Lessons from the CrowdStrike outage

Good morning and welcome to another episode of Breakfast Bytes. I'm your host, Felicia King, and today, I'm joined by my colleague, Jeff Birner, hailing from Florida. Our riveting discussion centers around the recent CrowdStrike incident that has sent shockwaves through the cybersecurity community and beyond. This episode promises to offer insights and perspectives you won't find in the typical news coverage.
As we delve into the conversation, Jeff and I explore the core issues surrounding CrowdStrike, including its lack of trustworthiness as a counterparty and the legal implications of delayed security updates. We discuss the broader impacts of the incident, such as the staggering $5.8 billion in losses faced by companies worldwide, and discuss how technology decisions could have eliminated the impact.
Through engaging storytelling, Jeff and I break down the complexities of cybersecurity, offering practical solutions and strategies for organizations to consider. From the importance of testing updates to the choice of operating systems for critical infrastructure, this episode is packed with valuable takeaways for IT professionals and business leaders alike.
Join us as we navigate the nuances of the CrowdStrike controversy, highlight the lessons learned, and provide actionable advice to help you safeguard your organization against similar pitfalls. Whether you're a seasoned cybersecurity veteran or just starting your journey, this episode of Breakfast Bytes is a must-listen.
 

Understand implications of IT procurement using cabinets as an example

Felicia stressed the importance of informed decision-making in technology services and products, and the need for involving skilled professionals in decision-making processes. She also discussed the longevity of structural furniture, the challenges in network switch installation, and the need for a formal procurement process in the IT department. Furthermore, she highlighted the issues with current wall-mount cabinets and open racks, the business impact of operations beyond regular hours, the need for proper equipment maintenance, and the importance of having an on-site technical point of contact at every facility.
Action items
• Felicia recommends ensuring the IT department follows a defined procurement process with oversight from a technology executive.
• Felicia recommends establishing written requirements and standards for IT infrastructure like racks and cabinets.
• Felicia recommends implementing a policy for designating on-site technical contacts to handle basic equipment issues.
 
Summary
Informed Decision Making in IT Services
Felicia emphasized the importance of informed decision making in technology services and products, which is beneficial for all IT stakeholders. She pointed out the persistent negative financial impact caused by ill-informed decisions, often made by business leaders delegating to inexperienced internal IT departments. Felicia advocated for the involvement of skilled professionals, such as CTOs or senior architects, in decision-making processes to mitigate these adverse effects. She also cautioned against the common practice of selecting the cheapest bid as a decision-making criterion, highlighting it as a recipe for failure.
 
 
Structural Furniture Longevity and Design
Felicia discussed the longevity and durability of structural furniture, particularly cabinets and racks. She emphasized that these pieces, often made of steel, aluminum, glass, and possibly plastic, can last for decades if not physically damaged. Felicia argued that considering a 20-year life cycle for such hardware is a more realistic approach than starting from an acquisition cost requirement. She also highlighted the advantages of a four-post full floor standing cabinet over a two-post rack, especially for secure and critical infrastructure. Finally, she noted the importance of wheels in cabinets from a maintenance perspective and referred to cabinet design as an art form.
 
 
Felicia's Network Switch Installation and Maintenance Insights
Felicia shared her extensive experience and insights on the challenges and considerations in network switch installation and maintenance. She emphasized the preference for a 4-post configuration due to the weight and depth of modern switches, and the issues that may arise with alternative setups. Felicia also highlighted the importance of understanding the ramifications of equipment placement, sharing a troubling example of a poorly executed setup. She suggested ways to prevent such issues from occurring in the future.
 
 
Improper Procurement Process in IT
Felicia discussed the lack of a formal procurement process in the IT department, which leads to inefficient and often unnecessary purchases. She explained that the department, composed of individuals not highly proficient in business value justification or total cost of ownership articulation, often sourced items themselves using credit cards, without proper checks and balances. Felicia emphasized the need for a written requirements list to facilitate better decision-making and prevent the focus on apparent acquisition cost. She indicated that she would provide two examples to illustrate these points.
 
 
Addressing Inadequate Infrastructure and Procurement
Felicia discussed the recurring issues with the current wall-mount cabinets and open racks in the infrastructure, which were not deep enough to accommodate modern switches. She emphasized that this problem wasn't new and had been ongoing for at least a decade. Felicia pointed out that previous investments in these inadequate setups were essentially wasted, not just in terms of money but also project time and potential business unit outages. She underscored the need for an appropriate procurement process and oversight to avoid such issues in the future.
 
 
Managing Operations Outside Regular Hours
Felicia discussed the business impact of operations extending beyond regular business hours. She highlighted that this not only affects payroll and product but also has implications for business continuity outside of IT. Felicia emphasized that IT personnel, such as PC technicians and IT managers, often only consider their own needs, which differs from the perspective of a technology executive. She stressed the importance of a different mindset, drawing from her experience as a chief operating officer and service manager, to effectively manage a large number of remote offices.
 
 
Client's Server Outage Due to Unauthorized Access
Felicia shared a story about a client who opted not to spend $350 on an idrac enterprise card, a decision that led to a server issue causing an outage. She emphasized the importance of proper equipment maintenance and restricting unauthorized access to technology cabinets. Felicia pointed out that allowing staff without proper training or maintenance responsibilities to have access to such spaces can lead to unintentional damage, as seen in the case of the client where a staff member put a box on a server keyboard, causing an outage. She underscored the significance of having a mature policy in place regarding remote support and access to technology cabinets.
 
