State of Cybercrime

Data protectionism - restricting the movement of data between countries - will be an option that governments will elect to implement in the upcoming months and years. As the world economy become more data-driven, impacting global GDPs, they will soon find their way into trade deals, requiring data to be held in servers inside certain countries. It’s not just a business decision. Exporting data on...

Outsourcing tedious tasks is a dream of many and at the latest Google Developer’s conference,  the audience beamed when Google Assistant booked an appointment. However, attendees were quick to worry about potential exploits those devices might face. Medical devices are a good example of what computerized assistants might face in the future. Yes, medical devices can save lives and certainly serve a...

If you’ve ever seen Technical Evangelist Brian Vecci present, his passion for Varonis is palpable. He makes presenting look effortless and easy, but as we all know excellence requires a complete devotion to the craft. I recently spoke to him to gain insight into his work and to shed light on his process as a presenter. “When I first started presenting for Varonis, I’d have the presentation open on...

Sara Jodka is an attorney for Columbus-based Dickinson Wright. Her practice covers boths data privacy as well as employee law. She's in a perfect position to help US companies in understanding how the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) handles HR data. In the second part of our interview, Sara will talk about the relationship between HR data and Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)...

In part two of my interview with Varonis CFO & COO Guy Melamed, we get into the specifics with data breaches, breach notification and the stock price. What’s clear from our conversation is that you can no longer ignore the risks of a potential breach. There are many ways you can reduce risk. However, if you choose not to take action, minimally, at least have a conversation about it. Also, arou...

When I asked our podcast panelists about the difficulty in discerning real businesses from fake or answering innocuous questions about your first pet, it can be time consuming, mentally exhausting and not naturally intuitive. As technology gets even more difficult to navigate, think about how important it is when presenting time-to-value security solutions to C-Suite executives. A popular catchphr...

Sara Jodka is an attorney for Columbus-based Dickinson Wright. Her practice covers boths data privacy as well as employee law. She's in a perfect position to help US companies in understanding how the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) handles HR data. In this first part of the interview, we learn from Sara that some US companies will be in for a surprise when they learn that all the GPD...

Recently, the SEC issued  guidance  on cybersecurity disclosures, requesting  public companies to report data security risk and incidents that have a “material impact” for which  reasonable investors  would want to know about. How does the latest guidance impact a CFO’s responsibility in preventing data breaches?  Luckily, I was able to speak with Varonis’ CFO and COO Guy Melamed on his perspectiv...

In part two of my interview with Delft University of Technology’s assistant professor of cyber risk, Dr. Wolter Pieters, we continue our discussion on transparency versus secrecy in security. We also cover ways organizations can present themselves as trustworthy. How? Be very clear about managing expectations. Declare your principles so that end users can trust that you’ll be executing by the prin...

This week, we talk about our annual data risk assessment report and sensitive files open to every employee! 41% of companies are vulnerable. The latest finding put organizations at risk as unsecure folders give attackers easy access to business roadmaps, intellectual property, financial and health data, and more. We even discussed how data open to everyone in an organization relates to user-genera...

We’re all counting down to the  RSA Conference   in San Francisco April 16 – 20, where you can connect with the best technology, trends and people that will protect our digital world. Attendees will receive a Varonis branded baseball hat and will be entered into a $50 gift card raffle drawing for listening to our presentation in our North Hall booth (#3210). Attendees that visit us in the South Ha...

In part one of my interview with Delft University of Technology’s assistant professor of cyber risk, Dr. Wolter Pieters , we learn about the fundamentals of ethics as it relates to new technology, starting with the trolley problem . A thought experiment on ethics, it’s an important lesson in the world of self-driving cars and the course of action the computer on wheels would have to take when face...

Prior to Varonis, Elena Khasanova worked in backend IT for large organizations. She did a bit of coding, database administration, project management, but was ready for more responsibility and challenges. So seven years ago, she made the move to New York City from Madison, Wisconsin and joined the professional services department at Varonis. With limited experience speaking with external customers...

In the midst of our nationwide debate on social media companies limiting third party apps’ access to user data, let’s not forget that companies have been publicly declaring who collects our data and what they do with it. Why? These companies have been preparing for GDPR, the new EU General Data Protection Regulation as it will go into effect on May 25th. This new EU law is a way to give consumers...

With one sensational data breach headline after another, we decided to take on the details behind the story because a concentrated focus on the headline tends to reveal only a partial dimension of the truth. For instance, when a bank’s sensitive data is compromised , it depends on how as well as the what . Security practitioner Mike Buckbee said, “It’s very different if your central data storage w...

Today even if we create a very useful language , IoT device, or software, at some point, we have to go back to fix the security or send out PSAs. Troy Hunt, known for his consumer advocacy work on breaches, understands this very well. He recently delivered a very practical PSA: Don’t tell people to turn off Windows update , just don’t. We also delivered a few PSAs of our own: cybercriminals viewou...

IT pros could use a little break from security alerts. They get a lot of alerts. All. The. Time. While alerts are important, a barrage of them can potentially be a liability. It can cause miscommunication, creating over reactivity . Conversely, alerts can turn into white noise, resulting in apathy. Hence the adage: if everything is important, nothing is. Instead, should we be proactive about our s...

Regular listeners of the Inside Out Security podcast know that our panelists can’t agree on much. Well, when bold allegations that IT is the most problematic department in an organization can be, ahem, controversial. But whether you love or hate IT, we can’t deny that technology has made significant contributions to our lives. For instance, grocery stores are now using a system, order-to-shelf, to...

It’s our first show of 2018 and we kicked off the show with predictions that could potentially drive headline news. By doing so, we’re figuring out different ways to prepare and prevent future cybersecurity attacks. What’s notable is that IBM set up a cybersecurity lab , where organizations can experience what it’s like go through a cyberattack without any risk to their existing production system....

The emergence of Chief Data Officers(CDO) demonstrates the growing recognition of information as an asset. In fact, Gartner says that 90% of large organizations will have a CDO by 2019. To understand the CDO role more deeply, I turned to Richard Wendell . I met Mr. Wendell last year at the Chief Data Officer Summit and thought his background and expertise would help us understand the critical role...

Self-quantified trackers made possible what was once nearly unthinkable: for individuals to gather data on one’s activity level in order to manage and improve one’s performance. Some have remarked that self-quantified devices can hinge on the edge of over management. As we wait for more research reports on the right dose of self-management, we’ll have to define for ourselves what the right amount...

The end of the year is approaching and security pros are making their predictions for 2018 and beyond. So are we! This week, our security practitioners predicted items that will become obsolete because of IoT devices. Some of their guesses - remote controls, service workers, and personal cars. Meanwhile, as the business world phase out old technologies, some are embracing the use of new ones. For...

Recently the Food and Drug Administration approved the first digital pill. This means that medicine embedded with a sensor can tell health care providers – doctors and individuals the patient approves – if the patient takes his medication. The promise is huge. It will ensure a better health outcome for the patient, giving caretakers more time with the ones they love. What’s more, by learning more...

Last week, I came across a tweet that asked how a normal user is supposed to make an informed decision when a security alert shows up on his screen. Great question! I found a possible answer to that question at New York Times director of infosecurity, Runa Sandvik’s recent keynote at the O’Reilly Security Conference. She told the attendees that many moons ago, Yahoo had three types of infosecurity...

Long before cybersecurity and data breaches became mainstream, founder and CEO of SPHERE Technology Solutions , Rita Gurevich built a thriving business on the premise of assisting organizations secure their most sensitive data from within, instead of securing the perimeter from outside attackers. And because of her multi-faceted experiences interacting with the C-Suite, technology vendors, and oth...