Local team tackles cybersecurity with ground-breaking approach
Have you ever worried about your identity or financial information being stolen by cybercriminals? Have you ever received notification that your personal information was stolen in the fallout of a breach?
Whether it’s a social media account or a personal credit card number being exposed through a Target or Walmart breach, it’s a hard truth that cyberattacks impact everyone on multiple levels. As our individual identities and our corporate data-collection practices become more electronic and cloud based, our responsibility to ensure that sensitive and private information is protected increases exponentially.
Cyber Self-Defense principals Mike Meline and Paul Carugati say that all companies have a responsibility to their customers and the community to protect the data they have been empowered to hold. Regulated companies know the requirements to protect such data, yet many companies lack the knowledge and skillsets to do so. Many other companies don’t even know that they are required to protect the data. In 2015, the Third Circuit Court ruled that the Federal Trade Commission had the authority to sue Wyndham Resorts for failing to protect customer information.
“The three requirements in § 45(n) may be necessary rather than sufficient conditions of an unfair practice, but we are not persuaded that any other requirements proposed by Wyndham pose a serious challenge to the FTC’s claim here. Furthermore, Wyndham repeatedly argued there is no FTC interpretation of § 45(a) or (n) to which the federal courts must defer in this case, and, as a result, the courts must interpret the meaning of the statute as it applies to Wyndham’s conduct in the first instance. Thus, Wyndham cannot argue it was entitled to know with ascertainable certainty the cybersecurity standards by which the FTC expected it to conform. Instead, the company can only claim that it lacked fair notice of the meaning of the statute itself — a theory it did not meaningfully raise and that we strongly suspect would be unpersuasive under the facts of this case. We thus affirm the District Court’s decision.”
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These two world-class cybersecurity experts are using their company located in North Idaho to prove exactly how companies can prepare themselves for the breaches that industry experts know will occur. Since 2015, cybersecurity professionals have all come to the conclusion that if you have not been breached, you either do not know that you have been breached, or you will soon be breached. Meline and Carugati believe Risk Management, Identity Management, Security Education, and Security Awareness are the keys to the development of a comprehensive, business-enabling, cybersecurity program that meets your company’s responsibility to your customers, community, and your business.
It’s a tall order, considering challenges that range from staying ahead of the newest forms of cybercrime to the lack of skilled information-security professionals ready to take on these obstacles. Meline and Carugati believe that most companies are afraid that they cannot afford cybersecurity. Cyber Self-Defense utilizes a risk-based approach to cybersecurity that helps businesses implement cybersecurity in a manner that ensures the success of your business. Their approach minimizes the number of cybersecurity professionals necessary to build the program as qualified professionals are more and more difficult to find.
In fact, the Cybersecurity Jobs Report 2018 compiled by the Herjavec Group shows that in three years there will be as many as 3.5 million unfilled positions in IT security.
With the average global cost of a data breach currently at $3.86 million according to the Ponemon Institute’s 2018 Cost of Data Breach Study, small and medium-sized businesses are a particularly vulnerable target. Carugati and Meline have made these organizations the focus of their mission at Cyber Self-Defense, using their unique approach to empower their customers.
Working with their customers at an executive level to educate the decision-makers, Cyber Self-Defense begins by integrating people, process and technology with detailed emphasis on Risk Management to architect strategic security programs on a holistic level. All major functional areas including compliance, business continuity, and the changing cyber-threat landscape are carefully factored into the development of their customized solutions which truly enable their customers’ businesses, not hinder them.
The next step is leveraging the customer’s existing IT resources by training teams in the necessary processes and procedures to eventually run the program themselves, and strategically position IT as a high-value organization within the business. Additional benefits come through the program’s Risk Assessment and tools that provide easy-to-understand risk metrics which help educate executives and board members with actionable intelligence. This enables decision-makers to take steps that enhance the organization’s security posture going forward and allows them to drive down costs by utilizing actual security data to achieve business objectives.
“Our ultimate goal is to help unravel the mystery of cybersecurity by enabling businesses and communities to protect themselves against the growing cyberthreat,” said Carugati. “Cybersecurity need not be expensive, it must be strategic and it must enable the business,” added Meline.
The two have been on the cybersecurity front lines for a combined 30+ years in vital industries that range from telecommunications, finance and healthcare to utility and government emergency-preparedness and disaster recovery. The pairs’ move to the Northwest was inspired by the people, culture and landscape, ultimately creating the opportunity for Carugati and Meline to meet through the Community Security Coalition (CSC).
Meline founded CSC in 2013 to create a place where IT and security professionals could come together to exchange cyber-threat knowledge, ideas and concerns. Currently the CSC Spokane Chapter, with Carugati serving as president, provides regular training sessions to its 350 members, as well as events for the community, such as “Secure Spokane,” held earlier this fall to promote Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month. With Meline’s and Carugati’s unparalleled depth of expertise, in just 5 years, CSC has made a significant impact in the community by becoming a leading source of quality cybersecurity education in the region.
With the rapid evolution of technology and cyberthreats, it’s not a question of if, but when a data breach will impact your life. The time to protect your business and the community is now. Learn how to get involved at: cyberselfdefense.com
