Cyber Security is Not an Easy Game for CISO – It’s an Absolute End Game!

Let’s breakdown the little pieces and the critical dots to connect in the perspective of a CISO and a point-of-view from CyberSpace.

The threats and the risks are potentially increasing in Cyber Space and no organization is 100% safe, every CISO should follow the “Zer0-Trust” model over their organization and their security team.

Digital Data isn’t safe anymore after emerging threats due originating from the darknet and cyberwarfare activities.

Let’s have a simple look over the key factors to keep in the mind as a security consultant and as a CISO.

Asset – People, property, and information. People may include employees and customers along with other invited persons such as contractors or guests. Property assets consist of both tangible and intangible items that can be assigned a value. The digital forms
of data were residing here, most valuable as we are.

Vulnerability – A weakness in the IT infrastructure or its components that may be exploited by a threat to destroy, damage or compromise an asset. Loopholes or gaps in Application, Network or even in layouts.

Risk – The potential for loss, damage or destruction of an asset as a result of a threat exploiting a vulnerability.

Threat – Anything that can exploit a vulnerability, intentionally or accidentally, and obtain, damage, or destroy an asset.

Exploit – breaking the vulnerability, attackers use the existing vulnerability for their convenient against the owner of the data.

Threat Actor/Threat Agent – who would want to exploit the assets of a company. Maybe an individual or an organization for any specific causes.

Threat Vector/Attack Vector – It’s a path or means by which a hacker (or cracker) can gain access to a computer or network server in order to deliver a payload or malicious outcome. (Phishing/Malware/Drive-by-download/Domain shadowing).

Attack Surface – Connecting the multiple vulnerability dots by an attacker in a specific application or network. Anyone trying to break into a system generally starts by scanning the target’s attack surface for possible attack vectors.

Likelihood – Possibilities of threat actor will carry out a threat.

Impact – the damage potential, the percentage of loss and the risk factor it made.

Control – minimize security risks or reducing the exposure of security risks.

Threat Profiling – Organizations can build with threat intel and various reports and see where they have risk factors based on new emerged threats and profile the threat groups details and coordinate with incident management teams to be precautions. Identifying vulnerable assets & quantifying risk factors of their own assets and map them with possible attack phases. [To understand, who are my threats?]

Threat Modelling – A process by which potential threats, such as structural vulnerabilities can be identified, enumerated, and prioritized – all from a hypothetical attacker’s point of view. Threat modeling answers questions like “Where are the high-value assets?”, “Where am I most vulnerable to attack?”, “What are the most relevant threats?”, and “Is there an attack vector that might go unnoticed?”. “What can go wrong?” [To understand, what are my threats?]

CISOs and InfoSec teams, should be aware of emerging threats (whether from the Darknet, or otherwise). Cyber Security is a crucial component of Information Security, because it is not only concerned with protecting data, but also concerns protecting the reputation of an organization and ensuring that its assets are safe and secure.

Cyber Security Teams of an organization must possess some key skills, like Red team and blue team exercises, DarkNet Intelligence and many more.

Below is the visualization of the threat modelling and desired teams should be available to ensure the protection of assets at all dimensions of an organization.

As we know, “When the defenders learn, the offenders evolve“.