The Virtual CISO Moment

Anthony Scarola is an IT Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) expert; has many years in cybersecurity; is a U.S. Army veteran; holds the CISSP; and is a virtual CISO. And he's writing a security book! Listen to his wisdom as it pertains to risk management and learn one mistake many may make when discussing risk with the c suite and board of directors.

Rogers outage cause, 54 million Twitter accounts' information for sale for $3K, ransomware update, Entrust breached, an startups without a CISO are at a disadvantage - plus statistics, and why you need to both understand their context and source, using a well-known example of an information security "statistic" in the last article. https://twitter.com/atoonk/status/1550896347691134977 https://www....

Ransomware infections and payments decline, CISO urges patching Windows 11 patch bug, more Chrome fixes, stress in cybersecurity, possibly regulating BGP, and commentary on the CU Intersect conference. https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/ransomware-attempts-flag-as-payments-also-decline https://threatpost.com/cisa-urges-patch-11-bug/180235/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2022...

On this Throwback Thursday episode from March 29, 2022 - Email remains the most common vector for criminals to exploit. Chuck Sirois discusses how PhishFacts (https://phishfacts.com) can help SMBs identify misconfigured email configurations that criminals may leverage.

J.J. Powell of Cyber Defense Group (https://www.cdg.io/) discusses his career journey from police officer to system administrator to CISO and now as leading virtual CISO services. He is also a pivotal component into my decision to leave corporate and become an independent vCISO - listen to find out what was "the straw that broke the camel's back" for me!

Shodan special offer, banks need to implement best practices, five key things from smal org CISOs, Netwrix Auditor bug, and on the road challenges. https://www.shodan.io/ https://fintechmagazine.com/banking/banks-need-best-practices-to-fight-rising-cyberattacks https://thehackernews.com/2022/07/5-key-things-we-learned-from-cisos-of.html https://thehackernews.com/2022/07/new-netwrix-auditor-bug-cou...

Phishing campaign bypasses MFA, healthcare debt collection agency ransomware breach 1.9 million records, Log4Shell endemic, criminal hackers targeting Indian students, Florida Atlantic University received grant, and my cybersecurity path, including learning Python? https://threatpost.com/large-scale-hishing-bypasses-mfa/180212/ https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2022/07/13/19m_patients_medical_data_e...

On this week's Throwback Thursday from 3/22/2022 - The Certified Information Systems Security Professional, or CISSP, is considered by some to be the pinnacle of information security professional certifications, on par with the CPA. But why is that, and what differentiates it from other certifications? And why is it important for virtual CISOs to have and maintain this certification?

Johanan (Jo) Dixon talks about life in the Marine Corps, as an MMA amateur fighter, and as a Title boxing instructor, and how these helped prepare him for his journey to cybersecurity and his current role with Halcyon (https://www.halcyon.ai/). And he's starting up a new podcast!

Rogers service interruption, hacking a Honda, the future of certifications, and Monday thoughts. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rogers-communications-services-down-thousands-users-downdetector-2022-07-08/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflares-view-of-the-rogers-communications-outage-in-canada/ https://www.coguard.io/post/canada-rogers-outage-root-cause-analysis https://www.vice.c...

Marriott breach third in four years, CISA alert for Maui ransomware, SMBs not leveraging MFA, free entry-level cybersecurity training, DoD bug bounty program, the illusion of short cuts, and a disturbing LinkedIn site allegedly distributing copyrighted cybersecurity books without author and publisher authorization. https://www.cyberscoop.com/marriott-data-breach-baltimore/ https://www.cisa.gov/usc...

On this week’s Throwback Thursday from 3/15/22, Ed Carroll joins us to discuss many of the initiatives he's involved with, including Edison Marks to apply AI to help SMBs (https://edisonmarks.com/), the Carolina Cyber Center to help with information security in North Carolina and beyond (https://carolinacybercenter.com/), and an update on the RETR3AT cyber security conference at beautiful Montreat...

