AITech Interview with Roy Akerman, CEO and Co-founder, Rezonate

Roy, could you start by sharing your journey from your role in Israeli cyber defense to co-founding Rezonate and your vision for the company?

Yes, thank you for the opportunity to share. I headed Israeli Cyber Defense Operations, where I was responsible for defending Israel’s critical infrastructure and public companies against cyber attacks, cyber terror, and digital espionage. My mission during over 20 years of service was to develop cutting-edge technology and lead cyber defense operations. I was also part of the founding team of NISA, Israel’s equivalent of the NSA, and established alliances with numerous countries and business partners.

I moved to Boston eight years ago to pursue my MBA at MIT Sloan. Following that, I served as the VP of Product Incubation at Cybereason. I founded three market-changing lines of business, including Cybereason’s flagship XDR product and its strategic partnership with Google Cloud. My journey has always been about pushing boundaries and innovating in cybersecurity around new challenges. When we realized that identity was the new perimeter in security operations, we saw that organizations still struggle to protect it. We had many ideas for revolutionizing identity security technology, so we started Rezonate.

What do you see as the most pressing issues currently facing identity access management, and how are these challenges impacting enterprises?

The shift to the cloud has been monumental, even accelerating during economic downturns for cost-saving and efficiency. Traditional endpoint and network-centric security needed to evolve to include cloud-forward environments. Users and machines have become the new focal points for both defenders and attackers. With 85% of attacks stemming from compromised identities, legacy systems cannot sufficiently protect them. That’s why my partner, Ori Amiga, and I saw a unique opportunity to challenge these outdated approaches on both the cybersecurity and identity and access (IAM) sides with an innovative identity-centric security solution, leading to the founding of Rezonate.

Can you explain the role of identity security posture management (ISPM) and its importance in today’s security landscape?

Identity security posture management is critical for reducing your identity attack surface. Understanding what your security controls are, monitoring identities to ensure they have the least privileged access, and being able to remediate access automatically when a risk or threat is detected. ISPM helps you identify and prioritize high-risk identities: Spots accounts with excess privileges, dormant accounts, misconfigured access, and elevated risk profiles. Posture management also streamlines the remediation process. Implementing ISPM supports regulatory compliance, enhances audit performance, and ensures effective policy enforcement. It also helps organizations to continuously monitor security issues and enforce best practices and policies.

To Know More, Read Full Interview @ https://ai-techpark.com/aitech-interview-with-roy-akerman/

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Shielding Small Business: The Role of Insurance in Cyber Defense Enhancement

Cybersecurity breaches are increasingly common among small and medium businesses (SMBs), making them ideal targets for cybercriminals. Due to limited budgets, lack of expertise, and the misconception of being “too small to be targeted,” many SMBs operate with minimal cybersecurity defenses. Unfortunately, this vulnerability is exactly what cyber attackers rely on, exploiting weak defenses through relentless attacks and sophisticated phishing campaigns. In India alone, ransomware attacks on websites surged by 261% this year, with insurance companies often left covering the damage.

This raises an important question: How are organizations that specialize in risk management being blindsided by cyber threats? The answer lies in inadequate security practices. Many businesses lack critical defenses such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), phishing-resistant employee training, reliable backups, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) systems. Additionally, the rapid shift of SMBs to cloud platforms introduces complex configurations that exceed the technical capacity of many small businesses.

Insurance Companies and Cyber Risk Management

Recognizing the growing risks, insurers are tightening their standards for cyber insurance policies. Companies now need to meet stricter requirements, such as multi-step authentication (e.g., verification codes via email or phone), routine security scans, and offline data backups, to qualify for coverage.

However, insurers face challenges in evaluating cyber risk. Without access to comprehensive insights from businesses' security systems, insurance companies struggle to assess the true level of exposure. This reactive, “outside-looking-in” approach slows incident response efforts, as forensic teams must first reconstruct pre-breach system conditions. At the same time, businesses without a solid cybersecurity framework increase uncertainty for insurers, forcing them to reconsider how they assess and manage cyber risk.

The integration of cybersecurity and insurance efforts creates a win-win-win scenario for all stakeholders. Insurance companies benefit from fewer claims and improved financial performance, SMBs enjoy better protection and more favorable policy terms, and end-users gain enhanced data security.

By fostering partnerships between insurers and cybersecurity providers, the industry can shift from reactive risk management to proactive prevention. This collaborative approach will not only help mitigate the growing ransomware threat but also create a more resilient digital environment for businesses and consumers alike.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/role-of-insurance-in-cyber-defense-enhancement/

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Why AI is Both a Risk and a Way to Manage Risk

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a relatively new field that has rapidly evolved into a major influence on the strategic direction of organizations. Its significance extends far beyond automation, enhancing complex decision-making processes. AI is both a risk and a tool for managing risk—a paradox that organizations must confront as they navigate the landscape of 2024 and beyond.