 
On-Site Technical Point of Contact Importance
Felicia stressed the necessity of having an on-site technical point of contact at every facility to handle minor technical issues. She used the example of rebooting cable modems, which she stated often require physical intervention and should not disrupt other equipment. Felicia also emphasized the importance of setting up the facilities in a way that allows easy access for the on-site technical point of contact to perform these tasks without causing further problems. She underscored that this is a common requirement and should be considered in the facility's setup.
 
 
Technology Executive's Role in Procurement
Felicia emphasized the importance of having a technology executive oversee procurement policies and standards in IT departments to ensure good outcomes. She highlighted that the IT department alone should not be making procurement decisions, as they often lack an understanding of the total cost of ownership. Felicia also rejected the idea that a dollar amount should be the sole determinant of procurement decisions, citing the potential for malware to compromise the system. She advocated for a designated technology executive to establish policies and standards, warning that failing to do so could lead to adverse financial outcomes for the organization.
 
For more information, review this resource about racks and cabinets.
https://www.qpcsecurity.com/2024/04/26/why-buy-racks-and-cabinets-from-qpc-security/
Peruse the value of vCISO services.
https://www.qpcsecurity.com/vciso-services/
 

Incident response and mitigating supply chain attacks

In this episode of Breakfast Bytes with Felicia King, we navigate the complex but crucial realm of cyber security. We explore the emerging menace of supply chain attacks and underscore the vital need for proactive incident response planning. Felicia reveals the staggering average cost of a cyber-attack, per employee and endpoint, and explains why smaller businesses might suffer even greater losses.
King sheds light on the often unnoticed aspect of incident response planning: the critical period between discovering a potential compromise and confirming a successful attack. She also scrutinizes the implications and expenses of in-house response strategies for sizable businesses and outlines how smaller establishments could face heftier costs.
Offering valuable advice, Felicia provides business-centric recommendations on methods of dealing with a reported incident. She addresses important issues such as identifying data breaches and managing downtime during a crisis, stressing the importance of having a contingency plan for extended recovery periods.
Moving on to supply chain risks, King critiques the increasing trend of outsourcing in the IT sector. She cautions against granting upstream providers unrestricted access to systems, noting counterparty risk as an area demanding heightened vigilance. Deeper discussions on access control, audit logs, automated compliance reporting, and other factors in selecting an efficient identity and access management system also unfold.
King further navigates the topic of APIs - the lifeblood of numerous industrial integrations - offering crucial insights into associated risks. She concludes with a call for a mindset shift required to tackle supply chain attacks effectively.
In contemporary threat landscapes, relying solely on the cybersecurity kill chain is a losing battle. This episode underscores the need for encompassing multiple defensive strategies for cybersecurity, such as multi-factor authentication, and conditional access for all accounts. Real-time analytics, endpoint protection strategies, and a zero-trust posture are championed as critical for preventing malicious activities and providing swift threat responses.
We delve into the pros and cons of network layer security, a powerful yet complex technique requiring specific expertise. When appropriately utilized, it presents a scalable solution managing traffic filtering and robust protection from supply chain attacks. The episode concludes with the importance of having a solid incident response plan as a vital proactivity measure in cybersecurity.

Unlocking Strategic IT Investments and Information Security

"Unlocking Strategic IT Investments and Information Security: Expert Insights with Gina King" dives into the critical aspects of IT investments and infrastructure. Felicia King, host of 'Breakfast Bytes', engages in a captivating conversation with Gina King, a leading Chief Information Security Officer. The extensive dialogue sheds light on necessary expenditures on Information Systems and Technology, managing and optimizing security investments, and realigning perceptions of IT as a valuable strategic asset.
Through their enriching discussion, Felicia and Gina tackle widespread issues of underinvestment in IT, encouraging businesses to understand and optimize their IT expenditures. Pointing to the risks of non-compliance and inadequate IT security measures, they illustrate how a thorough approach to IT spend analysis can tremendously impact a company's financial bottom line, customer satisfaction, and overall client experience.
The episode highlights the importance of a proactive and continuous IT security investment to nurture an effective information security risk management program. Felicia and Gina underscore the significance of considering cybersecurity as an aspect of overall business risk, rather than an isolated problem. They also emphasize the value of tech-savvy leadership and security education in fostering a vigilant workforce and strengthening an organization's security posture.
Switching gears to effective risk management amidst the digital landscape, the episode ends on a call for creating clear policies, continuous vigilance, and an understanding of organizational identity to safeguard online infrastructures. This engaging discussion is a must-listen for anyone involved in IT procurement, investments, security, and overall business operation.

Domain/DNS hosting, account ownership, security issues and TCO

Join us in this insightful episode of Breakfast Bytes with Felicia King, along with our guest Kyle Wentworth of the Wentworth Group. We delve into a balanced exploration of business needs vs IT security needs, demonstrating the magnitude of this issue with a case study of a massive spam operation hijacking over 8000 trusted brand domains.
https://thehackernews.com/2024/02/8000-subdomains-of-trusted-brands.html
In this detailed conversation, our experts elucidate steps towards prevention and emphasize the significance of effective domain ownership and control. Kyle highlights the central role of Technology Management departments in mitigating IT risks and stresses the importance of a comprehensive understanding of orderly processes for DNS management, timely publishing of DNS records, and the related cost implications.
This episode underscores the need for operational maturity in businesses, and how maintaining domain infrastructures and adhering to robust protocols can protect your business from digital threats. Listen to gain invaluable insights into how businesses of all sizes can level up their understanding of the intersections of business and IT security systems.
The episode also draws attention to the potential vulnerabilities of newly registered domain names and the common pitfalls relating to outsourcing these functions. We underscore the necessity to take caution or face serious losses and discuss the ramifications of transferring control of key business aspects to external vendors.
With a candid look at the dangers of ill-considered network security and the hazards of transferring all risks to an external IT service provider, we make a strong case for integral security measures. Listen in to gain an understanding of the importance of viewing technology as a business partner rather than an expense and to learn how focusing on strengthening your network security can pave the way for business success.

