Insights blog.

This past Tuesday, Bitsight was named a Leader in The Forrester New Wave™: Cybersecurity Risk Rating Solutions, Q4 2018 evaluation. This report evaluates the current offering and strategy of vendors in a particular technology market, such as security ratings. This is significant, as this is the first analyst report that has a core focus on evaluating security ratings services solutions side-by-side.

In today’s evolving threat landscape, corporate directors are increasingly asking for security performance updates from Chief Information Officer, Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Risk Officers, and other executives.

Businesses are becoming increasingly reliant on outsourced IT services to support day-to-day operations.

In Spain, cybersecurity is becoming more of a priority among businesses across all industries. One way to quantify these cybersecurity postures is by looking at Spain’s security ratings across all markets. In Spain, Bitsight Security Ratings are on average 119 points below Europe as a whole. The highest performing industry is Real Estate, which has a security rating of 71 security rating points better than the European average. The lowest performing industries are Financial Services and Insurance, which are more than 200 security rating points lower than the average European rating. Given the sensitive data financial services companies possess, this report suggests there is a need for additional investment in cybersecurity and cyber risk management. As companies invest in digital transformation programs, their exposure to risk increases and requires an increased investment in risk management across their organization. 

October was Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which gave companies the opportunity to thoroughly examine their security and risk programs and identify where they can strengthen security practices. A Bitsight, we talk about risk management every day. We sat down with our Co-Founder & CTO, Stephen Boyer, to talk about the significance of having a risk-aware organization and proactive ways security ratings can help with risk management.

Banks and other financial institutions are a proving ground for new risk management methods. High risk and intense regulations feed into a culture of serious, comprehensive security — a culture that has manifested in mature methodologies such as the three lines of defense.

In a 2017 survey of almost 1,300 CEOs conducted by PwC, 63% of respondents said they were “extremely concerned” about cyber threats — up from just 8% in 2013.

Over the last several years, cybersecurity regulations (like NYDFS and GDPR) have placed pressure on the financial services industry to build and enforce some of the strongest risk management programs across any industry. These programs focus not only on internal security performance, but also on managing third party risk. Financial service organizations are both highly regulated and handle extremely sensitive personally identifiable information (PII), and as a result typically have higher security budgets when compared to other industries.

With every reported data breach or cyberattack, the cyber risk landscape gets a little more complex. Cyber criminals create new attack vectors, cybersecurity professionals develop new controls to protect their systems, the criminals get to work circumventing the controls, and so on.The result of this back and forth is that cyber risk professionals have a huge variety of risk factors to worry about. In response, risk managers and security specialists need to develop extremely complex cybersecurity programs to make sure all of their bases are covered. With so many cybersecurity risks to consider, it’s inevitable that some will receive less attention than they deserve. Unfortunately, these overlooked risk factors could play a role in your next cyberattack, and if your financial services firm isn’t prepared, that could be extremely costly. Here are a few historically overlooked risk factors that deserve some additional attention:

Within the Bitsight Security Ratings platform, we prioritize features that help organizations both identify and manage risks across their own networks and the networks of their third parties. Bitsight now enables users to identify organizations who are potentially vulnerable to VPNFilter malware or Oracle’s WebLogic server problems.

An effective third party cyber risk management program both identifies potential threats and finds ways to mitigate them. Organizations should aspire to the highest possible standards when it comes to their security posture. To do so, they must leverage the best technology, efficiently allocate resources, and strive for continual improvement.

In today’s business world, the desire to transact in the digital realm is dramatically accelerating and, unfortunately, so is the cyber risk that one takes on as a result. Organizations that handle sensitive data are more likely to become the targets of hackers who are looking to exploit this information stored within their network. Businesses now find themselves exposed to a growing “Cyber Risk Gap.” This gap is the outcome of the combined impact of the following:  

If you’re involved in a healthcare-based organization, you’ve likely noticed the push for stronger vendor security and vendor risk management (VRM) practices. There are a few reasons for this.

Following an increase in ransomware cyber attacks, most notably May 2017’s WannaCry attack, U.S. public sector entities are starting to see the effects of these attacks on the almost $4 trillion municipal debt market. As a result, issuers are now starting to consider the cybersecurity posture of borrowers at the town, city, and local levels when they apply for bonds.

Stress and worry are emotions that are often linked with the period between the beginning of a new year and mid-April, the federal tax filing deadline. Modern technology has brought with it techniques and applications that reduce this burden by making it easier for consumers to prepare a tax return. Unfortunately the age of e-filing has come with increased risk of tax fraud due to cybercrime. According to IRS statistics, investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for tax crimes, including those involving identity theft, have been on the decline over the last three years.