Enterprise Security Weekly (audio)

Remember 20 years ago? When we were certain SIEMs would grant our cybersecurity teams superpowers? Or 10 years ago, when we were sure that NGAV would put an end to malware as we knew it? Or 15 years ago, when we were sure that application control would put an end to malware as we knew it? Or 18 years ago, when NAC would put an end to unauthorized network access? Why do we keep thinking that the next vendor offering is going to solve all our problems? In this interview, we talk with Fred Wilmot about the hard work of building effective processes and resilient architectures that will actually yield reductions in risk and detection/response capabilities that actually work. We'll discuss shifts in thinking that can move us past the latest distractions, and keep security teams focused on work that moves the needle. Fred may also mention his past transgressions against the industry and what he's doing to "wipe out the red from his ledger". There's plenty of content out there detailing how vendors fall short: scumm

The emergence of generative AI has caused us to rethink things on two fronts: how we consume threat detection data, as defenders how we need to shift our thinking and approaches to prepare for attackers' newfound GenAI capabilities But wait - is GenAI even useful for defenders or attackers? We'll dive deep into the state of AI as it pertains to security operations, just as Gartner announces that AI is hitting the trough of disillusionment. What better time to dispel the hype and focus on where real progress can be made? Edward Wu thinks so! Understandably so, as his startup, Dropzone.ai is making a big bet on generative AI to change the face (and pace) of security operations. We'll talk about what has changed here, and I have so many questions: after many generations of AI/ML technology in security, is the current gen really that dramatically different? Dropzone is far from the only startup with the same idea here, how will they differentiate? Is the problem that we need more help than we can possibly hire

In this episode of Enterprise Security Weekly, we revisit the insightful book "Jump-start Your SOC Analyst Career" with authors Jarrett Rodrick and Tyler Wall, exploring updates on career paths, opportunities, and the industry's reality. We delve into the myths versus the truths about cybersecurity careers, discussing the viability of high salaries and the best entry points into the field. Next, we tackle the critical issues plaguing the cybersecurity industry despite its rapid growth and increased influence at the board level. We ask why, despite ample resources, are failures more prevalent than ever? Lastly, we cover significant news in enterprise security, including the rumored historic acquisition of Wiz by Google, recent company acquisitions, and the evolving concept of shared responsibility in cybersecurity. Join us for a comprehensive discussion that spans career guidance, industry analysis, and the latest news in enterprise security. Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/esw for all the latest episodes

I'm always thrilled to chat with ex-analysts, and Henrique Teixeira can cover a lot of ground with us on the topic of identity management and governance. The more I talk to folks about IAM/IGA, the more I'm shocked at how little has changed. If anything, it seems like we've gone backwards a bit, with the addition of cloud SaaS, mobile devices, and shadow IT. Identity is one of the most common entry points for attacks, so we've got to do better as an industry here. We'll cover a variety of topics in this interview, including: Why Henrique chose to go to Saviynt from Gartner Vendor risk concentration in identity Resilience in identity, especially when depending on a SaaS IdP Identity attack evolution (and the creation of the ITDR category) What's working in identity to move things forward, and what is holding us back This segment is sponsored by Saviynt. Visit https://securityweekly.com/saviynt to learn more about them! In this week's enterprise security news, Seed rounds are getting huge Lots of funding for

We all might be a little worn out on this topic, but there's no escaping it. Executives want to adopt GenAI and it is being embedded into nearly every software product we use in both our professional and personal lives. In this interview, Anurag joins us to discuss how his company evaluated and ultimately integrated AI-based technologies into their products. We discuss: What to be aware of when deploying GenAI Key use cases and successes organizations are having with GenAI Some of the risks to be aware of How to prepare employees for GenAI Best practices to prepare for evolving threats For decades, security teams have been focused on preventing and detecting threats, only to find themselves buried so deep in alerts, they can't detect anything at all! We clearly need a different approach, which will be the topic of our conversation today with Marty. We'll be discussing a shift in philosophy and tactics. We'll discuss whether SecOps has a hoarding problem, and possible paths out of the current situation preve