Cyber Insurance versus Cyber Warranty

In today's episode of Breakfast Bytes, we are delighted to have Joe Brunsman from Brunsman Advisory Group as our special guest. Known for his extensive knowledge on the intersecting worlds of insurance and cybersecurity, Joe offers beneficial insights on the evolving sphere of insurance exclusions and how businesses can navigate these changes amidst the increasing threats of cyber warfare. Tune in as we explore the importance of adopting risk mitigation strategies with tangible security investment returns rather than relying solely on insurance coverage.
Join our profound discussion on the role of senior management in establishing a secure digital environment, starting from understanding IT risks and challenges, creating actionable plans, and sticking to a consistent policy. We also delve deeper into topics like legacy technical debt, the role of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), gaps in current insurance policies, and breaches of customer contracts owing to the lack of managerial insight in the IT sector.
In this knowledge-packed episode of Breakfast Bytes, we help you understand the intricate relationship between insurance and cybersecurity, and how enhancing comprehension in these two areas can secure your business in this fast-paced digital age. Listen as we unwrap various complexities surrounding cyber insurance and the emergence of warranties as an alternative, exploring their potential pitfalls and inconsistencies.
From diving deep into the history of insurance to shedding light on the impending exclusions in the upcoming insurance policies, we've got it all covered. Moreover, we highlight the need for skepticism and caution while dealing with Cyber Insurance, emphasizing comprehension over rushing headlong into the risky space of cyber warranties. Also, discover the correlation between proactive security measures and reduced insurance coverage needs, and understand why more insurance doesn't guarantee better safety.
Lastly, our guest Joe Brunsman sheds light on the seldom-discussed aspect of cyber insurance and data security. Learn how states are regulating insurance companies for holding sensitive data and the shockingly minimal regulations surrounding warranty companies. Get enlightened about the real-world realities of cybersecurity and how, despite utilizing SaaS platforms, corporations are not as secured as they think.
This episode guarantees both enlightenment and critical thinking around cyber insurance and data security. Tune in to gain a wealth of knowledge on this important but often unexplored domain!

How establishing requirements properly results in best outcomes

Felicia is joined by fellow CISO Dawn Montemayor, partner at PureCyber, which is a security minded business consulting firm. Learn from two CISOs about how vital it is to use operationally mature processes in requirements definitions in order to achieve effective outcomes while avoiding toxic behavior in complex entities.
the importance of vulnerability assessment and management requirements in contracts
It is imperative for resource owners to be designated and held accountable to outcomes.
Exit strategies must be established as part of the procurement process
Lack of right to audit clauses in cloud services contracts
How the lack of an effective paradigm leads to destructive decision-making
IT must not be seen as the dumping ground or janitor. Instead the business must be charged back for the real proportional costs for the cost of service.
True TCO calculations must be made as part of the procurement requirements definition.
Systems integration and interaction maps are incredibly valuable
IT must be seen as a business partner and involved in decision-making.
Just because IT wants to say yes to help the business does not mean the business gets to disrespect IT standards.
Talking to the CISO can lead to utilization of an already vetted, approved platform making the pace of business faster.
Why procurement justification statements are imperative
Why it is necessary to track TCO and actual costs for product and services associated with a business function
Why it is essential to use operationally mature processes in a paradigm focused on governance, accountability, and transparency
Why the CISO and CTO should sign off on procurement of anything for which there is not already an approved policy standard on.
Why your CISO needs to review the contracts for a service or product before an officer of the company signs the contract
Why business leaders must consider how their revenue is event driven
Why the shared responsibility model is imperative. Resource owners must be defined and made accountable.

Operational Maturity is required to have Information Security Risk Management

Felicia is joined by Laura Conrad, a Security Architect with 30 years of experience in enterprise environments. Laura currently reports directly to a CISO, and has been an integral part of the information security program at two large enterprises.
Felicia has consulted with 26 large enterprises and numerous SMB organizations in the last 30 years. She finds that the same problems occur in every organization that lacks operational maturity. 
Are you a person working in information security frustrated by the lack of progress of a security program in an organization because of the org's lack of operational maturity? Do you struggle in dealing with toxic, unproductive people? What approach could address these problems and more? Learn from two experts how they have seen companies engage in self-destructive and resource wasting approaches simply due to the lack of drive by executive leadership to install a structure for governance, accountability, and transparency in the organization. 
Org structure required for CISOs to be effective
This article and its impact are briefly covered as they are related to this topic.
https://www.darkreading.com/cybersecurity-operations/cisos-struggle-csuite-status-expectations-skyrocket
It is quite a good article, but it implies that if the CISO reports directly to the CEO, the problems in an organization will be reduced. While that is partially true, that by itself will absolutely not fix the problems. Felicia and Laura deep dive the decision-making failures that occur throughout an organization and what drives them. Also discussed are methods to truly and structurally correct the problems across an entire company.
95% of information security risk management issues are HR management issues
Executive management want to run the company, not manage people. This leads to toxicity and unproductivity being tolerated when personnel issues are not fully investigated and actioned. The desire to make an emotional problem go away cannot override the need to get to the core of the issue and put a system in place to prevent it from happening again. This is not about firing people. This is about instilling a culture where the facts matter, personnel issues will be investigated, and structural systems will provide the governance to drive productive staff behavior.
Org executives are unaware of the real costs of inputs
It seems to be a pervasive problem across most organizations that there is no financial management structure which facilitates the tracking of expenses as inputs to a service or product delivery to customers. Without this real understanding, leaders persistently price products and services incorrectly. This leads to one business division or a product line losing money and needing to be subsidized by another.
Executives rarely understand that by tolerating operational immaturity in their organization, they are actually failing in their duty to stakeholders to effectively manage the assets of an organization to maximize value.
Drive change and org-wide staff effort alignment with dashboards that drive transparency and healthy internal competition
Felicia and Laura discuss in detail the how and why of dynamically updating dashboards which help CTO, CIO, CISO manage upward to the CEO and board, while driving downward alignment to objectives.
Governance, Accountability, Transparency in IT Security
Felicia and Laura discussed the importance of governance, accountability, and transparency in IT security and business processes. They emphasized that these principles could help prevent problems caused by a lack of collaboration and understanding between IT and business units. Felicia cited instances where poor prior planning led to unnecessary expenses and internal toxicity, which she believes could be avoided with a more mature approach to operations. Laura added that these principles could also lead to cost savings and risk reduction. 
Harden the procurement policies
Felicia and Laura provide many examples of problems that could have or were avoided by having an enforced procurement policy which resulted in all technology purchases being signed off on by the CISO or security architect and often the enterprise architect. It is infinitely easier to rectify issues before an implementation and before signing a contract than to do so after a purchasing decision has already been made.

