ISC2 Blog

Security Headlines: Black Hat Edition

We can’t all make it to Vegas for Black Hat, but we can get the scoop on what news came out of the annual infosec conference that took over the Mandalay Bay, and security headlines, for the week. So let’s dive into the top headlines from the week of July 24, 2017: Recruiting is flush in Vegas. With more industries than ever – AKA all of them – needing cybersecurity as a function, parties at BH are a way for recruiters to fill jobs. Facebook is putting their money where their mouth is and investing $1M in funding for defensive... Read more →

SSCP Spotlight: Ronald Ricohermoso

Name: Ronald Ricohermoso Title: IS Security Operations Analyst Employer: Ingram Micro Location: Philippines Degree: BS in Computer Science Years in IT: 6 Years in information security: 4 Cybersecurity certifications: SSCP, Security+, CEH, ITIL Foundation How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I started working as a service desk, but decided to leave and specialize in other fields of IT (ex. networking or infrastructure). It started when I got a job at Ingram Micro as a security administrator and learned about the importance of information security and the challenges it offers due to the changing threat landscape. I learned... Read more →

Is IT the solution to filling cybersecurity workforce gap?

Insights from the 2017 Global Information Security Workforce Study show that the IT players in your organization may be the key to filling the looming cybersecurity workforce gap. The survey was taken by 10,584 cyber and information security professionals in North America, and showed a projected 265,000 industry jobs will be left unfilled in 2022. Practitioners back up that data, with 68 percent indicating their organizations had too few security professionals. Filling a gap of that size with qualified professionals is daunting, but the help may already be in your organization in the information technology department. In North America, 87... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: Paul-Arnaud Wernert

Name: Paul-Arnaud Wernert Title: Senior Manager, Cyber Risk & Security Employer: Beijaflore Location: Paris, France Years in IT: 13 Years in cybersecurity: 13 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I started to be interested in cybersecurity during my engineering studies. I led a team of students to perform an organizational and technical security audit of the network of a French public company. This was the first experience for me to understand one context, identify its threats and assess associated risks, then explain to the management these risks and the way to mitigate them. After... Read more →

Security headlines: IoT and GoT

From IoT to GoT, budget issues to interview busts, here are the top security headlines for the week of July 17, 2017: Who is a target for ransomware? Short answer: everyone. But education, government and healthcare organizations top the list. In math that doesn’t seem to add up, UK businesses estimate they would spend £1.1m to recover from a breach, but only 14.4% of their organisation’s operation budget is spent on infosec. We’ve mentioned the cybersecurity workforce gap a time or two, but what are entry-level job seekers doing that keeps them from getting the gig? Verizon has been breached... Read more →

CCSP Spotlight: Hatem Ahmed El Sahhar

Name: Hatem Ahmed El Sahhar Title: Team Lead, Security Engineering Employer: Orange Business Services Location: Cairo, Egypt Years in IT: 12 years Years in cybersecurity: 9 Years Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP, CCSP, CEH, Security+, Symantec Knight, Blue Coat Certified Cloud Service Troubleshooting, Blue Coat Certified Proxy Administrator, Blue Coat Certified Proxy Professional, Zscaler Certified Cloud Administrator, Cisco Certified ASA Specialist, CCNA Security, RSA SecurID Administration, Certified Clearswift Engineer (CCE) SECURE Email Gateway, JNCIA How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? My vision was clear since my early days and after acquiring my bachelor degree in computer engineering I was... Read more →

Security Headlines: Weekend Warriors, SIM Swapping and more

In what passes for a quiet week in the cybersecurity space, here are some of the top security headlines for the week of July 11, 2017: According to the Economic Times, cyber insurance companies haven’t been hit with claims from the summer’s cyberattacks – yet. “It would only need a combination of WannaCry’s wide reach and Petya’s destructive force to cost cyber insurers something like $2.5 billion...” Oh good – something to look forward to! In news that won’t surprise your family, 57% of IT security professionals work weekends. But those weekend warriors are up for the challenge, as 97%... Read more →

Associate Spotlight: Meet Paul McAleer

Name: Paul McAleer (ISC)² Exams Passed: CAP and CISSP Title: Information Assurance Specialist Site Lead Employer: AlphaSix Corporation (Government Contrator) Location: Washington, DC Education: MS in Cybersecurity Years in information security: 2 years Certifications: Security+, ITIL V3, CCSK What did you want to be when you were a child? Most of my family is musical, so I wanted to be professional guitar player. I started playing electric guitar at age 11. I played in bands and for my church. Playing guitar and writing music are still hobbies for me. If you were given three more hours per day, what would... Read more →

Security Headlines: NotPetya and the Most Hackable Countries in the World

From the continuing NotPetya attack to the most hackable countries in the world, here’s what made the top security headlines for the week of July 3, 2017: The Ukraine is scrambling to contain a new cyber threat after the ‘NotPetya’ attack, according to Reuters. Investigators are saying that the hack may be far more nefarious than previously thought. Looking to protect against a cyberattack? Here are some simple steps from Freight Waves. Threats on the rise – Linux IoT devices. Which countries are the most hackable in the world? Rapid 7’s National Exposure Index ranks the top 10 most hackable... Read more →

Continuing the Conversation: More Secure Cloud

Recently, the (ISC)² ThinkTank tackled the cloud. The webinar, “Security Practices for a More Secure Cloud,” featured panelists Kurt Hagerman, CISO of Armor, Raj Goel, CTO of Brainlink, and Keith Young, Info Security Officer of Montgomery County. Thank you to our panelists for sharing their expertise - let’s continue the conversation, shall we? Since cloud is becoming a hot commodity these days, how can a cloud provider assure would be customers that data is 100% secured day-in-and-day-out? I guess there can never be a guarantee. In line with this, how can a cloud provider show that all measures are done... Read more →

Associate Spotlight: Meet Lucy Chaplin

Name: Lucy Chaplin (ISC)² Exams Passed: CISSP Title: Manager Employer: Wavestone UK Location: London, UK Education: Bachelor of Science, Economics and Politics Years in information security: 4.5 Certifications: PRINCE2 Registered Practitioner, ITIL V3 What did you want to be when you were a child? A pop star, of course! And I also thought it would be fun to practice law — be a barrister, wear a big white wig and argue in front of a judge. If you were given three more hours per day, what would you do with it? The boring answer is get more sleep. But I... Read more →

Weekly Security Headlines: IoT and Ransomware

If no news is good news, we’ve got trouble. Here are the top security headlines for the week of June 26, 2017: Is your security team down with IoT? Yeah, you know that 48% of U.S. companies aren’t. Just when you thought ransomware was out of the news, Petya pulls you back in. A two-step guide to dealing with ransomware: 1. Back up your data. 2. Never pay. The source code is out there. Windows 10 code was released, causing even more security concerns for the operating system. Snapchat maps? Time to activate Ghost Mode. Heard a cybersecurity story we... Read more →