Category: Policies

In physical world, likelihood is based on historical frequencies, scientific calculation like path of hurricane, engineering specification such as MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure). Likelihood is the foundation to predict when an event will occur. It is the key catalyst in the insurance industry. In cyber world, this is not going to be the same. Uncovered vulnerability will turn security protection insecure over night. An example is TLS (Transport Layer Security). People take TLS for granted as a secure means to protect sensitive information submission over the network. The Heartbleed suddenly shocked everyone and this can't be predicted per traditional manner. A different approach has to be adopted to address cyber risk likelihood....

People talk about leaking company CONFIDENTIAL information.  It is not just a word slipped from your mouth to blame your staff but a proper management system to formalize it. You have to rethink: - Do you have an information classification policies? - Does your information carry any classification marking? And if no marking, what is the default classification? No classification label should never be regarded as CONFIDENTIAL. - Are you holding information that is also available from other sources or publicly known? - Have you provided training or orientation to raise the staff awareness the proper handling of company information? If you don’t have any one of these, it’s the fault of your company but not your staff....

Setting up a policy is easy.  Whether it is practically doable is a matter of enforcement that is the biggest challenge especially when exception to policies can be manipulated....