AI as a Catalyst for Transformation

While AI is often associated with task automation, it also plays a critical role in improving decision-making. AI empowers change across various domains, from social to informational, by automating time-consuming processes and driving efficiency. Additionally, AI offers deeper insights to management teams than ever before.

In finance, for example, AI models outperform traditional methods by evaluating a broader set of factors to assess credit risk, predict market trends, detect fraud, and identify optimal investments. Similarly, in healthcare, AI enables early diagnosis and increases diagnostic accuracy, transforming how medical treatments are managed. These examples demonstrate that AI not only mitigates risks but also reshapes operational behavior, opening new avenues for efficiency and effectiveness.

Machine Learning’s Role in Enterprise Risk Management

Machine learning—one of the most crucial AI fields—plays a vital role in Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). By learning from data and detecting patterns beyond human observation, machine learning is particularly useful in industries like cybersecurity, where threats are constantly evolving. AI systems also monitor network activities in real-time, providing alerts for suspicious events to prevent breaches.

According to Gartner’s 2024 report, companies leveraging AI-based risk management tools saw a 30% reduction in data breach incidents. This statistic emphasizes AI’s ability to prevent risk events. Moreover, as data protection laws become stricter, AI helps organizations maintain compliance through precise monitoring and reporting mechanisms.

The dual role of AI as both a risk and a risk management tool defines the modern business landscape. Organizations that recognize AI’s strategic value and incorporate it into their planning will be well-positioned to thrive. The improvements in decision-making, efficiency, and risk forecasting that AI offers are too significant to ignore.

However, these opportunities come with responsibility. Companies must adopt ethical AI practices and ensure robust data protection to avoid negative societal impacts. Failure to address these issues could have serious consequences, not only for businesses but also for society as a whole.

Ultimately, the question is not whether to adopt AI but how to implement it sustainably and responsibly. Leaders with a vision for ethical AI usage will not only mitigate risks but also unlock new opportunities previously beyond reach. As business environments continue to evolve rapidly in 2024 and beyond, organizations that fail to adapt will fall behind. Integrating AI as both a tool and a mandate is essential for any innovative organization looking to succeed.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/ai-is-both-a-risk-and-a-tool/

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Seven Data Loss Prevention Techniques of 2024

Data breaches and cyber threats are becoming increasingly common in this digital era, and protecting valuable information is the top priority for data-driven organizations. To curb the constant issues of data being compromised, lost, and misused, a Data Protection Officer (DPO) and their teams can implement a data loss prevention (DLP) strategy and tools that will continuously monitor and analyze data to identify potential violations of security policies and stop them from evolving.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the seven steps of DLP strategies and tools that will help in enhancing the security of your IT structures.

Seven-Step Framework in Deploying DLP Strategy

If any business is handling sensitive data and operating in a regulated environment or suffers from repeated cybersecurity threats, it’s time that needs to add DLP strategies.

Proofpoint’s 2024 data loss landscape report indicates that 84.7% of enterprises have encountered data loss, with an average of 15 incidents per organization per year. This implies the importance of appropriately implementing DLP strategies.

Therefore, without any further ado, let’s understand the seven-step strategic framework of DLP:

Identify and Classify Your Data

To protect data effectively, DPOs need to know the exact type of data that they need to work on.

With the help of data discovery tools such as Informatica, Spectral, and Osano, data discovery administrators will scan the data repositories and report on findings, providing visibility of what needs to be protected. These tools further use regular expressions for their searches; they are very flexible but can be complicated to fine-tune.

After implementing data discovery, data administrators can use data classification software such as Varonis, Fortra Digital Guardian, and Imperva which will help them control users’ data access and avoid storing sensitive data in any unsure locations, reducing the risk of data leaks and data loss.

Use Data Encryption

In the data-centric world, encryption provides a two-step security measure that involves converting data into code that is only deciphered with a decryption key.

Organizations that deal with extremely sensitive forms of data are required to follow data security standards and regulations, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If an organization fails to comply with encrypting sensitive data, it can result in regulatory non-compliance and can lead to costly data breaches and legal penalties.

