Cybersecurity professionals know that staying ahead of trends is more than a full-time job—it’s a lifestyle. For anyone touching data in the enterprise, from the CIO to the CFO, the 15th annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a good time to take a good hard look at today’s top risks and defense tactics.

After all, cyber-criminals are only getting more sophisticated each year, benefiting from advances in cybercrime-as-a-service, machine learning and AI as a means of automating data collection and cracking passwords at breathtaking pace. Those and more entrenched tactics helped power more data breaches in 2017 than any other year on record—a trend that shows no signs of abatement. 

At the same time, enterprises are also facing other new pressures. The European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are challenging, and so are the business risks in a geopolitical landscape.

Many elements can help an enterprise maintain robust defense. Perhaps most key is organizational commitment. To aid you in the effort, we’ve rounded up a few top reads related to today’s most vital security tactics—and some hints at tomorrow’s, too.

Five cybersecurity solution must-reads

Following are a few helpful articles and videos to review and share with colleagues, drawn from our own Burwood library and other trusted sources.

1. Lessons learned from 'Petya' and 'wannacry': a defense In depth security strategy is a must: Here, one of our Burwood analysts discusses the importance of identifying high-risk systems and implementing risk treatment, such as network segmentation and threat detection.

2.  Five cybersecurity best practices for 2018: From culture to coping with BYOD: Information Age covers the essentials, including the importance of creating a cybersecurity culture, planning for BYOD, protecting endpoints, making “back it up” a rallying cry, and of course, learning about innovations in security.

3.  Vulnerability management: components of a well-defined program: Vulnerability management programs are no longer optional. They are essential to protecting business systems and service in the modern threat landscape. This webinar explains how network scans, system patching cycles and advanced endpoint protection contribute to a comprehensive vulnerability management program.

4.  Threat ready: the benefits of network segmentation: This Burwood webinar discusses segmentation and the "zero trust" method, exploring ways to maintain a CIA-level of network security even when you don’t own all the endpoints and can’t trust every aspect of your corporate network.

5.  Machine learning (ML) is providing value in simple tasks and elevating suspicious events for human analysis: The shift to the cloud is opening up new ways to leverage machine learning and AI for threat intelligence, helping solve adaptive authentication, insider threats, malware and more, according to Gartner’s list of top security trends of 2018. The research group predicts that by 2025, ML will be a typical part of the security toolbox.

Keeping your cybersecurity knowledge up to date requires far more than can be covered in a single reading list, of course. We’ll be devoting more coverage to the topic in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post on cybersecurity trends specific to healthcare, and another on manufacturing.

In the meantime, consider taking action today by sharing this list with colleagues, and following Stay Safe Online on Twitter for more #CyberAware tips.

October 4, 2018