Traditional approaches to access management are no longer sufficient to safeguard enterprise security. Tim will explain why the most effective approach to modern enterprise security requires a Zero Trust model that extends beyond just access to encompass every action, no matter how minor. Tim will describe the importance of implementing a Zero Trust framework that evaluates each command, query, and configuration change in real-time, and how that delivers the most effective and complete security solution. Doing so involves the application of fine-grained authorization policies that adapt to the context of the user, the sensitivity of the action, and the prevailing threat landscape. Segment Resources: https://www.strongdm.com/blog/pam-was-dead-strongdm-just-brought-it-back-to-life https://www.strongdm.com/whitepaper/technical-overview This segment is sponsored by StrongDM. Visit https://securityweekly.com/strongdmidv to learn more about them! Traditional IGA solutions are not risk-focused by design, and as aud

FIDO security keys are not new in the authentication workflow. They have been around now for 10 years. What is new is the combination of the most secure multi-factor authentication method not only for logical but also for physical access control with the highest FIPS140-3 security certification in the market. Segment Resources: Video "Swissbit iShield Key Pro: Protecting Digital Identities" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxtqOyZ6e80 This segment is sponsored by Swissbit. Visit https://securityweekly.com/swissbitidv to learn more about them! While AI artificial intelligence is up-and-coming, automating your organization's PKI infrastructure is very much a reality, and can help save your IT team on hardware costs and employee costs in the long term. Additionally, a powerful PKI-as-a-Service solution provides the cryptoagility your organization can rely on as artificial intelligence, post-quantum computing, and shortened certificate validity periods become reality. This segment is sponsored by HID. Visit https:

Log4j, solar winds, tesla hacks, and the wave of high profile appsec problems aren’t going to go away with current approaches like SAST and SCA. Why? They are: -40 years old, with little innovation -Haven’t solved the problem. In this segment, we talk about fully autonomous application security. Vetted by DARPA in the Cyber Grand Challenge, the approach is different: -Prove bugs, rather than trying to list all of them. -Zero false positives, which leads to better autonomy. Segment Resources: Article on competition: https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/timeline/cyber-grand-challenge Technical article on approach: https://spectrum.ieee.org/mayhem-the-machine-that-finds-software-vulnerabilities-then-patches-them Example vulns discovered: https://forallsecure.com/blog/forallsecure-uncovers-critical-vulnerabilities-in-das-u-boot https://github.com/forallsecure/vulnerabilitieslab Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/vault-esw-12

This week, we've got data security being both funded AND acquired. We discuss Lacework's fall from unicorn status and why rumors that it went to Fortinet for considerably more than Wiz was willing to pay make sense. Microsoft Recall and Apple Intelligence are the perfect bookends for a conversation about the importance of handling consumer privacy concerns at launch. How can the Snowflake breach both be one of the biggest breaches ever, but also not a breach at all (for Snowflake, at least). It's time to have a conversation about shared responsibilities, and when the line between CSP and customer needs to shift. The CSA's AI Resilience Benchmark leaves much to be desired (like, an actual usable benchmark) and Greg Linares tells a wild story about how the first Microsoft Office 2007 vulnerability was discovered. Finally, the Light Phone III was announced. Do we finally have a usable minimalist, social media detox-friendly phone option? Will Adrian have to buy one to find out? Several recent trends underscore t

"Identity security has been around forever though", you might be thinking. Allow me to clarify. Identity is the largest cybersecurity product category, but most of it is focused on identity governance, authentication, multi-factor, etc. Very little of it is focused on operational identity security. It's this trend, where we recently (within the last 2 years) started seeing the ITDR (Identity Threat Detection and Response) acronym that we'll be focused on today. Particularly: Why is this trend/spike occurring now? What was or is missing to do identity security properly? What does the future of securing identity look like? And it's difficult to do better for this conversation than Will Lin. He spent the last half decade as a VC. On a daily basis, he was looking at the big picture of cybersecurity markets and trends. He discussed security challenges with CISOs and other security buyers on a regular basis, both directly and through the Security Tinkerers community he founded. All this led to a decision to quit