Therefore, to safeguard, data professionals can use different data encryption tools such as IBM Security Guardium Encryption, Thales CipherTrust, and Sophos SafeGuard Encryption, which add complex mathematical algorithms to data and transform it into a random series of characters that are indecipherable without the suitable decryption key.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/data-loss-prevention-techniques-of-2024/

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AITech Interview with Yashin Manraj, Chief Executive Officer at Pvotal

Yashin, to kick things off, could you share what inspired you to transition from a career in academia and engineering to founding Pvotal Technologies?

Growing up, I thought a lack of proper education was the root of many societal issues and inefficiencies.

Idealistically, I entered academia thinking I could become a professor who would nurture the issues leading to a wavering generation of talent, innovation, and development. Unfortunately, I quickly realized how some processes were limiting, stifling, and stuck in an antiquated age.

I could not build or address problems I saw in my niche field due to software issues, data breaches, the high cost of licensing fees for some critical tools, and the poor integration of tools. These issues led me to lose thousands of hours in frustration fixing technical problems rather than focusing on my growth, thesis, and research. The tools I used became a greater source of frustration than my research, constantly distracting me from my objectives.

My skills and resolve were too limited to reform academia from within, so I decided to focus on the issues within the software industry to limit the problems that more talented academics faced. I co-founded Pvotal with Ashley to build a new generation of solutions that helped customers focus on the value they bring to customers rather than get stuck in an iterative cycle of integrating code and debugging updates.

Pvotal emphasizes creating “Infinite Enterprises.” Could you explain what this concept entails and how it aligns with your overall mission?

While many industries have adopted different interpretations of the ideal Infinite Enterprise, we believe the “infinite enterprise” is any company that has achieved an infinitely scalable, independent, resilient, and secure infrastructure. Once these criteria are met, we observed that it allows businesses to truly innovate, improve, and elevate their value proposition to customers.

The age-old adage of teens or some fresh graduates going into “founder mode” can build the next generation of software in their proverbial garage, shared workspace, or dorm room is simply no longer possible.

The rise of hyperspecialization, wanton integration of third-party code or vendors, and the unmanaged accumulation of technical debt has led most software companies to become antiquated, vulnerable, and overbloated pieces of code that can no longer efficiently protect their customers’ data, provide a competitive edge to their users, and have a reasonable cost/utilization footprint.

Most modern enterprise software has at least 17 paid or free SaaS, PaaS, and third-party code powering its operation or development. With a tough economy, inflation, and squeezed supply chains, these different services are forced to raise prices continually, thus shifting the burden on the end consumer. In addition to the increasing costs, these software are often abandoned or introduce vulnerabilities to the enterprise supply chains, which is why we have experienced a record-breaking number of successful cyberattacks, ransomware, and fraud every year for the past decade.

To Know More, Read Full Interview @ https://ai-techpark.com/aitech-interview-with-yashin-manraj/

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Preparing the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Professionals for 2024 and Beyond

As the world navigates through 2024, cybersecurity gets more unpredictable and dangerous. With increased sophisticated cyberattacks like ransomware, phishing, and APTs, there has never been a higher demand for cybersecurity professionals. But after the rising tide, the industry stands at a significant skills gap, presenting organizations with vulnerabilities to breaches and data theft.

Following a report by ISC², there is a lack of more than 3.4 million cybersecurity workers across the world. The gap becomes an important threat to diverse organizations, majorly finance, healthcare, and technology-related businesses that are more vulnerable to cyber attacks. As we head to the future, B2B businesses need to invest in the next generation of cybersecurity talent and equip them with crucial knowledge and skills to offer sensitive data and systems protection.

This is your roadmap for the business to educate professionals in cybersecurity across all types of skills with education and strategies to create the best plan of workforce development.

The Growing Need for Cybersecurity Talent in 2024 and Beyond

Current Workforce Shortage

Business operations in almost every corner of the globe are being adversely affected by a severe challenge: an acute shortage of cybersecurity professionals. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, by 2025, cybercrime will reach $10.5 trillion in annual damages worldwide, representing an even greater need for experts in that field. There are not enough trained professionals to fill such a high demand. This presents a challenge to businesses, particularly those sectors dealing with sensitive data, such as healthcare, government, and finance.

Evolving Threats

The 2024 threat landscape is not only about malware and phishing schemes. Organizations are becoming increasingly subjected to more advanced attacks, like ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), attacks by nation-state entities, and supply chain attacks—all of which make much greater technical capability demands than traditional IT knowledge requires. It is thus crucial to train professionals who can predict the magnitude of new threats.

