Book Image

Cybersecurity Threats, Malware Trends, and Strategies - Second Edition

By : Tim Rains
3 (2)
Book Image

Cybersecurity Threats, Malware Trends, and Strategies - Second Edition

3 (2)
By: Tim Rains

Overview of this book

Tim Rains is Microsoft's former Global Chief Security Advisor and Amazon Web Services’ former Global Security Leader for Worldwide Public Sector. He has spent the last two decades advising private and public sector organizations all over the world on cybersecurity strategies. Cybersecurity Threats, Malware Trends, and Strategies, Second Edition builds upon the success of the first edition that has helped so many aspiring CISOs, and cybersecurity professionals understand and develop effective data-driven cybersecurity strategies for their organizations. In this edition, you’ll examine long-term trends in vulnerability disclosures and exploitation, regional differences in malware infections and the socio-economic factors that underpin them, and how ransomware evolved from an obscure threat to the most feared threat in cybersecurity. You’ll also gain valuable insights into the roles that governments play in cybersecurity, including their role as threat actors, and how to mitigate government access to data. The book concludes with a deep dive into modern approaches to cybersecurity using the cloud. By the end of this book, you will have a better understanding of the threat landscape, how to recognize good Cyber Threat Intelligence, and how to measure the effectiveness of your organization's cybersecurity strategy.

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Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Get in touch
Share your thoughts
1
Introduction
Introduction
Different types of CISOs: “The CISO Spectrum”
How organizations get initially compromised and the cybersecurity fundamentals
Focus on the cybersecurity fundamentals
Understanding the difference between attackers’ motivations and tactics
Summary
References
Free Chapter
2
What to Know about Threat Intelligence
What to Know about Threat Intelligence
What is threat intelligence?
Where does CTI data come from?
Using threat intelligence
Threat intelligence sharing
How to identify credible cyber threat intelligence
Summary
References
3
Using Vulnerability Trends to Reduce Risk and Costs
Using Vulnerability Trends to Reduce Risk and Costs
Introduction
Vulnerability Management Primer
Vulnerability Disclosure Data Sources
Industry Vulnerability Disclosure Trends
Vulnerability Management Guidance
Summary
References
4
The Evolution of Malware
The Evolution of Malware
Introduction
Why is there so much malware on Windows compared to other platforms?
Data sources
About malware
Global Windows malware infection analysis
Regional Windows malware infection analysis
Global malware evolution
The evolution of ransomware
The great debate – are anti-malware solutions really worthwhile?
Summary
References
5
Internet-Based Threats
Internet-Based Threats
Introduction
A typical attack
Phishing attacks
Drive-by download attacks
Malware-hosting sites
Post compromise – botnets and DDoS attacks
Summary
References
6
The Roles Governments Play in Cybersecurity
The Roles Governments Play in Cybersecurity
The pursuit of happiness
Governments as cybersecurity market participants
Governments as standards bodies
Governments as enforcers
Governments as defenders
Summary
References
7
Government Access to Data
Government Access to Data
Understanding government access to data
Lawful government access to data
Mitigating government access to data
Conclusion
Summary
References
8
Ingredients for a Successful Cybersecurity Strategy
Ingredients for a Successful Cybersecurity Strategy
What is a cybersecurity strategy?
Other ingredients for a successful strategy
Summary
References
9
Cybersecurity Strategies
Cybersecurity Strategies
Introduction
Measuring the efficacy of cybersecurity strategies
Cybersecurity strategies
Protect and Recover Strategy
Endpoint Protection Strategy
Physical control and security clearances as a security strategy
Compliance as a Security Strategy
Application-Centric Strategy
Identity-Centric Strategy
Data-Centric Strategy
Attack-Centric Strategy
Zero Trust
Cybersecurity strategies summary
DevOps and DevSecOps
Summary
References
10
Strategy Implementation
Strategy Implementation
Introduction
What is an Intrusion Kill Chain?
Modernizing the Kill Chain
Getting started
Implementing this strategy
Designing control sets
Conclusion
Summary
References
11
Measuring Performance and Effectiveness
Measuring Performance and Effectiveness
Introduction
Using vulnerability management data
Measuring the performance and efficacy of an Attack-Centric Strategy
Summary
References
12
Modern Approaches to Security and Compliance
Modern Approaches to Security and Compliance
Introduction
How is cloud computing different?
Security and compliance game changers
Using cybersecurity strategies in the cloud
Encryption and key management
Conclusion
Summary
References
13
Other Books You May Enjoy
Other Books You May Enjoy
14
Index
Index

Preface

Imagine you are in a submarine submerged hundreds of feet below the surface surrounded by dark, freezing water. The hull of the submarine is under constant immense pressure from all directions. A single mistake in the design, construction, or operation of the submarine spells disaster for it and its entire crew.

This is analogous to the challenge that Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and their teams face today. Their organizations are surrounded on the Internet by badness that is constantly probing for ways to penetrate and compromise their IT infrastructures. The people in their organizations receive wave after wave of social engineering attacks designed to trick them into making poor trust decisions that will undermine the controls that their security teams have implemented. The specters of ransomware and data breaches continue to haunt CISOs, Chief Information Officers (CIOs), and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) of the most sophisticated organizations in the world.

After conducting hundreds of incident response investigations for Microsoft’s enterprise customers, publishing thousands of pages of threat intelligence, and assisting some of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) largest customers, I have had the opportunity to learn from and advise literally thousands of businesses and public sector organizations in almost every country around the world. I wrote this book to share some of the insights and lessons I’ve learned during this extraordinary journey.

The views and opinions expressed in this book are my own personal opinions and not those of my current or past employers.

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