Cybersprint Blog

It's the term we use the most: Digital Footprint. It is the foundation of your organisation’s digital infrastructure. It’s the starting point of your IT security policies, configuration database management, vulnerability mitigation, and much more. In this blog, we’ll shortly describe what drives the need for a Digital Footprint solution, share our definition of the term, and explain how it minimises the risks to your brand.

PostNL is the largest mail order and delivery organisation in the Netherlands, also operating in Belgium and Luxemburg. It has made mail and parcels accessible for over 220 years, growing to become one of the largest private employers in the Netherlands. Over the years, the organisation has grown through expansions, mergers and acquisitions, making its digital footprint rather complex. Gunther Cleijn, Cyber Security Officer explains how he and his team work to ensure the security and daily productivity of the organisation. 

Every now and then, there’s a new headline about an organisation hit by a ransomware attack. How parts of their infrastructure and sensitive data was suddenly encrypted, impacting customers, productivity, and their reputation. What would you do in such a situation? Pay the ransom? Or should you never negotiate with criminals?

We know of Software as a Service, where organisations outsource parts of their digital infrastructure to third parties for the sake of improved user experience or increased security, for instance. As a successful business model, it is actually not that shocking something similar is happening in the world of cyber-crime. The people who know how to build ransomware sell their software on the dark web and offer it as Ransomware as a Service (RaaS), turning even rookie cyber-criminals into money-making hackers. How does it work, exactly? And what can you do to protect your systems?

IT governance framework helps to ease everyday processes, increases productivity levels, and scripts what to do in case of an incident. However, creating and implementing an organisation-wide IT governance framework is no easy feat, yet so crucial.

For governmental organisations, it is important to have a clear overview of their digital footprint and risks. They need to ensure the right policies are in place when it comes to cybersecurity. To illustrate their challenges, and the benefits of digital footprint management, we've interviewed one of our customers from the governmental sector. Rick Verkade, Security and Privacy Specialist at Provincie Overijssel shares his experiences in this interview.

CEO-fraud is the most common form of cyber-crime to target businesses worldwide. It’s now a 26-billion-dollar scam and continues to grow rapidly, with a 100% increase between 2018 and 2019. Creating awareness among employees is critical, but doesn’t offer full protection. What technical measures should you take to prevent a CEO-fraud attack at your organisation?

One of the best ways to improve your digital security is to let the past help prepare you for the future. Knowing the tactics threat actors have used in other cyber-attacks will help you determine what you should protect your systems from. Luckily, you needn’t figure that out by yourself. Mitre has created frameworks of the many different ways cyber-attacks have been orchestrated in existing use cases. Here’s how you can use this information to strengthen your cyber-resilience. What is the Mitre PRE-ATTACK framework? Mitre is an American organisation conducting federal-funded research into various markets with the aim to create a safer world through their research. Cybersecurity is one of those markets. To help organisations understand where their might need to focus more security resources on, they created two matrices of all techniques cyber-criminals have used to set up and execute attacks in the past. These are called the ATT&CK and the PRE-ATT&CK frameworks. Even though the ATT&CK framework is most well-known, we see a shift occurring, as PRE-ATT&CK is starting to step out of the shadow of ATT&CK with a more specific focus. Whereas the ATT&CK framework concentrates on the steps taken once an attack is launched, the PRE-ATT&CK framework focusses on the preceding preparation phases, allowing organisations to predict and prepare for attacks before they happen. Mitre’s frameworks match with other models, helping to frame the extensive matrices. To illustrate how PRE-ATT&CK differs from ATT&CK, we’ve plotted the frameworks in the ‘7 stages of the cyber kill chain’, as created by Lockheed Martin. All steps needed to execute a cyber-attack can be divided over these seven stages. As shown below, the first two stages are broadly covered by Mitre’s PRE-ATT&CK, and the other five by the ATT&CK framework. How to apply PRE-ATT&CK Preventing an attack is far more cost-effective than having to repair damages to IT systems, let alone the financial or reputational impact it can have. It is hard and expensive to determine the impact of an attack with IT forensics and replacing infected systems can have a negative effect on overall business productivity. Incorporating an automated outside-in perspective of your brand’s online exposure allows you to discover vulnerabilities in the same way an attacker might look for entry points into your IT infrastructure. This approach empowers you to regain control over your digital attack surface and mitigate risks before they can be exploited. This approach is called digital footprint management and can be placed under the concept of Digital Risk Protection. Below is an overview of Mitre’s PRE-ATT&CK framework. The complete matrix is a little too large to be read in detail, so a deep dive into the content is available via this video. The highlighted fields represent the areas covered by Digital Risk Protection and digital footprint monitoring. The light green indicates partial coverage and deep green full coverage. Combining the PRE-ATT&CK framework with your existing security procedures can help you identify potential threats and weak spots in your systems. Still, you first need to have a complete overview of your organisation’s digital assets before you can confidently say where you are more likely to be hit. That’s why the digital footprint approach works so well with PRE-ATT&CK. Having both will help you determine and validate where you might have underspent or overspent on security measures, for example. Besides improving the cyber-resilience of your systems, incorporating the Mitre PRE-ATT&CK framework in the organisation’s digital footprint will bring more business value to the organisation as a whole. This whitepaper explains the PRE-ATT&CK framework in more detail, and describes the specific ROI for your organisation. Looking for a comprehensive clarification of the security tactics described above, explained with actual use cases? Watch our recorded webinar. Sebastiaan Bosman is Content Marketeer at Cybersprint. With a   background in Communications and Linguistics, he is responsible for   the creation and editing processes of most internal and external   communication. He writes content such as blogs, whitepapers and   case studies, primarily based on Cybersprint’s own research data.   Previously, Sebastiaan worked as Content & Communications   Advisor at ING Global.

Similar to traditional ‘brick-and-mortar criminals’, not all cyber-criminals employ the same method to reach their goal. A burglar wouldn’t enter a house with an alarm or when there are people inside, but go for an easier opportunity. The same goes for internet-thieves. Their risk/reward balance depends on the required investment beforehand to successfully carry out their attack. What are the aspects they take into consideration?