileged access management techniques has never been greater, as traditional defense mechanisms such as antivirus, VPNs, and firewalls are subject to many failures today.

Myths and Truths

Now let’s take a look at some myths and truths about privileged access management:

1. Using PAM tools can completely prevent all cyberattacks.
Myth. This type of attack on the security of corporate networks is becoming more and more sophisticated. Therefore, there is no way for PAM to completely prevent all cyberattacks. However, this tool guarantees a lot of security for networks, preventing or mitigating the vast majority of attacks. In addition, it also needs to be constantly optimized to keep up with the boldness of cyberterrorists. As such, it is quite secure to avoid these problems.

2. Cyberattacks can be performed using privileged credentials.
True. Threats are becoming more sophisticated and intelligent, making use of attack techniques and tools to infiltrate company networks less visibly. Thus, cyberterrorists are investing in finding and taking advantage of privileged credentials to open their way to attack. That is why it is necessary to have a robust and reliable PAM tool to increasingly stop these attacks.

3. All companies invest in PAM.
Myth. Unfortunately, many companies remain blind to the importance of stopping attacks on their systems and end up not investing in tools for managing privileged access. Many of them believe there is no risk of intrusion when privileged access exists. But this is a wrong belief that could lead the company to bear huge losses later.

4. PAM deployment requires the use of shared accounts.
Myth. PAM has nothing to do with it. The use of shared accounts in itself poses a major cybersecurity risk. Also, many companies have had problems modifying the behavior of privileged users and administrators concerning this issue, posing a great risk to the company.

5. PAM allows you to create non-privileged accesses to a company’s network.
True. Although it seems that PAM only creates privileged access and accounts, in the most modern corporate tools of this system, it is also possible to create other types. In fact, PAM needs to facilitate any form of controlled connectivity to the system, through session and password management, and other security services, as well as monitoring and logging of activities.

With technology increasingly present in our lives, ensuring the security of your company’s information has become a must. The market offers numerous tools to prevent cyberattacks and control internal access to sensitive data. One of the most efficient solutions we have is Privileged Access Management – PAM. See below some of the most common questions when looking for a practical and really efficient solution to protect your company:

What Are Privileged Accounts?

All the time, malicious people appear looking for flaws within the companies’ systems to gain access to confidential data. This threat can be both external and internal. Therefore, organizations are increasingly looking for solutions that are truly capable of protecting this information.

Privileged accounts are created to control access to this data. This access is usually restricted only to people who hold leadership positions (high-level management) and administrators in the IT area. Other employees can obtain this information with the authorization of the company. Although it is extremely important, proper control often ends up being flawed. Because of that, there is this need to have a tool really capable of directing, tracking, and filtering these accesses. Among the most efficient, we have PAM solutions.

Why Should I Invest in a PAM Solution?

Lack of control over access to certain data within an enterprise can result in major disruptions, including loss of business continuity. Many adopted systems end up vulnerable due to a lack of effective supervision.

This lack of control leaves room for the leak of information, much of it sensitive, inside or outside the company. But after all, how to guarantee the privacy of these contents?

The PAM solutions turn out to be quite efficient in this case, as they use security strategies and technologies that, together, are capable of controlling privileged access.

Moreover, they restrict which users will be allowed to enter certain accounts, applications, devices, processes, and internal systems, and control them. This prevents external attacks, which can occur as a result of an employee’s lack of attention, or sharing of sensitive information within the company.

To better understand how this management is done, we made a post explaining everything about PAM solutions. Are PAM Solutions Really Secure?

We often associate external attacks as our only risk. However, insider threats can also put an entire organization at risk.

They are not always associated only with the people who work in a company. In this list, we can also include service providers, such as consultants, third parties and suppliers, and even former employees, who may have access to its data even after leaving the company.

Improper access can result in damage caused intentionally or accidentally. No matter the reason, in all cases the consequences can be quite bad and even irreversible.

Therefore, it is common for people to have doubts whether a PAM solution is capable of filtering these people’s access. And the answer to that question is yes! It is so secure that they are recommended by cybersecurity experts. Gartner, for example, has chosen PAM as the number-1 security project for 2 years in a row.

When it comes to reducing risk within an organization, a PAM solution is considered one of the most efficient and indispensable. It is worth mentioning that it is always important to hire credible solutions from the market.

senhasegura, for example, offers really efficient solutions, which protect the customer from possible data theft, in addition to tracking the actions of administrators on networks, servers, databases, and devices. All of this is done in compliance with demanding global standards such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and Sarbanes-Oxley.

How Does it Reduce Insider Threats?

The PAM solution uses some features to mitigate insider and external threats. One is by protecting the credentials of your most confidential data in a central, secure vault to which few people (with permission) have access.

Privileged access can be limited so that only authorized people can consult personal customer data, trade secrets, ongoing negotiations, intellectual property, financial data, among others.