In this interview, join Swimlane Chief Information Security Officer, Mike Lyborg, and host Akira Brand as we discuss the value of cybersecurity marketplaces from a CISO perspective. Through insightful discussions, unpack the connection between outcomes-driven solutions and tangible business KPIs. This segment is sponsored by Swimlane. Visit https://securityweekly.com/swimlanersac to learn more about them! The past two years have witnessed an unprecedented surge in the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) across various industries. And while this presents new efficiencies, with these benefits come significant security concerns. The widespread integration of AI applications increases the risk of data breaches and intellectual property theft, while also expanding organizations' vulnerability to malicious data injection and other AI-driven cyberattacks. During this interview Jim will explore why it’s imperative to implement robust security measures to mitigate these evolving risks effectively, and

Organizations today are overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of potential cybersecurity threats and there is plenty of vendor buzz around AI in Security products, but what is the reality? Threat detection and incident response (TDIR) strategy and execution have never been more critical and are essential in maintaining cyber resilience and strengthening the security posture of every organization. TDIR aims to identify potential threats and respond before they can impact a business. A layered defense focuses on identifying threat activity, prioritizing investigations, and measuring risk. As a result, organizations can take the appropriate threat mitigation steps. These security strategies and protocols signify a step forward with a TDIR strategy where everyone from the CISO to the security analyst wins. This segment is sponsored by Graylog. Visit https://securityweekly.com/graylogrsac to learn more about them! Axur is a cost-effective external cybersecurity solution that empowers security teams to handle threat

As a special treat for this week's vault episode, we set up a conversation with Derek Manky to discuss Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs Threat Report. This is a bi-annual report put out by FortiGuard Labs, and in my opinion, it just keeps getting better and better. The report is chock full of actionable information and insights. It answered all my questions about the current state of threats and attacks, like: What is the latest big shift in strategy and focus for ransomware groups? I keep hearing that attackers are getting faster and faster - how much time to defenders actually have these days (to patch a critical vuln, for example)? What are the latest attack techniques being used? Which are used less, or never used? There's not a dull moment in this conversation - I hope you enjoy listening to or watching it as much as I did making it! Segment Resources: Fortiguard Labs 2H 2023 FortiGuard Labs Threat Report Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/vault-esw-9

Only one funding announcement this week, so we dive deep into Thoma Bravo's past and present portfolio. They recently announced a sale of Venafi to Cyberark and no one is quite sure how much of a hand they had in the LogRhythm/Exabeam merger, and whether or not they sold their stake in the process. We also have a crazy stat Ross Haleliuk spotted in Bessemer's analysis: "13 out of 14 cybersecurity companies acquired in the past year for over $100M were from Israel". Is this an anomaly? Does it just mean that Israel wasn't shy about selling when the market was down? We discuss. A number of new product announcements continue to trickle out post-RSA. We'll also discuss Sam Altman and OpenAI's decision to use Scarlett Johansson's voice against her will and what it could mean for deepfakes, advanced social engineering techniques, and general big tech sliminess. Do you know what a "product glorifier" is? How about a glowstacker? You will if you check out the second-to-last story in the show notes! See the show notes

Suddenly SIEMs are all over the news! In a keynote presentation, Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz talked about the company's "next-gen" SIEM. Meanwhile, Palo Alto, who was taken to task by some for not having an active presence on the RSAC expo floor, hits the headlines for acquiring IBM's SIEM product, just to shut it down! Meanwhile, LogRhythm and Exabeam merge, likely with the hopes of weathering the coming storm. The situation seems clear - there's no such thing as "best of breed" SIEM anymore. It's a commodity to be attached to the existing dominant security platforms. Are the days numbered for the older pure-play SIEM/SOAR vendors out there? Crowdstrike and Palo Alto alone could displace a lot of incumbents, even with a less than stellar product. Visit the show notes for full descriptions on each RSAC executive interview! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/esw-362