Managing the impact of changing IT service providers

Felicia shares insights on the pitfalls of changing IT service providers or MSPs for both clients and the IT service providers themselves. This content is based upon a number of questions that other MSPs have posed to Felicia asking for advice as well as numerous first hand experiences on the subject.
This podcast is primarily for IT service providers or MSPs, but business decisions makers who are considering making a change would also benefit from the content.

How to analyze workloads and decide how they should be hosted

The process of determining how workloads should be hosted is very complex and not a decision that should be abdicated to the IT service provider. Business decision-makers must be involved in those decisions as only they are able to define the key criteria that all other factors are dependent upon.
 

How a lack of understanding of business processes relates to adverse financial impact

CTO Kyle Wentworth joins Felicia for a discussion about how businesses can avoid adverse financial impacts.
 
Lack of understanding of the language of technology
It changes so incredibly fast that it takes a sea of people who understand the pieces
Complete perspective of how the business of technology should be run
 
Understand what governance and compliance standards your business is held to
That dictates how you do business.
 
Some tangible examples of how things can and should be done:
Justification statement annually for expenses
How it is being used and how the costs were arrived at
Assignment of the resource owner
Misallocation of funds paying for items that should not be paid for takes resources from other needed items.
 
Walk through your business. Identify what you don't understand about the business?
Do you understand every function of the business?
You have to entire your entire business as a whole if you are the leader of the business.
Gaps in your understanding indicate where you need an auditor to identify that your people doing the processes are doing it properly.

Zero trust fundamentals

Zero trust is not a product you buy.The problem that most organizations have is that they are still not doing the fundamentals well.CIS has a community defense model.I did a detailed webinar on it where I covered a lot of these fundamentals.https://www.qpcsecurity.com/2023/02/16/addressing-information-security-fundamentals-with-cis-and-community-defense-model/
Let's look at inventory management, asset management, change management, onboarding and offboarding.
You must have checks and balances. There must be practices codified in policy with a shared responsibility model which make it so that the issues that are created by mistakes in onboarding or offboarding are caught.
Fundamentally, the most effective thing in zero trust are the protections that are in an always on state.Like for example the recent revelation about flaws in UEFI and SecureBoot.These have prerequisites like TPM, BIOS configs, bios adm pwds, automated firmware updates, procurement policy alignment for supported hardware, onboarding configuration done properly on those endpoints, monitoring of the firmware updates, and of course, no admin access for end users!!!
FUNDAMENTALS MUST BE MASTERED
When an organization does not have a CISO that has policy and management authority over IT, you are guaranteed to have problems.Forget CIO and CTO. I think those are old modes of thinking. Find a CISO that can be the leader of all IT strategy.
Procurement policy must include vetting and testing of cloud app integrations. Monitoring and technical controls must be in place to restrict or eliminate the ability of an end user to buy shadow IT and authorize it on their own. Azure AD has controls for this, but they are not on by default.

Business survival over the next decade

What is the number one thing you can do as a consumer to protect yourself when dealing with tax preparers?
Practical examples of what to ask for from your tax preparer and why.
What are the total number of people that would have access to my records if I do business with you? You want me to sign a contract with you, terms and conditions that I have to abide by. If you are going to prepare my taxes, show me your affirmation statement where you as a tax prep preparer have put it in writing that you are fully in compliance as a business with the IRS requirements for tax preparers. Put that in writing.
If the IRS is the authority that is providing the designation that an organization is an IRS authorized tax preparer, then the IRS is the entity who defines the standard for what is the requirement put upon that organization or that person in order to have that designation. Therefore, it is completely legitimate to be asking as a prospective customer of that organization, "show me your compliance statements". How do you comply with the IRS requirements for tax preparers? And if you get anything other than a fully prepared premade statement they provided to you in writing,  then that's problematic because it means that they are not compliant.
What is one of the most important things that a business owner can do in order to make their business survive the next decade?
Information security risk management is everyone's problem.
Business leaders cannot delegate and abdicate involvement. 
If you are not having regular meetings with your vCISO, how can you make informed risk decisions? Do you know what the gaps backlog is for your organization? Do you have a risk register? If you refuse to make the time to meet regularly with your vCISO, your business is going to be squeezed by cybersecurity insurance requirements, governmental regulations, and customer requirements.
 
