PODCAST: The SolarWinds Breach Points to Need for Cyber Fundamentals
In the following Makpar Fed Mission success podcast interview, Mustafa Lutfi, an InfoSec Consultant at Makpar, provides commentary around the recent Makpar white paper, which reinforces how the SolarWinds breach points to the need to return to cyber fundamentals.
Since mid-December, the unprecedented SolarWinds supply chain attack, where its compromised software channel was used to push out malicious updates to 18,000 of its Orion platform customers, has dominated the headlines – and rightly so.
Several government agencies were caught in the crosshairs, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, Department of Homeland Security, and others. And, the fallout from this massive breach continues today.
When a breach of this magnitude occurs, many cyber experts offer their thoughts and commentary around the “how and why” it happened. However, nobody has really connected the SolarWinds breach to the need for agencies to return to cyber fundamentals, until now.
This is why Makpar recently published a white paper titled, “In Response to the SolarWinds Breach: The Need to Return to Cybersecurity Fundamentals,” which offers five cyber fundamentals that could have prevented a similar breach.
Following are highlights from this podcast interview:
An overview of the scope and magnitude of the SolarWinds breach. (:57)
Insights on Cyber Fundamental #1, the need to hire the right security professionals. (2:43)
Insights on Cyber Fundamental #2, why agencies should fully embrace Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM). (4:20)
Insights on Cyber Fundamental #3, increased security awareness training. (5:34)
Insights on Cyber Fundamental #4, the need to change passwords and use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). (8:37)
Insights on Cyber Fundamental #5, threat modeling and red team simulations. (11:40)
An overview of Makpar’s cybersecurity capabilities. (14:06)
Click here to access the full white paper. We can also schedule a consultation with one our Makpar cyber subject-matter experts who can help your agency build a stronger cybersecurity posture.
Makpar’s highly skilled and certified cybersecurity experts understand the technology and methodologies required to preserve the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability of information in all computing environments. Please click here to learn more.