Learning from the wider cyber community

In the UK, September kicked off for Huntsman Security with attendance at a number of events as speakers, exhibitors, attendees or all three.

The lively discourse, networking and exchange of ideas and views of Sept 22 were a wonderful change from the days of COVID lockdowns when events were virtual, presentations were little more than broadcast to the Internet and visits to the virtual booths were of limited benefit to all concerned.

The events – CIISec Live 2022

The first event was a members-only conference organised by the Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec) – “CIISEC Live 2022”, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Huntsman Security had the opportunity to present to an informed security audience on “Cyber Security Posture and Attack Surface Management” – a hot topic around the world being driven by the rise in ransomware and the growing need for active management of security controls in modern IT environments.

The theme of the conference had a strong people element, with lots of opportunities for discussion and debate amongst the various professional participants. The overriding theme, however, was one of recognising the contributions that people make to the security outcomes for organisations, the value of diversity and the contribution that technology solutions can make to scaling the security controls and defence activities across enterprise.

The events – ISACA West Midlands & IIA

The following week saw our attendance at Aston University Business School to speak to the members of the ISACA West Midlands chapter and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). Huntsman Security was a gold sponsor of the event and spoke to a knowledgeable audience; this time on “Ransomware challenges and cyber insurance”.

We undertook a survey of the challenges that conference attendees are still facing when it comes to ransomware and had the opportunity for more in depth discussions with some of the visitors to our stand. Watch out for a future blog post once we have had the opportunity to analyse the survey data.

The consensus of opinion at this ISACA conference was that everyone is in some way concerned about ransomware – in a roomful of security managers, security consultants, technical people, executives and auditors – everyone thought it was a real threat.

And, that everyone wanted to understand it:

• With greater visibility of the scale of the risks; and
• Better ways to manage their insurance obligations – either by increases in premiums or enhanced security controls management.

The events – Information Security Forum (ISF) UK Chapter

The last event was a more closed affair, with it being a member’s only meeting rather than a conference. Again, the opportunity presented itself to talk with security professionals at all levels and share observations about the threat landscape between security professionals and ourselves.

The nature of this last event meant that direct reporting or attribution of conversations was inappropriate and so the survey data was anonymised. Again, interestingly, it was clear that everyone was seeing a very similar state of affairs to those observed by customers, insurers, cyber security experts and government bureaucrats across all 3 events.

The common thread

The events brought together some expert and very senior cyber security and assurance representatives from major organisations and critical national infrastructure providers, and highly experienced senior cyber security executives and auditors – all responsible for the assurance and assessment of controls across many disciplines.

In closing, we would like to thank those of you who joined us at the various events over the last month. Each event presented us with a great opportunity to meet with a broad and knowledgeable group of cyber security stakeholders; and to see, listen and talk to one another about the important cyber security problems and possible solutions for the likes of ransomware, cyber insurance and cyber security posture.

For more information on the SmartCheck for Ransomware control measurement and assurance solution that Huntsman Security offers click here.