Key Takeaways of the US Cybersecurity Executive Order

The webinar started off with a brief introduction of recent data breaches, the kinds of cyberattacks, causes, and methods of prevention that organizations can take. Supriya Anchan from Technology Advisory at Nexdigm talks about cyber security for individuals, organizations, and nations.

The panelists touched upon the White House directive regarding Cyber Security and its relevance in recent times. Along with that, the panelists offered their take on the effectiveness of certain regulations such as the Cloud Act, HIPAA, the Department of Defense requirements, etc.

To this, Anupam Srivastava - Vice President of International Strategy and Business Development, Safe-Zone Ltd states that “the effectiveness of these regulations follows the law of diminishing returns.” This is because cybercriminals can adapt to these regulations and find means of bypassing them. Since the internet is a highly dynamic environment, rather than enforcing a few regulations from time to time, there needs to be constant alterations and monitoring to ensure that organizations are one step ahead of the criminals.

Jerry Leishman – Executive Vice President and National Security & Compliance Director at CORTAC Group, provides some interesting numbers for the negligence cost of cyber security and compares it with the global drug trade valuation. He further addresses the steps taken by the Government of the United States to improve cyber security amongst industries.

Next, the panelists discussed what council and immediate response a cyber security firm would provide to a cyberattack target. Here, Keith Frederick – Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Viasat Inc. added some precise steps that a victim organization would be asked to take. He iterates how important it is to understand the cause of the breach, as it helps tighten security and prevent repeat attacks.

The panelists then discussed the zero trust architecture that various organizations are implementing. Along with that, the panel was also asked to shed light on the other preemptive policies and measures that can minimize the occurrence of cyberattacks. They highlighted the importance of an organization following good security hygiene, such as setting strong passwords, changing firewalls, keeping software up to date, etc.

In conclusion, the panel addressed how important it is to constantly evolve in a dynamic environment such as the internet and practice good security hygiene. If, unfortunately, an attack takes place, one must prioritize the running of daily operations while at the same time diagnosing the cause of the attack and then optimizing from there.