(ISC)² Blog

Holiday Risks: Shopping Scams in Retail, Travel and Hospitality

UPS, FedEx, USPS and other delivery workers have been on overdrive for weeks. Online shopping can ease the stress of the season, but is it safer to confront the crowds? Let’s be honest, consumers are not waiting until off hours to fill their digital carts. Hackers prey on the knowledge that it’s ever more difficult for end users to distinguish the difference between fraudulent and valid emails, which presents security issues to the enterprise as well. For the cybersecurity of end users (and the companies where they work) many headlines this week, have shared tips on how to avoid falling... Read more →

Happy New (Security) Year!

By Lorna Trayan, Associate Partner Security at IBM Security Services As I realized that the year is almost over, I had a thought: wouldn’t it be great if we could get a crystal ball and see what the future holds for us? Although I would love to know about my personal life, it’s the cybersecurity world I’m referring to here! Alas, since that’s not possible, we will all have to settle on reading the reports coming out and talking about future “predictions” of the security realm. Predictions, even if sometimes don’t come exactly true, would still assist us in taking... Read more →

4 Things You Need to Know about the (ISC)² CISSP CAT Exam

Starting December 18, 2017 all English CISSP exams will be administered in a Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) format. But what does this actually mean for those preparing for the exam? Let’s look at 4 things to expect when you sit for the CISSP CAT exam: The passing score is the same. You still need to score 700 out of 1000 to pass the CISSP exam. The content is exactly the same as the “old” (linear-based) exam format. The questions come from the same bank, and the pass rate will be unchanged by this format update. You can still take breaks.... Read more →

SSCP Spotlight: Todd Painter

Name: Todd A. Painter Title: Network Engineer Employer: UNG, Inc. Location: Boiling Springs, SC (USA) Years in IT: 7 Years in information security: 3 Cybersecurity certifications: SSCP, Security+, working on CISSP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? Looking at the current scope of IT, it was apparent to me that the IT security field would have the largest growth in the coming years. With that in mind, I knew that I had a good chance at becoming a valuable asset to any company that needed a security expert, or someone with more of a security mindset rather... Read more →

Reaching More Cybersecurity Professionals in a Growing Market

Though more attention has come to the security industry, cyber crime continues to challenge defense. Cybersecurity can no longer be ignored. In case you missed the press release last week, we’re letting you know that (ISC)² announced an open call for expert cybersecurity speakers for our 2018 Security Congress. In fact, there was lots of news coming out of (ISC)² last week. We are also welcoming nominations for the 2018 Information Security Leadership Award – Government. It’s the end of the year, which means the start of a new one. With the new year comes the promise of growth and... Read more →

Winners of the (ISC)² EMEA ISLA are Revealed

This week saw the first-ever (ISC)² EMEA Information Security Leadership Awards (ISLA) take place at Secure Summit UK in London. The awards offered the chance for our community to recognise peers going the extra mile to enhance security in the region. Individuals could be nominated in four categories: Senior Information Security Professional, Information Security Practitioner, Up-and-Coming Information Security Professional and Woman Information Security Professional; with submissions being judged by members of the Europe, Middle East and Africa Advisory Council (EAC). Impressively, over 200 submissions were received and after much deliberation, the nominations were shortlisted down to the four winners; after... Read more →

Share Your Cybersecurity Insight in New Orleans!

(ISC)²’s 2018 Security Congress will take place October 8-10 in New Orleans. Last year’s sold-out event was in Austin and included 185 speakers and 2,000 attendees. We expect Congress in the Big Easy, as New Orleans is called, to be even bigger! “Security Congress is built by the most prominent professionals in the cybersecurity industry – our members,” said (ISC)² Managing Director for North America Brian Correia. “It’s an annual event that’s uniquely aimed at the day-to-day cybersecurity practitioner. We had record attendance last year at our first independent Security Congress with 2,000 attendees, and we hope to grow the... Read more →

CISSP Now Registered with Credential Engine

Understanding which certification is right for you can be a daunting task. (ISC)² itself has a portfolio of credentials related to cybersecurity, with specializations in certain areas. Credential Engine hopes to help people navigate the sometimes-cloudy world of certifications. Launched on December 7, 2017, Credential Engine is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting transparency and literacy in the credential marketplace, to make it easier for people to figure out what certification is best for them no matter where they find themselves in their career. The organization came out of the Credential Transparency Initiative (CTI) which started back in 2013. While... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: James Packer

Name: James Packer Title: Security and Cloud Specialist Employer: Big 4 Firm Location: London, UK Education: Information Technology and Security Years in IT: 10 Years in Cybersecurity: 5 Cybersecurity Certifications: CISSP, CCSP, CIS F ISO27001 How did you get in to a career in cybersecurity? I’d say I’m like countless security professionals out there, I first started in IT and security was just a part of my job, inherent in every role I performed. I started in desktop support, progressing through the service desk lines to a managerial role, before moving in to projects and architecture- “solutionising” as I call... Read more →

With new leadership at the helm, DHS may recruit more talent

If leadership truly does come from the top, having Kirstjen Neilsen as the newest Homeland Security secretary may prove promising when it comes to filling the jobs gap. After all, she’s the first person to bring industry experience to the role. Few things have the ability to obliterate people’s passion for their work like a terrible boss, especially when that boss lacks the knowledge and skills needed to guide an organization’s growth. But Kirstjen Neilsen certainly has the potential to really reform and improve the Department of Homeland Security. It’s exciting times, but that is not all the notable news... Read more →

Breached Data: Keeping It Secret Doesn't Make It Go Away

When Uber’s massive data breach made it to the public’s ears recently, it became a member of an infamous group of companies who not only had vital customer data stolen, but who sat on the story and did not inform the public or the media until much later. The reasons for data breaches vary, but are heavily tinted by human errors and the presence of unprotected files or weaknesses on cloud servers. This is something that should make all cloud service providers (CSPs) sit up and take notice. Bad PR for one is bad PR for all. The fact is,... Read more →

Exploring Industrial Cyber Physical Security Enhancement

By Cevn Vibert, ICS Industrial Cyber Physical Security Advisor Cevn will be hosting the session Grass Roots Industrial Control Security at (ISC)² Secure Summit UK, between 12th and 13th December 2017. The industrial cybersecurity market is facing rapid changes as more threats are discovered, more impact is felt by end-users and cybersecurity vendors vie for leadership. My session will highlight both alerts and advice for end-users of automation and control systems (ICS/OT), as well as selected advisory notes for practitioners of Industrial Cyber Physical Security. Strategic methodologies and programmes of activities for mitigation of impacts on IIOT, IOT and how... Read more →

SSCP Spotlight: Mario Bardowell

Name: Mario Damar Bardowell Title: Security Analyst Employer: Leidos Location: Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. Degree: B.S. in Network Systems Communications Years in IT: 8 Years in information security: 2 Cybersecurity certifications: SSCP, CISSP, CompTIA’s CASP and Security +, CEH How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? The decision to pursue a career in cybersecurity was made due to the impression I received when I got a chance to work with an information security professional in my very first role as a help desk analyst. The man was sharp and always did things by the book. He didn't cut corners... Read more →

As cyber grows more popular, so do techniques for developing security skills

It’s not only the tech sector that’s talking about cybersecurity. The cybersecurity industry has been advocating for awareness training for the better part of the last decade, and since the Equifax breach, security has gone mainstream. With its new popularity, cybersecurity has evolved into a hot political issue as well. One result of the attention is increased regulations, which has many defense contractors scrambling to meet the December 31, 2017 deadline for Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) compliance. In a year of many major breaches, legislators are eager to move forward on the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) project to... Read more →