The executive management team needs to understand that if they do not tell all of the managers in an organization that they need to take responsibility for the ownership over their resources, then what needs to happen is that the executive management team needs to make the CISO or the IT department have full total authoritarian control over those resources. But then that turns into a big can of shut the heck up to the people who've abdicated their responsibility to be involved in the process. Because you can't have it both ways. You can't say that IT is responsible for the security of those assets, but then refuse to be involved in the conversations about who should be having access to what and when. And claim that you don't have time to talk about it, that it is not important. Of course it's important. Are you the resource owner or not? So you can't make it somebody else's responsibility to define the policy around who has access to that resource that ultimately you're responsible for and then yet get grumpy. when your access or the people who you thought should have had access to that resource have their access denied because IT is trying to clean up the mess. You can't have it both ways.
Whose responsibility is information security risk management? Ultimately, it's the executive management team. But they can delegate that through the organization to the resource owners and at the end of the day, IS risk management really needs to be everybody in the entire organization's responsibility. Information security practices need to permeate throughout the entire organization. The end users of an organization are the largest attack surface that an organization has.
Suggestions for tax preparers
Tax preparers need to comply with the FTC Safeguard rule which is currently slated to be enforced starting in June 2023. As of May 2023, the expected plan is that private contractors will be the enforcement auditing arm for compliance. 
In reality, any company that had taken cybersecurity insurance compliance preparedness and had engaged a vCISO proactively several years prior would likely have no issue in this area. But the vast majority of tax preparers were unwilling to invest in the kind of protections that should have been in place for decades. 
Here are some resources.
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/heres-what-tax-professionals-should-know-about-creating-a-data-security-plan
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5293.pdf
https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2016/NIST.IR.7621r1.pdf
Page 13 of publication 4557 states that all tax preparers must comply with the FTC Safeguards rule. That means if you or your organization has an IRS tax preparer ID number, you must be in compliance and be able to prove that you are in compliance. 
Tax preparers that are under $2mm in revenue should expect to spend 15% of revenue annually on all inclusive IT costs. If your spend is not that high, then your organization is likely not going to be competitive in the market and is bound to lose market share to players who have invested in becoming FTC Safeguard rule compliant.
Please also be aware that security theater is not compliance. I have seen some scams such as do-it-yourself kits through technical firms who specialize in servicing accountants (per their website). 
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4557.pdf
 
More details from Joe Brunsman, cybersecurity insurance expert.
https://youtu.be/NOY249doJXg
 
 

PSA or ERP - paradigm and requirements analysis

I get a lot of questions about PSAs, ERPs, and overall paradigms related to core business software. This podcast summarizes things you should be thinking about in your software selection process.
After three years of investigating PSA and ERP options including spending a lot of money on software and payroll, the product we like is Odoo. Organizations using a PSA with add-ons approach are really missing the mark. There is no PSA that does project management well. None of them have accounting systems. Most of them are terrible at quoting. And they are all expensive. They also are all weak at analytics and business visualization or analysis.
So a company ends up paying for:
PSA
Quotewerks
Zomentum
eCommerce processor
Payment gateway provider
project management platform
QuickBooks or Xero
PowerBI
website hosting
Applicant tracking system
HR / people management system
email newsletter system
marketing automation platform
CRM
Social media marketing platform
and more
Whereas, a business could just get Odoo.
Let's look at a brief cost analysis.
Halo - $15,000/yr
Quotewerks or Zomentum $500/mo
QuickBooks or Xero $1300/yr
ConnectBooster $300/mo or more
Project management  $300/mo or more
ATS $5000/yr
HR system $150/mo/employee
Infusionsoft or Hubspot $1200/yr at least
Social media marketing  $200/mo
CRM - $300/mo
 
OR you could just stop all that nonsense.
 
Odoo. $47/mo/user.
Remember that this includes your website hosting too. And it turns out to be much better than WordPress, Joomla, or other smaller CMS.
What I find really hilarious is when I ask other business owners how much they are spending on all the components they use that spackle over the deficiencies in their PSA, they rarely know. It's like it is a financial hole in their business that they don't want to look at.
 
As of 11/22/2023, our 1 year Zoho subscription that we tried has been set for non-renewal. The primary basis for that was four wasted months of payroll, wasted time working with Zoho support, and wasted time working with Zoho consultants to try to get integrations with other modules in Zoho to work. The modules in Zoho One are designed to work independently. In order to get data to flow between them, integrations between the modules is required. We consistently found that those integrations between the individual Zoho modules did not work properly. We had other problems with it as well, but it became quite clear that Zoho One was not really an ERP because it is not foundationally designed with the premise that all of the modules are fully integrated automatically.
I looked deeply into Manage Engine ServiceDeskPlus for MSP also. I spent about a year on that investigation. I encountered a plethora of challenges with that and it still is a PSA-like mindset where ServiceDeskPlus cannot be a comprehensive business tool.
I encounter MSPs that use an outsourced helpdesk that requires the use of a specific PSA. I don't and won't outsource helpdesk for quality control reasons.
Overall, Odoo does everything better than ZohoOne. Odoo integrations are all there from the very beginning automatically integrated because it was designed as an ERP from day one instead of individual modules.
You can see a demo of Odoo at https://demo.odoo.com. Be aware that there are more modules available than what is shown in the demo, but the demo will give you a good overview. Odoo training is online and free. The documentation is online and free. Support is included with paid subscriptions and we have found that support is effective. Conversely, we rarely had any success with Zoho support. Odoo is more intuitive with things just working and being able to be figured out oneself through the use of documentation, training videos, and just playing with the software.
We use the Maintenance module which is good for a facilities maintenance team. I wanted my team to be able to log time entries against particular maintenance tasks. In 2023, it is not possible for time entries to be applied directly on maintenance tasks that flow through to timesheets for payroll. When I put in a feature request, with Odoo, they responded very quickly stating that they were aware of the limitation and were also aware of the need and value. With Zoho, I would put in a feature request and get a response in 9 months. 
I think that Zoho is so busy writing new modules that they have little to no developer time allocated to making the ZohoOne integrated ERP vision a reality.
We spent a LOT of time trying to use the recruiting module in ZohoOne and found it to be an exercise in frustration. We had a lot of success with the Odoo recruiting module with only a few limitations.
 
