I’d been keeping an eye on the security space this week, what with BSides, Black Hat, and Defcon all in Las Vegas this week, and we’ll see what continues to fall out from there.
Cisco recently announced vulnerabilities in their Cisco Small Business RV160, RV260, RV340, and RV345 Series Routers. Patch away. FEMA warned that the Emergency Alert Service could be used to allow threat actors to issue alerts if not updated to the most recent software versions in the EAS encoder/decoder devices.
For all the concern, IoT security fears are falling. The Journey to IoT Maturity, a follow-up to Wi-SUN’s ‘state of the nation’ IoT study in 2017, shows security as one of their top three challenges when rolling out IoT fell from 58% in 2017 to 24% in 2022, while the proportion of respondents viewing it as a technical challenge also dropped from 65% in 2017 to 42% this year, indicating fewer concerns but still highlighting it as an issue.
There are growing fears over data privacy issues. Data privacy regulation is the second highest (political, economic, or social) challenge for IoT adopters, with 36% placing it in their top three, just behind the need to reprioritize spending due to Covid-19 (37%) and ahead of budget cuts resulting from less revenue during the pandemic (35%).
A combined report from TAG Cyber, JS Group, and IGI CyberLabs focus on continuous scanning as a solution for SMBs. The report suggests that managed service providers (MSPs) implement an ongoing program that is feasible even if a firm’s security budget is minimal.
ConnectWise’s new SMB Cybersecurity report says nearly three-quarters (73%) of report respondents agree that their organization has reached a tipping point where cybersecurity concerns demand action. Over three-quarters (76%) of SMBs report that they were impacted by at least one cybersecurity attack in 2021 – a considerable increase compared to 55% the year before. Consequently, 78% of SMB respondents say their organization is set to increase investment in cybersecurity in the next 12 months. However, a key challenge identified in the report is that two in three SMBs lack the expertise in-house to defend themselves against cybersecurity threats; additionally, many SMBs are also feeling disillusioned or challenged with current partners tasked to provide the help they need.
On cyber insurance, Only 55 percent of the 450 Canadian and U.S. respondents to a survey paid for by BlackBerry and Boston-based Corvus Insurance said they currently have cyber insurance. Another 28 percent intend to acquire coverage shortly. However, over one-third (37 percent) of those with insurance said their organizations aren’t covered for ransomware payments. Forty-three percent said their firms aren’t covered for additional costs such as court costs and downtime.
Why do we care?
I’ll focus on insurance here. This sounds just like bedlam, honestly. Can you get insurance? Do you need it? Does it cover what you need? And in confusion, there is opportunity, for sure. It’s likely a skill set many aren’t prepared for … so partner up.
I honestly don’t know where that IoT confidence comes from. I’m afraid I also have to disagree with ConnectWise that we’re at a tipping point – because you can’t identify a tipping point until you’re over it. Any long-time listener should have already recognized we’re well at that point. If the media coverage drives action, then great, but that isn’t the tipping point.