Privileged Access Management is able to direct which access each employee will have authorization. Thus, they will only be able to consult information relevant to their tasks. All of this will be controlled by the system, no matter if they are working in person or remotely.

In addition to internal data, in order to have greater control over protection against attacks, it is also possible to restrict access to external content on websites and applications that pose a certain type of threat to a company’s security.

Is It Possible to Protect My Passwords in The Cloud?

Yes. senhasegura is the only company in Brazil that offers a cloud-native password vault. The SaaS service protects your credentials, offers password rotation, auditing, and monitoring of these privileged accounts.

In this way, you minimize the duties of the security administrative department and allow the process to take place efficiently and at a lower cost. Therefore, it is ideal for small and medium-sized companies due to its advantages.

Is PAM The Same Thing As IAM?

No. Although both have the principle of controlling a company’s data, the two usually work in a complementary way, each with its own functionality.

In comparison, we can say that PAM is a little more elaborate. Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a tool used for administrators to easily manage users and legitimize access to certain company resources.

Despite that, this type of system has some gaps when it comes to privileged accounts. It is at this point that PAM becomes essential, as it works in a broader and more detailed way. This solution can inform you of everything that is being done, which sessions were started, and who is accessing certain information.

In short, a PAM solution controls everything related to this data within the company, managing to filter accessibility and ensure secure storage of all information.

Do you have any more questions on the subject? Get in touch with the senhasegura team, as we can help you find the ideal product for your needs.

Ensuring your company’s security does not have to be a concern anymore. We are sure of that, as we are experts when it comes to PAM Solution. Visit our website and learn more about all our products and services.

In the contemporary world, where the use of technological means and virtual systems is becoming more and more indispensable, one of the great problems caused by criminal entities has been the invasion and theft of data. It is important to emphasize that, with the digital transformation and the increase in the use of digital media identified in recent years, now driven by the new Coronavirus pandemic, there has also been a spike in the practice of cybercrimes, that is, those crimes that occur through virtual means. These crimes are usually performed by hackers, who are holders of technical knowledge about internal computer systems and electronic devices, programs, and networks.

Cybercrimes can occur in different ways and for different reasons. In general, users who become victims end up having their information and data stolen or their accounts hacked by criminals, which often results in episodes that can bring disastrous and immense damage to those who suffer the crime.

Therefore, it is ideal to establish preventive security measures before attacks occur.

There are currently many ways to ensure greater protection of your data and information. Make sure you read our article on the rise of cyberattacks during the pandemic, and how to protect yourself.

But if you have already suffered any of these crimes or want to be informed about the actions that should be taken in these cases, keep reading this article and find out what are the recommendations we have separated for you.

Actions to Be Taken in Case of Invasion or Theft of Information and Data

 When an organization experiences a security incident, such as cybercrime, it needs to act promptly and quickly.

We are not always prepared to deal with situations like these, but it is necessary to remain calm and take action.

Of course, actions should be taken according to the specific type of attack that took place and to what was actually stolen or hacked into.

Therefore, carefully read the possibilities listed below on which procedures should be taken in these cases and see which ones fit best for you.

Identify the Action of the Intruders

It is important to find out how the criminal act took place and what data was disclosed. Thus, the procedure must take place so that the necessary measures are taken in order to restrain the results of the crime and prevent further invasions.

You can start an investigation through companies specializing in cybercrime and hard evidence.

Look for Evidence of Crime

When becoming a victim of a computer crime, if possible, you must record the evidence of the crime.

In this sense, it is worth noting that the most correct and secure means is through specific solutions that allow the recording of all actions performed in the environment.

This can even assist in the incident remediation process, reducing operational and downtime costs.

Change Your Passwords Immediately

Another important action to be taken if you have suffered a cyberattack in which there was data theft, and also one of the ways to minimize the problem, is the immediate change of your passwords, whether for emails, networks that may be related to the theft, or for your systems.

This will prevent criminals from continuing to develop other types of damage that can be done by using your stolen data.

Check the Backup of Your Files

The use of software that backs up your information and data automatically and efficiently is a preventive measure that can help a lot in these moments.

If you have already performed this procedure, the chance of recovering your information will be much greater, so check the backup of your files and see if you can recover them.

Communicate About Information Leaks

If the information that was leaked is related to other individuals, such as employees or consumers, they must be informed about what happened and about the measures being taken concerning the case.

This behavior is an ethical measure, which must be carried out clearly and objectively.

Analyze the Weaknesses that Made the Invasion and Theft of Your Data Possible and Invest in Security

In addition to looking for those responsible for information leaks, it is important to recognize the limitations and deficiencies that allowed intruders access to your system.

When recognizing them, it is essential to take appropriate action so that future losses are avoided.

You can look for specific digital data protection solutions that will help you in this process, as is the case with senhasegura.