Ireland’s cybersecurity watchdog publishes new guidance for businesses
Ireland’s National Cyber Security Centre has published guidance on cybersecurity for Irish businesses. It’s a welcome addition to the roster of material available to help organisations to develop or refine their security strategy. The team at BH Consulting has picked out key points from the guide, and added some more context and analysis. The report’s […]
Cybersecurity for startups
In the early days of a startup, it’s easy to get caught up in the buzz of building a new business. Keeping so many plates spinning – from fundraising and hiring to shipping product – can mean security sometimes falls off the priority list. But in the face of ever-rising volumes of data breaches and […]
Malware threats in 2019
It’s unlikely we’ll ever look back fondly to a time when ransomware would announce itself noisily. But at least victims knew they were under attack. Now, the signs are that malware’s adopting sneaky tactics to avoid detection. Fileless malware looks set to be a significant security threat in 2019, and that could be bad news […]
Embedding better security culture beyond awareness
Listening to Ira Winkler’s presentation at this year’s Irisscon conference, one of his comments struck a chord. “The right culture is that you don’t need a good security awareness programme because a new employee sees how everyone behaves, and they behave exactly like them,” he said. By way of example, he recalled an incident from […]
Nine for 2019: New Year tips for cybersecurity and privacy professionals
A new year is almost upon us, and that means one thing: resolutions. Easily made, even more easily broken, they’re nevertheless a useful way of setting goals for the next 12 months. We asked Brian Honan, Tracy Elliott, Sarah Clarke, Valerie Lyons and David Prendergast to share their tips for information security practitioners and privacy […]
The value in vulnerability assessments: closing gaps to improve security
Vulnerability assessments usually involve using automated tools such as Nessus or Qualys to carry out a passive scan of an organisation’s systems. The process produces a list of security gaps and ranks them in order of risk. It gives an organisation clear data to guide the process of deciding which issues to prioritise first based […]
UK NCSC chief highlights resilience as key to better security
Here’s a question for security professionals to ponder: why are we only ever a few clicks away from disaster? It’s inspired by a recent presentation in Dublin by Ciaran Martin, CEO of the UK National Cyber Security Centre. On a visit to Dublin earlier this month, the UK’s cybersecurity chief stressed the importance of building […]
Conference trick: how to choose worthwhile security and privacy events – and which to avoid
When I started out in my career, I always believed that speakers at conferences were ‘selected’ on the basis of their contribution to the profession. I believed that if someone was on a stage speaking to an audience, they had something important to say – and it was important for me to hear it. I […]
EU Cyber Security Month roundup – advice on staying secure
During October, BH Consulting has been sharing daily advice about digital security and privacy on its social media channels as part of EU Cyber Security Month. This blog gathers together all of these tips into a single place. As each week goes by, we will keep adding to the content, in descending order. By the […]
Ireland needs a coherent national approach to cybersecurity
I was interviewed by the Irish Times on why “Ireland (is) Vulnerable to Cybersecurity Attack” During my chat with Charlie Taylor I mentioned a number of concerns I have regarding how Ireland is dealing with cybersecurity at a national level and that in many areas it is disjointed with no one department or function taking […]