The bottom line is this. Find just one thing you can use Odoo for that can justify the monthly fee for one user. Get in there and start using it.
We have some clients who are using just one module for free. I got one client up and running on the project management module in a couple hours and got the client trained on it.
Another client, we put on the website module. The feedback we get from clients emphatically is that it is intuitive and easy to use.

Tech E&O and cyber insurance with Joe Brunsman

Tech E&O and Cyber insurance with:
Joe Brunsman of The Brunsgroup – Expert on Tech E&O and Cyber Insurance
YouTube channel – Joseph Brunsman
https://www.youtube.com/@JosephBrunsman
https://www.thebrunsgroup.com/
Damage Control book
https://www.thebrunsgroup.com/book2
Tech E&O and cyber
MSP should have a tech E&O policy. They cover different things. What types of third-party claims will they cover? A guy on the Que recently said that he did not think that E&O was required because his customers have never asked for it. You must have a TECH E&O policy.
What is the biggest thing that you need to pay attention into the E&O policy?
Look at the definition of technology services in the policy. Everything past that point, it does not matter if the definition of technology services is correct.
Avoid the named peril policy. An all risks policy is better. These are becoming harder to come by.
Named peril:  Technology services means:   there is a list
You have to prove to the insurance company that what you did falls within that definition.
What do you need to look for? “Including but not limited to”  contra proferentem = ambiguity is held against the draftsman. The onus is on the insurance company to prove that what you did was not covered under the definition.
How much coverage in the policy should they have?
How much cyber insurance do you need? Here are the variables that I think about. – See Youtube video
Brokers – There is no legal requirement that they understand or read the insurance policies.
Average IQ of an insurance broker is 104. They do not understand what they are selling. The onus is on the business owner to ask and to get the right things.
What is your major loss event? What are we worried about? Is that even possible to insure for those issues?
Step 1: Stop relying on the insurance broker.
Step 2: Fellow decision-makers in the business, what are you worried about? Talk to the broker about that. Then the broker finds “these are the options in the cyberinsurance market that address those concerns”.
Joe: Huge proponent of defense in depth over cyber insurance. Rank order the biggest bang for the buck. Felicia has been talking about that for years and is doing a webinar on 2/9/2023 on that very topic.
Insights from plaintiff’s attorney
Joe had a great convo with a plaintiff’s attorney and got his opinion on risk management.
Risk discovery question: What is the one thing that sinks the ship in the lawsuit?
There is an internal email. You knew you were supposed to do this. But they said it was too expensive. They were not going to do that. They understood the risk and just accepted it.
What could the business do in order to circumvent that email being a death blow in the lawsuit?
Plan of implementation.
No business has unlimited resources. No business is perfectly secure. You sit down the with business owners and MSP. We need to work on a plan to better your security. You don’t have unlimited money. I am a business owner too. You need a roadmap. Everyone signs off on it. We were trying, we were getting there.
Felicia: Wow this is astonishing because this is what we have been doing with clients for 20 years. It is the type of thing that a CISO knows how to do, but few others know how to do well.
 
 
Life hack tip from Joe:
Convo with the average business owner:
Obviously you are really good at what you do. You have built this business. Build a relationship with them. The MSP is not the subject matter expert on the client’s industry. Fluff their feathers. Transition that. I asked you a bunch of questions, thank you for hearing me. Now we are going to go through this. Can we just do the same thing in reverse? If you do not understand this yet, let me know and let’s break it down.
 
Joe and Felicia agree:
One way or another, those controls will be implemented. Read any breach notification letter. Magically we found more money to invest in cybersecurity.
Either work on your information security program monthly at a pace that your budget can absorb, or that decision of timing and magnitude will be taken away from you.

Dark web monitoring and avoiding FUD decisions

Kathy Durfee – CEO & Founder of Tech House joined Felicia to discuss dark web breach monitoring
Scenario: FUD report from a competitor
Perceived: Multiple users in their environment were breached. Perceived proof was report with the listing of the users and the passwords and columns that the customers did not know what that data was.
Good: Customer told their current IT service provider about the report.
FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt – is, in the wrong hands, a powerful tool to drive snap decisions within a company. However, it is not a viable or valid sales tactic: for all it could potentially do well, causing unnecessary stress and suffering is what it does best. Speaking with Kathy Durfee, CEO and Founder of TechHouse, a managed services and solutions provider based in Florida, we walk through a recent case of FUD with a customer of hers that received a worrisome report from a potential competitor. During our chat, we covered:
The key aspects of FUD (and how it does not work)
What the Dark Web is, and the logistics of monitoring and combating it
Leadership training and best practices for helping a team best meet their security and regulation requirements
Identifying the key differences between commodified and relational partnerships, especially in the technological sphere
Shared responsibility between MSPs, their customers, and those customers’ clients
Where does dark web monitoring and dark web data risk reside on the continuum of risk? How best to mitigate?
What really is the risk and the mitigation?
Put the efforts into prevention.
Put the individual in the driver’s seat of managing the risk that is best managed by them by putting the right tools in their hands.
Resources
https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Perception of the proper allocation of the budget
Businesses must make time for training.
ITSP must include in service catalog what the client is getting in terms of services.
What do we need to do? Cross reference on tools that accomplish outcomes and cover risk mitigation and ensure that the client understands what those are.
Training is how you squeeze the juice out of the orange. Without it you may not get all the juice out of the orange or get any juice out of it at all.
Common business objections to allocating time for training
Payroll costs, but avoiding training is not legally defensible anymore.
Policies
The IT Service provider CANNOT alone write policies for you, and they CANNOT approve and enforce your organizational policies.
Four pillars
Policies
Technical controls implemented
Automation of technical controls
Reported to the business – It’s YOUR report, your organization.Shared responsibility – some months the CFO does it, some months the CEO does it.Set a schedule and do it. 3 weeks any habit; trainer or partner
Do you look at your P&L and balance sheet every month? You should be understanding the reports from IT.
 
