In today’s world, it is not feasible for businesses to ignore cybersecurity. News about cybersecurity attacks and threats is common, including the legal challenges that develop due to these attacks. Enterprises must prioritize cybersecurity as an essential pillar of productivity and organizational development, though each business will have a unique approach to improving its protocols, depending on the nature and size of the business.

The following are the six most common areas for organizations to focus on when developing or updating cybersecurity policies and regulations. Please note that the precise wording of such policies may vary from organization to organization as per the business objectives and scope.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to automate processes and services by networking entities and adding real-time analytics, resulting in active engagement and decision-making. The “things” in IoT use sensors to extract data from their environment, and their built-in actuators implement the decisions taken by some controlling authority. A colossal number of networked entities/”things” provide a huge amount of data to be analyzed in real time, or near-real time, for decision-making. IoT relies on the existing Internet plus the IoT entities’ wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for network infrastructure. IoT operation requires lightweight entities and protocols, meaning that cloud storage and big data analytics are critical components of the IoT landscape.

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IT has rapidly transformed our world into a global village. With numerous facilitations and automations our lifestyle has revolutionized. Today’s settled life is incomplete without Internet, connectivity, mobile phones, social media etc. On the other hand, IT has provided assistances to the criminals and negative forces as well. Numerous articles and blogs surface on a regular basis concerning cyber security and the controls to safeguard against cyber hackers.

Cyber security has attained more attention in recent years as compared to earlier times of the IT boom. Enterprises do not hesitate to spend handsome amounts on cyber defense because they realize the repercussions of overlooking the cyber security aspects. But the question arises whether cyber-attacks are due to cyber security controls being installed by enterprises? This is not the case. Enterprises are still being attacked resulting in loss of data, reputation and money.

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Enterprise security has become a complex and expensive affair. Securing an enterprise requires thorough knowledge of information security, dedicated skills and continuous resolve.  For many enterprises, the first step in security is conducting a risk assessment, then devising plans to reduce or evade the effects of specific risks.
Risks can be addressed in four ways:[1]

• Risk Avoidance. The costliest way to deal with a risk is to avoid it altogether. 
• Risk Acceptance. If the cost of handling the risk is more than the risk itself, then nothing is done to address that risk.
• Risk Limitation. A combination of acceptance and avoidance, some actions are taken to reduce the risk, but the risk may not be completely eliminated.
• Risk Transfer. An intelligent way of handling the risk is to shift it to someone else. One example of risk transfer is obtaining cyber insurance from a third party.

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Now that the Internet of Things (“IoT”), big data analytics and artificial intelligence havebecome common, cybersecurity, particularly in these areas, has become part of daily life. Every year comes with its own set of cybersecurity challenges, and 2018 is no exception.

Ransomware
Ransomware has proven to be a potent threat. The harmful effects ofransomware are now commonly known, due to the prevalence of recent attacks. Even more ransomware attacks are predicted for this and coming years. Enterprises,understanding the nuisance of ransomware, are ready to invest more in ransomware defense. Backup mechanisms, patch management and system upgrades are likely to receive greater emphasis as they become keys for dealing with the threat of ransomware.

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Reliance on information technology can be risky. Attempts to steal, expose or modify data are a constant reality. Hacks to infect applications or make them unavailable frequently occur. Enterprises not fully prepared to face the challenges of a disaster risk severe losses, including automation and active engagement.

What is a Disaster?

A disaster is any event that disrupts the ability to provide services. This event can be natural or manmade. For example, a ransomware attack would be an event that renders most of an enterprise’s data unavailable to customers and staff. Similarly, an earthquake that destroys an important enterprise facility would also disrupt services, and, therefore, could also be termed a disaster.

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Despite advanced security measures, organizations often suffer cyberattacks, due to minor security issues. Because these threats are often overlooked, employees are not typically trained and cautioned against them. Nothing might happen for years, but, one day, an attacker who targets the enterprise will find it surprisingly easy to get the information they need to secretly enter the organization’s network.

Commonly overlooked security lapses, most often due to unaware, common users, include, but are not limited to, social engineering, poor password management, disregarded policies, improper use of communication services, and complacency.

Social engineering

Social engineering is a potent threat. An otherwise well-protected system can be easily and critically compromised by human thoughtlessness.

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Killeen is known through the world as the home of Fort Hood, Texas – Home of the largest military base in the world (by area) with more than 215,000 acres. Other industries that hone in the large include telemarketing, medical, and information technology. 

Yep, that is right, Killeen has plenty of IT companies. 

One local company has expanded its services straight to the East Coast area: Centex Technologies, an IT consulting company. Chief Executive Office Abdul B. Subhani said the company was birthed in Killeen in 2006 and since expanded to offices in Atlanta, Austin, and Dallas. 

Voices United Publication of Killeen Nov 2017

The Internet of Things (IoT) has arrived, and its influence continues to grow. It may not be spreading as fast as expected, but IoT is beginning to see widespread deployment. Manufacturers are racing to grab as much market share as possible.

IoT promises to automate many daily processes. However, an absence of checks and balances such as cyber laws and regulations may result in IoT becoming more of a nuisance than helpful.

While cybersecurity policies, standards and laws in this current, generally pre-IoT landscape are fairly mature, IoT introduces several new peculiarities.

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Targeted cyberattacks have become a common, emerging threat within the last few years. Rather than trying to cause damage on a wide scale, these attacks are launched against a specific organization or a particular individual. In order to deal with these attacks, it is important to understand the purposes behind the attacks, how the attacks are launched and how to safeguard against them.

Common purposes for targeted cyberattacks

Typically, targeted cyberattacks have one or more of the following goals:

Data theft and exposure

Some attackers try to steal data from the target in order to uncover sensitive information or to humiliate the target through data exposure. This data can be about critical facilities, sensitive sites, finances, customer credentials, trade secrets, etc.

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