Tune in to hear 9 executive interviews from RSA Conference 2024, featuring speakers from Zscaler, Open Systems, Aryaka, OpenText, Hive Pro, Critical Start, Anomali, Cyware, and Pentera! Find individual descriptions for each interview on the show notes. Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/esw-361

It's the most boring part of incident response. Skip it at your peril, however. In this interview, we'll talk to Joe Gross about why preparing for incident response is so important. There's SO MUCH to do, we'll spend some time breaking down the different tasks you need to complete long before an incident occurs. Resources 5 Best Practices for Building a Cyber Incident Response Plan This segment is sponsored by Graylog. Visit https://securityweekly.com/graylog to learn more about them!   It's the week before RSA and the news is PACKED. Everyone is trying to get their RSA announcements out all at once. We've got announcements about funding, acquisitions, partnerships, new companies, new products, new features... To make things MORE challenging, everyone is also putting out their big annual reports, like Verizon's DBIR and Mandiant's M-Trends! Finally, we've got some great essays that are worth putting on your reading list, including a particularly fun take on the Verizon DBIR by Kelly Shortridge. Visit https:

A clear pattern with startups getting funding this week are "autonomous" products and features. Automated detection engineering Autonomously map and predict malicious infrastructure ..."helps your workforce resolve their own security issues autonomously" automated remediation automated compliance management & reporting I'll believe it when I see it. Don't get me wrong, I think we're in desperate need of more automation when it comes to patching and security decision-making. I just don't think the majority of the market has the level of confidence necessary to trust security products to automate things without a human in the loop. The way LimaCharlie is going about it, with their new bi-directional functionality they're talking up right now, might work, as detections can be VERY specific and fine-grained. We've already seen a round of fully automated guardrail approaches (particularly in the Cloud) fail, however. My prediction? Either what we're seeing isn't truly automated, or it will become a part of t

Protecting a normal enterprise environment is already difficult. What must it be like protecting a sports team? From the stadium to merch sales to protecting team strategies and even the players - securing an professional sports team and its brand is a cybersecurity challenge on a whole different level. In this interview, we'll talk to Joe McMann about how Binary Defense helps to protect the Cleveland Browns and other professional sports teams. This week, Adrian and Tyler discuss some crazy rumors - is it really possible that a cloud security startup valued at over $8 billion in November 2021 just got bought for $200 million??? Some healthy funding for Cyera and Cohesity ($300m and $150m, respectively) Onum, Alethea, Sprinto, Andesite AI, StrikeReady, YL-Backed Miggo, Nymiz, Salvador Technologies, and Simbian all raise smaller seed, A, or B rounds. Akamai picks up API security startup, Noname Security, Zscaler picks up Airgap networks, and it's rumored that Armis will acquire Silk Security for $150M. LimaChar

In the days when Mirai emerged and took down DynDNS, along with what seemed like half the Internet, DDoS was as active a topic in the headlines as it was behind the scenes (check out Andy Greenberg's amazing story on Mirai on Wired). We don't hear about DDoS attacks as much anymore. What happened? Well, they didn't go away. DDoS attacks are a more common and varied tool of cybercriminals than ever. Today, Michael Smith is going to catch us up on the state of DDoS attacks in 2024, and we'll focus particularly on one cybercrime actor, KillNet. Segment Resources: Understanding DDoS Attacks: What is a DDoS Attack and How Does it Work? - I know the title makes this blog post sound rather basic, but it will get you up to speed on all the latest DDoS types, actors, and terminology pretty quickly! What is An Application-Layer DDoS Attack, and How Do I Defend Against Them? 2023 DDoS Statistics and Trends https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killnet This week, Tyler and Adrian discuss Cyera's $300M Series C, which lands t