13th e-Crime & Cybersecurity Mid-Year Summit
October 14th 2021 - Online
Why ransomware changes everything
When the US President signs Executive Orders about cybersecurity, it’s important. Is this the tipping point CISOs have been waiting for?
On Thursday June 3rd, the White House issued an open letter to US executives warning them that they should consider cybersecurity one of their top priorities. The recommendations of the letter may seem rudimentary, but the suggestions to create strong incident response plans, pen testing campaigns and to introduce network segmentation, indicate a change in the sophistication that governments exhibit in the cybersecurity arena.
This letter followed May’s Signing of a presidential Executive Order which sets out a new vision to improve the US’ cybersecurity and protect federal government networks.
And it comes at a time when FBI Director Christopher Wray is comparing the current spate of cyberattacks with the challenge posed by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. As he said: “There are a lot of parallels, there’s a lot of importance… [and]…There’s a shared responsibility, not just across government agencies but across the private sector and even the average American.”
This sudden escalation of language and action is perplexing, given the obvious significance of cybersecurity, but welcome nonetheless.
The DoJ has set up legal teams aimed at prosecuting offenders. Are we witnessing the beginnings of an attempt to take cybercrime seriously? Will it lead to more resources for law enforcement? Will governments start to provide better protection for citizens and organisations? And will they impose standards on the suppliers of critical digital infrastructure additionally exposed by Sunburst and the Fastly error?
But the key takeaway for CISOs is: cybersecurity has finally ‘arrived.’ Cyber-attacks make the front pages of both the tabloids and the broadsheets; a year of digitisation has sent business, government and leisure online; a newly digitised world has made the public ever more cognisant of data privacy. And the US President is on the case.
So, has ransomware, the most lucrative tool for cyber criminals, and a key tool for nation states in cyber warfare, finally put CISOs front and centre?
The 13th e-Crime & Cybersecurity Mid-Year Summit will take place online and will look at how cybersecurity teams are tackling this new world. Join us for real-life case studies, strategic guidance, and in-depth technical sessions from the security and privacy teams behind some of the world's most admired brands.