Wes Spencer’s Post

This is a talk every #MSP should see. On July 2, 2021, my phone rang off the hook (and continued to do so for 3 days). There were #ConnectWise MSPs from around the globe that beat a path to our doorstep. They saw the Kaseya VSA disaster unfolding and were scared themselves. At Automation Theory, we sell reverse proxy and WAF services for MSP tools. This technology allows for additional security controls and offers protection against 0-day exploits. I can't speak for Robert, but I'm guessing he'll give you advice on how to prepare for and prevent situations like this. I don't know if security technology will come up, but the old saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" probably still applies. Go to this talk, and get yourself a healthy dose of reality. Once you're ready to take action, come talk to us, and we can go over the technology you can put in place to defend against your worst nightmare.

On July 2, 2021 a cyber attack was launched on an International scale. A 0-day exploit in our RMM tool allowed Threat Actors to do the unthinkable. Dubbed the proverbial "Nightmare Scenario", come listen to 1 MSP who not only survived, but thrived in spite of a near business ending event. 🔊 Listen to a firsthand account of the emotional and psychological trauma. 🔥Follow along as you imagine your own footsteps on the path through hell. Imagine yourself in a very real and fatal situation. 👀 🤔 Consider how well you are - or are not - prepared. Have you already heard the story? 👉 Come listen again as I've got new updates including the capture, extradition, and sentencing of one of our attackers. Spread the news. 📰 This is THE 1 event NOT to be missed. This is NOT about me or my company. This is about US - the MSP community - each and every one of us. Why do I tell our story? This industry needs great Vulnerability and Transparency. IMO, it's the only path toward victory against our enemies. Will you join me at The IT Nation Secure 2024 event? #msp #cybersecurity #itnation #itnationsecure #itnationsecure2024

Staying in peak shape isn’t just for you; it’s also essential for your network. A secure network is your first line of defense against cyber threats. Optimal network health not only safeguards your operations but also upholds the trust of your customers and stakeholders. Are you eager to get your network into top shape for peak performance? Send us a message, and we’ll guide you. 800.728.6821 www.istonish.com A minority enterprise business.

Many will have seen the news about sustained cyber attacks on the UK and our democracy. I attended an insightful talk by Sophos earlier this week, which suggested that attacks were splitting into two types: One where attackers get in and out quickly, with #dwelltime decreasing to days, if not hours (previously weeks). And the other where dwell time was deliberately increasing to quarters and years (previously months). This is an example of the latter where a sophisticated attacker has thrown significant resources at hacking particularly targets with a specific objective in mind. The tools we need to deal with each type of attack may be different but the concepts are the same; understand your operations, networks and risks; defend in depth; continually monitor, plan your resilience. Edit: I was asked about the picture... this was from many years ago but I chose it to represent the two different dwell times, UK democracy under threat and also resilience. Hope you like it. And don't worry, the clocks are fine at the moment.

Huge thank you to Ong Johnson, Khai Yi Lo and the team at Halim Hong & Quek, a member firm of Andersen Global for having us yesterday. It was a great session sharing one of S-RM cyber training series, "The First 48 Hours," which provided an overview of what a cyber incident response typically entails, including recommendations and common missteps to avoid.   From our experience in dealing with cyber incidents, the first 48 hours are often the most critical. The decisions and actions taken during this vital period can have significant impacts on the overall response.   Taking the right actions early can prevent further harm and stop the threat actor from maintaining or regaining access to the network. This allows attention and efforts to be focused on restoring and recovering systems, ultimately minimizing business interruption, which is often the most costly aspect of a response and notoriously difficult to quantify. Mark Farley Shradha Borar Kyle Schwaeble #yourfirstcall #incidentresponse #cyber

🎉 Breaking free from just checking boxes! 🚀😄 We're all about enhancing outcomes, promoting cyber awareness, and delivering outstanding #HumanRiskManagement solutions to all our valued customers. 📚💡 Join us and many other organizations who believe in what we do. Check out the link in the first comment to see how you can get involved. #Testimonial #RightHand #HumanRiskManagement

For a long time the cyber security industries solution to an adversary carrying out their actions on objectives is to call in incident response. I think the belief that when an adversary is carrying out their actions on objectives it's too late is misguided. Actually, it's often the place where you can defend most effectively. There are three reasons that I see for this dynamic: 1) Defence is usually seen as mitigating an adversaries actions rather than controlling an adversaries actions, so by default defenders are putting themselves on the back foot. 2) Often defensive focus is put on defending assets, systems or privileges rather than preventing undesirable outcomes. 2) Defence is often too tooling centric. If you want to do anything more than prevent generic threats then that tooling needs telling what to do, it needs to be given context specific to what outcomes you wish to prevent. Give it context and it can be extremely powerful. I wrapped some of this thinking up in a recent post on the Lab539 website. My thinking generally is that, far too frequently, the cyber security industry is not looking past the positioning phase of an attack: https://lnkd.in/en-VZ3r5 #CyberDefence #TCDO #CyberDefense #Lab539 #CyberDefendersKillChain

I'd say that the biggest threat to our National Security are the amount of unsecure networks across the nation. Vulnerable networks are being exploited at a neckbreaking pace it seems. The targets range from Local Government, Healthcare, Finance, Agriculture, etc. Needless to say but these targets are vital sectors for maintaining and sustaining life as we know it. So, we've got to start being more proactive with Cybersecurity. Cybersecurity goes way beyond securing Network Infrastructure. Physical security is a factor. Your employees' level of Security Awareness is a factor. The list goes on. The U.S. will always be a target, but that does not mean we have to make it easy on the assailants! Right now the door is pretty much wide open. "The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable." — Sun Tzu #cybersecurity #nationalsecurity #artofwar #network #securityawareness #InfoSec

What is Cyber Essentials? #CyberEssentials accreditation is an effective, government-backed initiative which helps you make your business more resilient against the most common cyber-attacks. It assists in protecting organisations from being a victim of a cybercrime by taking simple steps that become embedded into an organisation's every day working practises and this will develop a security conscious culture. The @NCSC provides guidance on cyber essentials or if you’re interested in becoming certified https://ow.ly/Hu4m50SxN1J You can also sign up to Police CyberAlarm which helps you understand the threats your business faces, whilst giving you the chance to take action and minimise the damage an attack could cause. For more info https://ow.ly/xUFu50SxN1I

It’s become a jungle out there in the cyber security industry of late. Those who claim to have all the answers to our cyber woes often prey on the sensitivities of the ill-informed (or of those who are just plain scared). But the nature of the cyber security challenge is so multi-faceted, and so fast-moving, that NO-ONE has all the answers. This is where I’d usually guide the narrative towards the importance of a risk-based approach, but today my point is even more fundamental…. It sometimes takes a leap of faith, but we can only really succeed as a profession if we learn to TRUST in those who complement our own perspectives and capabilities, and if we embrace the power of PARTNERSHIP - as individuals, as organisations and even as nations. At #CIISECLIVE23 last week my colleague Simon Moore facilitated a great session with Ollie W. of the National Cyber Security Centre and Joe Hancock from Mishcon de Reya LLP . The subject? The power of partnership. #trust #partnershipsmatter #cyberrisk