An interesting lawyer opinion on the topic:
https://abovethelaw.com/2023/01/dark-web-monitoring-for-law-firms-is-it-worthwhile/

Vulnerability management with Felicia and Dan - Part 2

This episode of Breakfast Bytes is Part 2 of a series where Felicia King and Dan Moyer of QPC Security continue their conversation on Vulnerability Management. Listen to Part 1 at https://qpcsecurity.podbean.com/e/vulnerability-management-part-1/. 
In today’s episode, Felicia and Dan discuss vulnerability management workflows, supply chain risk management, starting with security on the front end rather than retrofitting, and proper patch management. 
Workflow management 
01:10 CISO-related (Chief Information Security Officer) workflows are at the core of what is today’s necessity, and we will only see it become more mandatory within the next couple of years. Organizations that do not have vulnerability management workflows in place in a comprehensive way are going to find they have too much technical debt, deferred maintenance, or deferred security to be able to dig themselves out. This won’t be from a lack of money either, but a lack of manpower and time in the day to rectify the issue. 
Supply chain risk management 
02:43 SaaS vendors have vulnerabilities and very few of them have in their contracts your rights and their obligations. What kind of questions should you be asking your SaaS vendors that in many cases you are responsible for as an organization? Here are just a few: 
Do they have continuous vulnerability management scanning going on with regards to their SaaS platform? 
How are they classifying vulnerabilities?  
How quickly are they going to resolve vulnerabilities?  
How are they communicating these issues to you?  
Do they use API security scanning?  
How do they adhere to OWASP API standards and best practices?  
What are they doing for you in terms of supply chain risk management or software bill of materials? 
Your organization’s CISO or vCISO should be in your court getting answers to these questions if they are not being addressed by your SaaS vendor or addressed in your contract. Having a proactive, highly functional, highly communicative, and open, honest working relationship with your CISO will ensure you have the protections your organization needs. 
Proper patch management 
04:51 Let's walk through an example of patch management in an environment with Hyper-V hosts, Dell PowerEdge server, domain controllers, business critical SQL servers with essential business applications, virtual machines, remote sites, on-site and offsite backups, hardware at different speeds, and then all these third-party software on these workloads – how do you patch all these things? 
06:11 It is exceptionally important to note that some patches will step on or over each other, be required to be put in place and rebooted first, and then other patches applied on top of it. The time it takes to patch a server can be exacerbated by trying to accomplish, say, five patches in one changewindow rather than one patch/reboot followed by another one patch/reboot, and so on. 
07:48 Watching the servers reboot is an important piece to verify the workload comes back up reiterating the point made in Part 1 of this series that adequate patch management of an entire server for $50/month cannot be done. 
Domain controllers 
09:19 There tends to be multiple domain controllers or, in the case of just one, it has been designed so that it can reboot whenever it needs to allow for patching. The domain controller is the brain of everything, and since it can reboot whenever needed to apply patches, it can facilitate that while staying available when everything else comes back up. 
Typically we will start with domain controllers as the first thing patched and verified. Now if there are multiple, and depending on how critical the environment is, a rolling out patch might be done so that these secondary domain controllers or ones that are not on the best hardware are patched and then they sit for a period. 
Backup plans and backstops 
11:29 Part of that patching methodology is your backup plans and backstops – having the tools and everything else in place to uninstall a patch if needed. When we set up our servers, we always have Command Prompt and PowerShell already queued up on those devices when we log in. Then we have the availability of pre-planned scripts that we can adjust as we go but most importantly, all the tools are there and available.  
Importance of roles on servers 
12:25 Part of your ability to have resiliency in the environment is the ability to reboot whenever you need, because you have redundancy and resiliency. Because it is a single role server, it gives you that agility to be able to resolve and prevent issues.  
Therefore, workload design is the name of the game. Whatever you think that cost is of that additional virtual machine, that is nothing compared to the problems that you cannot solve because you tried to shove a bunch of stuff together in workloads that did not meet because they were mismatched workloads. 
Many patch managers are not comprehensive and there is a lack of consistency in of what is getting patched on a well-designed domain controller versus a third-party party application server.  
Physical servers 
16:09 Watching a virtual machine reboot while maintaining efficiency and not biting off more than one can chew is crucial, but we are also finding is increasingly important to watch the physical servers and that can only be possible with the right hardware. 
How are you auditing and confirming that patches are being applied and which ones have not? At QPC Security, we bring all the virtual machines down and reboot the host as a prerequisite for patching because it gives you a clean slate to start your patches. Then we will use the patching methodology to push specific patches down to it. We use our patching piece to push specific ones because not everything is needed for hosts and other pieces that we have identified will cause an issue, is a multi-patch, or a multi-patch/multi-reboot process. 
Taking one step at a time, pull it down, apply patches, make sure everything is happy coming up. Go through that entire process again. While we are connected to iDRAC, we watch the server, reboot, apply patches, come back up, make sure all the VM's are checking in properly, we are making sure everything is available, then they go through that process two to three times. It depends on how many patches are available and what things got pushed out. 
Everything has patches 
20:39 If you have a hypervisor that is not giving you patches; you should not be using them. Likewise, if there is no product improvement then there is no security management from that vendor. There is no easy button or a set it and forget it. 
21:42 When IT is not confident in how a process is going to work, they do not want to touch it and that is exactly where a vulnerability arises. Say a consultant installs Cisco, but without a brand expert or budget in place keep the consultant to maintain it, it remains unpatched and therefore vulnerable. That is precisely why organizations need to have a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan in place and a procurement policy that drives effective vulnerability management. 
Incremental patching 
25:26 When people are too afraid to patch the hardware, it does not get patch which accumulates over time in terms of technical debt and the technical issues it accumulates. Attempting to patch too many patches at once or jump too many versions results in the reboot cycle of death or a very time-consuming reboot because you are not running a vetted, tested, and supported configuration. The more time and versions you allow to pass between patches, the more divergent from manufacturer’s tested config those updates become. 
Buying the right hardware to begin with saves you money down the line 
33:20 A crucial piece to vulnerability management in your workstations is BIOS, drivers, firmware. If you buy the right hardware to begin with that has the automation engine built into it and when you deploy it you are configuring it accordingly, it becomes far less expensive than paying a human being to manually babysit your vulnerability management. 
Not all workloads are created equal 
34:59 A word of caution when an IT service provider quotes patch management for your organization. When it comes to patching business line apps that need high uptimes because it costs a business thousands of dollars per hour to be down, what patches does the ITSP apply and with what preparation for back out plan?  
In many cases, an ITSP is giving a client the perception of patch management, certainly not vulnerability management, but in reality they are simply doing a Windows update and only some third-party patching, which might only be five third party applications. At QPC Security, our catalog of patches of over 9500 software titles that we are patching and there is no automation. Visit https://www.ivanti.com/partners/ivanti-software-catalog to learn more about the normalization of software titles. 
Cybersecurity insurance applications require continuous vulnerability assessment and vulnerability management. However, most IT service providers do not offer comprehensive patch management. Their vulnerability management claims are grossly misrepresented to the point of malfeasance. 
Vendor documentation & software bill of materials 
37:43 You cannot keep your head in the sand – all these things must be considered when receiving a quote from an IT service provider.  
In cases when the software vendor is not offering competent documentation, your organization must rely on the legwork of your IT service provider to offer timely patches at opportune times. Do not forget that many ITSPs will charge you to run patches on the weekend or evenings when there will be minimal impact to your business.  
"Titrics"
43:02 Your ITSP should have vetted and tested procedures and protocols for implementing patches, yet all too many do not. So many times, we see the priority of IT companies are how quickly they can close a ticket and rely on the software companies to do it for them. This focus on first-call closures and ticket metrics (termed here as “titrics”) is grossly underserving their clients and their clients’ organizations. Proper documentation allows for better time management and to offer effective support to best serve the needs of the clients without requiring the assistance of the third-party software vendor. 
47:05 Gaps in change management, change control, and documentation for server workloads arise when an ITSP is focused on ticket-based productivity rather than quality of service. The original scope of the project by the ITSP requires evaluation from someone who can accurately evaluate the needs of the client’s organization. When the bid is too low, the needs of the client are not going to be met, the work will not be completed, and the organization is left vulnerable. 
50:03 Unfortunately, an incompetent ITSP will leave out what services they had to cut out on the race to the bottom of the pricing model and that leaves it up to you, as the business owner, to be aware of your organization’s cybersecurity insurance policy requirements and how they are being fulfilled. 
Questions? Reach out to us
QPC Security proudly serves businesses with virtual CISO services for our clients. If you are interested in learning more about how QPC Security can serve the needs of your organization please visit https://www.qpcsecurity.com/ or call one of our experts directly on (262) 553-6510.  
Stay up to date on the most recent episode of Breakfast Bytes by following the podcast on Podbean at https://qpcsecurity.podbean.com/. 
 
