A single application may have hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities. Increasingly, cybercriminals are targeting people just as much if not more than the systems that underlie an infrastructure, which is why the trusted insider conundrum is exacting renewed attention. In most instances, they represent a cheaper and more accessible conduit to achieve one’s objective. What’s to be done?

Five trends, in particular, are complicating industrial automation cybersecurity and driving the increased need for a standards-based approach.

By staying on top of open source trends, scanning frequently and working with security counterparts to get the information needed, developers can fix more third-party library flaws faster to develop more secure applications in the future.

Overcome human nature with a security mindset that uses what humans are best at: complex reasoning. Remember to trust your human nature – the intuition that you need to double-check “locking the doors” or other security steps.

A CISOs first 90 days on the job provide a window of opportunity for establishing their credibility and earning a vote of confidence from leadership. This requires, among other things, thoroughly assessing a corporation’s organization, technology, governance and the processes it embraces.

According to a report by Honeywell, improving cybersecurity for operational technology (OT) systems ranks as one of the top priorities for surveyed facility managers over the next 12 to 18 months. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have observed an increase in highly impactful ransomware attacks occurring on holidays and weekends—when offices are customarily closed—in the United States, as recently as the Fourth of July holiday in 2021.

The Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team has actively tracked a widespread credential phishing campaign using open redirector links. 

Many companies aren’t focused on cybersecurity disciplines directly, nor do they know how to optimize their cybersecurity. Therefore, it becomes the customers’ IT and technology partners’ job to focus on the basics, creating a faster and more fluid response for their clients. Let’s look at three ways partners can advise customers on their cybersecurity needs. 

Specops researchers analyzed more than 800 million compromised passwords to determine the popularity of Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision programs and their team mascots and nicknames appearing on breached passwords lists.