William Birchett, President of Logos Systems and creator of the vCISO Network, discusses the virtual CISO space including elements that make a successful vCISO, the biggest threat to SMBs (it's not ransomware!), and his future plans to help the vCISO field through Logos Systems, the vCISO Network, and other endeavors.

Ransom returned with gains, cyber risks in space, NIST CSF 2.0 coming, HackerOne employee claims bug bounties for themselves, bug bounty programs offer hope for cyber skills gap, and thoughts on another approach to closing that gap. https://www.dw.com/en/dutch-university-wins-big-after-bitcoin-ransom-returned/a-62337229 https://cybernews.com/editorial/in-space-cutting-losses-invite-cyberattacks/ h...

Microsoft Office 365 Office feature could enable ransomware infection, MedusaLocker alert from CISA, California breach of gun enthusiasts' PII, human error remains the top security issue according to a SANS report, and a tribute to an extraordinary man.  https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/06/23/microsoft-office-365-feature-could-help-ransomware-attackers-infiltrate-cloud-files/ https://www.c...

On this week’s Throwback Thursday from 3/8/22, Craig Sandman of Symbol Security (https://symbolsecurity.com/) and vCISONews (https://www.vcisonews.com/) joins us to discuss the importance of effective security awareness training for SMBs and the virtual CISO role.

On this episode of The Virtual CISO Moment podcast, Dick Wilkinson, CTO and Co-founder of Proof Labs, discusses securing space, the transition to entrepreneur, the vCISO discipline, and more!

Japanese man loses USB stick with citizen data after night of drinking, ransomware more about extortion, MITEL VOIP exploit, "the hateful eight" ransomware groups, new Colorado facia recognition law, and thoughts on the Offensive Security free Kali Linux Twitch stream training after two sessions. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61921222.amp https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/25/ransomware_gan...

Pegasus in Europe, Log4Shell affecting VMware, voicemail scam (because it works), SMS Bomber malware, and how financial firms can benefit from a vCISO - plus more commentary and analysis of the vCISO field. https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/nso-confirms-pegasus-spyware-used-by-at.html https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/24/log4shell-vmware-horizon/ https://threatpost.com/voicemail-phishing-sca...

This week's Throwback Thursday episode is from March 1, 2022 - Chief Information Security Officer David Baker gives insight into the challenges of an SMB CISO. Guest opinions are their own and not the views of their employer.

Nick Santora, CEO of Curricula ( curricula.com ), discusses information security awareness and how Curricula uses storytelling to make both short term and long term impressions, resulting in increased security across the organization. He also discusses his path to entrepreneur, challenges in the SMB infosec awareness space, and "wisdom walks"!

Russian botnet shut down, CFOs see cybersecurity gaps, security lapses in SMBs, university students defeat 21st century vehicle boot, and a free pen testing class coming soon to Twitch! Plus my thoughts on this past weekend's #infosec Twitter conference issue. https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/authorities-shut-down-russian-rsocks.html https://www.cfodive.com/news/cfos-ceos-see-cybersecurity-gaps-a...

Internet Explorer is retired, risks with IoT, Facebook Messenger phish, diving into the Veeam ransomware report, and one of the hardest things I've had to do in my professional career. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/15/tech/internet-explorer-dead/index.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/06/16/cybersecurity-and-risk-management-in-the-internet-of-things/ https://threatpost.com/ace...

Matt Santill, Founder and CEO of Cyber Security Services https://www.cybersecurityservices.com/ discusses the challenges of a vCISO, what is the most significant business risk, how he became interested in information security, and his career progression to CISO and on to business owner.

A third of organizations hit by ransomware were forced to close temporarily or permanently, job cuts hit cybersecurity industry despite surging growth from ransomware attacks, four signs you may be ignoring your health for your career, and Cyber Security for Small Organisations webinar. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/organizations-hit-by-ransomware-shut-down/ https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/10/...