Learn more: https://www.complianceforge.com/faq/word-crimes/policy-vs-standard-vs-control-vs-procedure
 

The REAL reason you cannot afford to have a cybersecurity incident

I have been thinking for months about the latest challenges faced by organizations with regards to the increased cybersecurity risks, what is at stake, how unprepared they are, and how the cyber insurance companies are responding to the changing landscape.
As I have had conversations with business decisions makers, they often think that they have little to risk. Many businesses feel that they are not under much if any regulatory framework that requires them to take action. It seems that each week I see another cybersecurity insurance risk assessment questionnaire that nearly every organization will fail. Compliance frameworks are incomplete and horrifically confusing.
There is no compliance framework that will get you the fundamentals. There is no security control framework that tells you how to have effective network layer security. The gap between guidance and successful execution is wide.
It occurs to me that the only real defense for small and medium businesses are organizations like QPC which have virtual information security officers and full remediation services on offer backed by ongoing management. There are plenty of penetration testers or those that will sell you MDR services. Execution of fundamentals is where it is at. There is little value in pursuing the frameworks until you have addressed the fundamentals. After you have the fundamentals in place, then review your status against frameworks and you will probably find that many items have already been addressed.
Regardless, I'm always on the hunt for helping the SMB organization leader. It occurs to me that no matter what data you think you have a risk or don't at risk, there is one thing you don't have which is at risk. Listen to the show to find out the real reason you cannot afford to have a cybersecurity incident.
Updated on 8/8/2021I saw this great article today on this topic and decided to include it.
The Disturbing Facts About Small Businesses That Get Hacked
I will warn that their documented risk mitigations measures are H.S.
 
And check out this excellent article on more reasons why you cannot afford to be hacked.
10 Terrifying Cybersecurity Stats | Cybersecurity | CompTIA