The purpose of this blog post is to provide insight into five focus/topic areas: 1) To understand the general forensic implications brought on by the use of virtual machines (VM), networks, and cloud computing (CC); 2) To identify the types of cloud computing, global organizations, and various locations where cloud providers might store data; 3) To provide an analysis of the general technology choices and contracts for a global organization during any legal action or law enforcement investigations; 4) To understand how indirect and third party risks operations, security, and profits resulting from technology choices within a global environment; and 5) To justify the need for forensic technologies to protect an organization during investigations on third-party networks, virtual machines, and cloud computing.

As someone who has spent over twenty years in information security, it was surprising to find a lack of usable and well-defined standards for digital investigators. However, there are a few standards for people, processes and technology, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 17025,10 ISACA’s Digital Forensic Scientific Process, the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD).

In a world where everything is becoming connected with the Internet of Everything (IoE) it will become difficult to distinguish what is real and what is fake.  As more things become connected, there are more opportunities for these things to become cyber-targets to disrupt, deceive, prevent or threaten people, processes and technologies.  It is these challenges which Digital Forensic Investigators (DFIs) must overcome if a DFI is to ensure any level of confidentiality, availability or integrity was not achieved.

There are several reasons why a focus on cybersecurity and cybersecurity technologies will eventually undermine its protective capabilities.  First, no company has all the resources to fix every cybersecurity problem, and not all patches are equally important.  Unfortunately, there are many companies that skip the first stage of thinking about what are the key business activities that can be disrupted by cyberattacks, and instead focus on individual technologies to solve individual problems in their computer systems.  Additionally, an organization can use all resources and significant resources to address these security vulnerabilities without ever solving the underlying problem of protecting the business activity from which computers originate.  

Cyber-hygiene consists of a series of steps and procedures that can be used to improve security and maintain a healthy system.11  After establishing an effective security awareness training program, organizations can use it to raise awareness and support some of the key cyber-hygiene practices to build a solid safety culture.7  

Cyber​-hygiene refers to the practices and steps taken by computer users and other devices to maintain system integrity and improve online security.  In addition to the cyber-hygiene device page, an essential part of any cyber-hygiene program is understanding which users have privileged access and continuing to check permissions.13  As many security Practitioners know, people are the weakest link, so we need to help people through training and awareness.  By raising training and awareness in your company, cyber-security will become a normal routine as well as many positive cyber-hygiene measures.  Using correct password settings and responsible Internet and e-mail behavior depends on the employee's input which is generally only improved through training and awareness.10

Cybersecurity will continue to evolve in an open-source environment where the community benefits from commercialization and affordability at enormous computing speed and memory capacity.  Companies can fulfill their role by strategically cooperating with cybersecurity specialists and by investing in solutions and infrastructures that protect their most important digital resources - data.  Risk requires an understanding of the financial implications of the threat landscape (which is constantly changing), maturity control (including cybersecurity parameters) and the type of business assets, industry, size and geographical location

Digital security is a combination of technology, processes and controls that are designed to reduce and not eliminate the risk of cyberattacks. The best digital security is designed to quickly and efficiently assess and respond to potential threats. Blockchain startups need to be concerned with security from day one to protect their assets and reputation. Do your research and take note of the reputation of companies you want to do business with.  

Being a CISO has been defined as the hardest position in IT to fill because of the amount of technical knowledge, and business savvy one needs to understand. A CISO needs to understand people, processes, technology and security, and how they all interact and relate. My job as a CISO and cybersecurity professional is to show you how institutions need to and can adapt to keep their people and data safe and secure. This is not going to be an easy task. Over the next 5 years, the number of people is going to increase to over 8 billion people, and the number of processes and technical solutions is going to increase exponentially.

Privacy is an ongoing challenge we cannot back down from fighting. It will be an ongoing conversation for which we must stand up for our privacy. Privacy is much like us, it will change, it will outgrow the clothes we are currently wearing.  To learn more about your Right to Privacy in the US, please visit the most referenced article ever, the December 15, 1890, Harvard Law Review article titled, the Right to Privacy.