Understanding Cyber Threats; detecting upstream (and why this matters to CFOs)

In this video our partners at RedSky Alliance demonstrate the basics of ‘upstream’ threat detection.  Purely defensive postures, including firewalls and internal procedures, are no use at forewarning an organisation of a raised threat profile.  Actionable ‘reconnaissance’ of the cyber landscape can provide invaluable forewarning of a raised threat to your organisation or that of your supply chain.  No matter how good your defences are, if your suppliers’ or your customers’ systems are vulnerable then so are you.

The video includes an overview of the industry but the link starts where we describe how we analyse threats and filter for  legitimate email traffic using multiple sources, both open and proprietary.  We are able to identify target vessels and organisations to provide forewarning of the specific method that might be used to breach your defences.  External attacks are conducted by masquerading with legitimate industry processes and attachments such as CTMs, PDA and requests for Q88.

The industry remains extremely vulnerable to email as it is yet to evolve to more secure communication practices and the financial implications can be eyewatering.  Methods of infiltrating organisations are becoming highly sophisticated with significant financial impacts because we are more and more reliant on technology.  Lets not forget the woes of Travelex whose ability to trade was halted for several weeks and we are yet to see if this has fatally wounded the company.