The Role of New Technologies

Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and cloud computing are impacting the cybersecurity sector with new vulnerabilities; therefore, professionals have to become adept at securing these systems; thus, the urgency for cybersecurity knowledge coupled with cutting-edge tech becomes highly integral in the future workforce.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/preparing-the-next-generation-of-cybersecurity-professionals/

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Understanding Data Loss Prevention (DLP) in the Digital World

In the digital world, data is the lifeline of any business, be it trade secrets, sales records, customers’ personal data, and other sensitive information. Organizations use this data to create innovations and increase their long-term client base.

However, the current situation is quite different, especially with this surge in cyberattacks, insider threats, and phishing attacks. In a recent report by Forbes, it was witnessed that in 2023, security breaches saw a 72% increase from 2021, which held the previous record. Hence, protecting this data has never been so important.

Organizations can use data loss prevention (DLP), an indispensable tool that monitors, identifies, and protects sensitive data from unauthorized access and leakage, to prevent data loss.

DLP also aids organizations in meeting regulatory mandates such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These laws and regulations are stringent obligations in an organization that secures sensitive data and notifies the security teams during data breaches. With the help of DLP solutions, CISOs, CIOs, or IT managers can ensure that the right employees are accessing the right data for the correct reason.

For a better understanding of this subject, today’s AITech Park article will discuss data loss prevention, how it functions, software solutions, and the latest strategies and policies organizations can implement for stronger data security.

Reasons for Data Loss in Organizations

With the growing digital data and increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, data loss has become a primary concern for organizations worldwide, and data breaches, data leakage, or data exfiltration commonly cause this data loss.

Cybercriminals steal and transfer data from a network or device in data exfiltration. This act can be conducted by insiders or outsiders who generally perform cyberattacks such as DDoS attacks or phishing, and such data are exfiltrated through login credentials and intellectual property.

insider threats are extremely dangerous because the hazards come from within the company, leaving sensitive data vulnerable to exploitation. According to the website Check Point, it was observed that 43% of all breaches are insider threats, either intentional or unintentional, through company employees or former employees, contractors, and business associates.

It is witnessed that breaches often occur due to employees’s negligence, and there are numerous reasons such as weak security practices, execution of poor cybersecurity training programs, and not applying the principle of least privilege (POLP). Therefore, organizations need to provide comprehensive cybersecurity training for their employees so they comprehend the significance of keeping company data and personal data safe from antagonists.

CISOs, CIOs, or IT managers should also focus on creating strategies around DLP solutions and train employees to adopt cybersecurity best practices when performing their work.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/data-loss-prevention-in-digital-world/

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Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Cyber Threat Hunting in 2024

As cyberattacks advance in their sophistication and frequency, traditional cybersecurity defenders-the firewalls, antivirus software, even intrusion detection systems-are no longer sufficient in protecting companies. Organizations are bound to face advanced persistent threats (APTs), ransomware, as well as insider attacks in 2024 that often go undetected by automated detection tools. This makes proactive cybersecurity a dire necessity.

According to new research findings, the average amount of time taken before it is possible to detect a breach stands at more than 200 days, which is a very long window for cyberthieves to siphon sensitive data and cripple business operations.

This mainly occurs in B2B organizations operating within the finance, healthcare, and technology sectors, as these sectors are mainly characterized by sophisticated attackers seeking high-value data. However, the only solution is in cyber threat hunting-a proactive security approach aimed at detecting threats before they trigger damage.

In the guide here, we will cover the most important steps to implement a robust cyber threat hunting strategy tailored for 2024-overview of all the skills, processes, and technologies that will help in keeping your business safe.

What is Cyber Threat Hunting?

Cyber threat hunting is one of the proactive cyber security practice wherein the trained and well-equipped security analysts proactively search for hidden or undetected threats within an organization’s network.  While the traditional monitoring systems passively wait for alerts, the threat hunters search for malicious activity or a weakness that can be exploited.

Why It Matters in 2024

Today, the threat landscape for cyber defence is no longer passive but active detection. Attackers are continually evolving by attempting to evade detection with tactics like lateral movement, credential dumping, and fileless malware. Threat hunting becomes very critical in this approach since it looks beyond waiting for automated tools to flag an anomaly and instead hunts for and discovers sophisticated attacks made to evade traditional defenses.

Common Cyber Threats in 2024

Some of the prominent threats businesses will face in 2024 include the following:

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs): Organized cyberattacks that siphon off data for long periods of time without being detected.

Ransomware: A ransomware attack encrypts a victim’s data and demands payment in lieu of providing decryption keys.

Insider Threats: It is an employee or contractor who intends to do evil or shows malacious carelessness in doing his duty that might lead to security breaches.

