The Top CISO Stories From Around the Web: March
A cyber attack was committed on Intermountain Health, CEOs and CISOs have more to discuss than ever before, and AI is changing everything. Read on for all of this month’s top CISO stories.
1. “Intermountain Health CISO: The Industry Needs Better Transparency After Cyberattacks”
Source: MedCity News
A cyber attack was committed on Intermountain Health which is a non-profit health system. Intermountain Health’s CISO, Erik Decker openly explains how he is trying to be as transparent as possible so that other organizations can benefit and protect themselves from similar attacks. This was a third-party attack that started with an attack on Change Healthcare. Change Healthcare processes patient payments for hospitals. The attack had an intense impact on Intermount Health and highlighted how healthcare organizations need to prioritize cybersecurity. Decker also clarifies that while transparency is necessary, too much transparency would be detrimental to an organization's cybersecurity because healthcare systems still need to protect themselves and their patients' privacy.
2. “What Cybersecurity Chiefs Need From Their CEOs”
Source: Dark Reading
CEOs and CISOs have a relationship that is changing due to the CISO’s growing responsibilities. In this article, Michael Mestrovich, the CISO at Rubrik, gives CEOs some tips for interacting effectively with CISOs. One is to ensure the CISO has a direct line to the CEO. This helps with communication. Number two is to have the CISO's back. This builds camaraderie and partnership. Three is to work with the CISO on a resilience strategy. This is very important for the organization's security. Four is to agree on AI's impact. AI is a controversial topic with many uses so it's important for the CEO and CISO to be on the same page regarding AI.
3. “A CISO POV: Securing AI in your company”
Source: CIO
Rick Grinnell, founder and managing partner of Glasswing Ventures, discusses AI with Patricia Titus, CISO at Booking Holdings. They discussed budget for AI and understanding which AI uses that have approval is important to being a responsible employee, corporate policy related to transformative technology, and embracing AI instead of “blocking it.” They also talked about bootleg usage, the general uses of AI, and future uses. It's important to embrace AI because it's everywhere and necessary but that doesn't mean that a company that does not embrace AI will go extinct entirely, Patricia says. The importance of the NIST framework or using frameworks in general is also stressed as well as the need for swift action before potential attackers get the upper hand.
4. “Cybersecurity trends and the evolution of the CISO in 2024”
Source: Security Magazine
Tyler Healy, CISO at DigitalOcean discusses the evolution and new responsibilities and concerns of the CISO. The first topic mentioned is the “Crypto comeback.” The recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs will cause challenges for cybersecurity professionals through “new malware delivery that plants crypto miners, account takeovers at cloud service providers, and crypto-related “smash and grabs” where wallets left without the right protections end up being emptied.” AI is discussed next. AI is both a “friend” and a “foe” because it can help both security teams and attack strategies. Tyler Healy continues on about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict are causing a surge in cyberattacks. He also writes about how the election year can cause unforetold drama in cybersecurity and trust. Lastly he writes about how the SEC material incident filing requirement will encourage communication and new partnerships with people in other departments like the CRO and CMO.
5. “Adopting a risk management framework for federal agency cybersecurity”
Source: Federal Times
The OMB released FY 2024 guidance for agencies that report FISMA information. There is a shift occurring from emphasis on compliance to emphasis on risk management. This article goes into detail about how compliance, Zero trust, and Implementing controls are involved in this shift. Jonathan Trull, Chief Security Officer at Qualys, makes some interesting points like “cybersecurity automation is also crucial” regarding documenting and reporting and that a unified risk management strategy could make the transition to zero trust easier. He later mentions some ideas about core controls that are “crucial for reducing risk overall.”