Zero-Day Exploits: In this case, attacks exploit vulnerabilities that have not been patched yet.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/implementing-cybersecurity-threat-hunting/

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AITech Interview with Chase Doelling, Principal Strategist at JumpCloud

Chase, please tell us about your background and what brought you to your role as Principal Strategist at JumpCloud.

I’ve spent over a decade in the tech industry, in cloud computing and cybersecurity. Over that time, I’ve been able to indulge my passion for all things identity-related and JumpCloud has been a perfect fit.  JumpCloud’s mission to simplify and secure IT management for businesses of all sizes— especially for the traditionally overlooked small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—is unique, and I’d argue we’re uniquely good at it. My role is to help shape our product vision to ensure we’re meeting the evolving needs of our customers in an increasingly complex IT landscape.

How is AI currently impacting cybersecurity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?

JumpCloud conducts a twice-yearly survey of IT admins (our most recent edition of the survey just came out in July), so we’ve been able to get a real-time pulse on how SMEs are adapting to AI.

The first time we asked about AI six months ago, there was a lot of excitement but also a lot of fear. What we’re seeing now is that while the optimism has faded a little, it’s still pretty strong. Most organizations – 67% –  have plans to implement AI initiatives and about the same number of folks have actually developed an AI policy–  a great first step toward a robust, intentional approach to AI in the workplace.

As to how AI is impacting cybersecurity for SMEs, it’s both positive and negative. On the positive side, AI-powered tools are enhancing threat detection and response capabilities, allowing SMEs to identify and mitigate potential security risks much more quickly and accurately than before. This is particularly beneficial for SMEs that lack the resources for large security teams. However, AI is also being used by bad actors in more sophisticated attacks. We’re seeing an increase in AI-generated phishing emails and adaptive malware that can evade traditional security measures. This duality around AI won’t be going away anytime soon, so SMEs need to embrace AI while developing protections against it.

Based on your recent survey, what best practices would you recommend for SMEs to enhance their cybersecurity in light of AI developments?

First and foremost, implementing strong identity and access management is crucial. This includes using multi-factor authentication (MFA) and adopting a least-privilege access model. We also found that employee training is more important than ever, given the increasing sophistication of AI-powered phishing attempts. SMEs are also responding by partnering with managed service providers (MSPs) to access expertise and capabilities that might otherwise be out of reach.

To Know More, Read Full Interview @ https://ai-techpark.com/aitech-interview-with-chase-doelling/

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Editor’s Pick: Top Cybersecurity Articles in 2024

In 2024, the cybersecurity realm has opened new doors to new vulnerabilities and attack techniques. As attacks become more sophisticated and dynamic, traditional defense mechanisms fail to provide protection. Therefore, to effectively combat these challenges, CISOs and IT leaders need to analyze the current situation and mitigate threats in real-time.

As we look ahead to 2025, likely, the concerns faced by CISOs and IT leaders in 2024 will potentially worsen.

However, for a handy deep dive into tackling cyber attackers, this roundup of AITech Park articles on the cybersecurity topic offers guidance in creating good cyber awareness strategies, insights, and recommendations that will aid in embedding privacy compliance into your culture.

The Rise of Cybersecurity Careers

As cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated, organizations are prioritizing the hiring of certified cybersecurity professionals to enhance their security measures. Therefore, to excel in this ever-evolving competitive field, it is crucial to pursue the right certification courses. In 2024, the top popular cybersecurity certifications include CompTIA Security+, OSCP, CISA, CISSP, and CISM. Each certification course offers valuable skills and knowledge catering to numerous roles within cybersecurity.

Understanding the Third-Party Risk Management Strategies

In this new-age world, third-party risk management strategies have become quite essential in this modern interconnected business environment. As businesses no longer rely solely on an organization’s security, CISOs require external connections to manage security strategies. Therefore, implementing robust third-party cyber risk management so you can continuously focus on due diligence, monitoring, deception, and incident response plans can help limit your exposure and defend against growing threats.

Preparing for Data Center Security Threats in 2024

Most organizations have data centers that are rich in critical information, and for cybercriminals, this center is the prime target. Therefore, IT leaders must prioritize building the defenses around to eliminate the increasing ransomware and cyberattacks. This also implies that hardware-based root-of-trust (RoT) systems should be combined with AI technologies that will ultimately enhance zero-trust practices beyond current capabilities.

The need of the hour is a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that will secure the organization’s digital assets and reduce the risk of loss, theft, or destruction of company data or systems. Hence, by reading the recommended articles, you can create a robust strategy that will protect your brand from reputational harm and create a safe environment for employees, stakeholders, and the organization.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/top-cybersecurity-articles-in-2024/

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