Cloud Security Today

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Purav Desai is a Microsoft 365 incident responder at a large financial institution (name withheld to protect the innocent). He shares his journey and expertise in the field. He explains how his early exposure to Microsoft security solutions and their constant innovation led him to specialize in 365 security and incident response. He discusses the importance of mentors and influential figures in his career, highlighting the lessons he learned from them. He then dives into his popular project, Deciphering UAL (Unified Audit Logs), which aims to make sense of the complex logs in Microsoft 365. 

Purav shares an incident response scenario involving a banking Trojan and how he used telemetry and logging to investigate and remediate the issue. He concludes by discussing effective threat detection methods in Microsoft 365, including threat hunting with KQL and leveraging Zero-Hour Auto-Purge (ZAP) to prevent the spread of attacks. 

In our conversation, we dive into:

• How specializing in Microsoft 365 security and incident response can be a wise choice due to the constant innovation and market demand for Microsoft solutions.
• How having mentors and influential figures in your career can provide valuable guidance and inspire you to push yourself and try new things.
• His personal project, Deciphering UAL (Unified Audit Logs), aims to make sense of the complex logs in Microsoft 365, providing insights for digital forensics and incident response.
• How proper licensing and logging configuration are crucial for effective incident response.
• How native tools like Purview Audit and eDiscovery provide valuable insights for forensic analysis.

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This month, we welcome Eric Gagnon, Team Lead of Adversary Simulation, Purple Teaming, and Tradecraft Development at Desjardins. The conversation covers a wide range of topics related to cybersecurity, including purple teaming, red teaming, blue teaming, and Eric's journey in cybersecurity. Eric shares insights on certifications, threat hunting, cloud security, and the importance of knowledge exchange between red and blue teams. He also discusses the use of AI in cybersecurity and the need to stay sharp in the field.

Takeaways

• Purple teaming involves collaborative operations to exchange ideas, evaluate security controls, and test out tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) real threat actors use.
• Certifications in cybersecurity, such as Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) and Offensive Security Certified Expert (OSCE), provide valuable knowledge and an edge in the field.
• Threat hunting involves looking for a granular activity that may indicate a compromise, filtering out the noise, and focusing on the suspicious behavior of threat actors.
• Cloud security requires automation, cyber hygiene, and visibility, focusing on prioritizing techniques and testing them against the enterprise's environment.
• Knowledge exchange between red and blue teams during a purple team engagement is essential and should include a common language, centralized documentation, and reporting against the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
• Staying sharp in cybersecurity involves continuous learning, participation in CTFs, engaging with passionate individuals, and challenging oneself through talks, podcasts, and specialized training.

Chapters

00:00
Introduction to Purple Teaming and Cybersecurity Journey

08:09
Certifications and Insights in Cybersecurity

15:08
Threat Hunting and Granular Activity Detection

35:02
Knowledge Exchange in Purple Teaming: Red and Blue Collaboration

39:57
Staying Sharp in Cybersecurity: Continuous Learning and Engagement

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This month, we welcome Swathi Joshi, VP of SaaS Cloud Security at Oracle, to discuss key moments and decisions that shaped her career path, including rejections from Google and Twitter. She emphasizes the importance of learning from rejection and seeking feedback to improve. Swathi also shares insights on the role of mentors and advises on finding and working with mentors. In the second part of the conversation, she discusses building a SaaS security program as an enterprise consumer of SaaS. She highlights the importance of addressing misconfigurations, ensuring visibility and access control, and meeting compliance needs.

Swathi also suggests asking about backup and exploring risk scoring for vendors. In this conversation, Swathi discusses best practices for managing vendor risk, vulnerability management through third parties, and incident response in SaaS applications. She also shares insights on privacy operations and critical privacy controls in SaaS. Swathi emphasizes the importance of collaboration, robust incident response plans, and data lifecycle management. She also highlights the need for identity and access control and the challenges of normalizing incident response across different SaaS platforms. Swathi's leadership philosophy is collaborative and pace-setting, and she emphasizes the importance of stress management.

Takeaways

• Learn from rejection and seek feedback to improve
• Build long-term relationships with mentors and create a personal advisory board
• When building a SaaS security program, focus on addressing misconfigurations, ensuring visibility and access control, and meeting compliance needs
• Ask about backup and explore risk scoring for vendors. 
• Managing vendor risk requires close collaboration with privacy, legal, and contract partners.
• Incident response in SaaS applications shares foundational principles with traditional on-prem software, but there are differences in data snapshotting and managing dependencies.
• Privacy operations can be operationalized by focusing on identity, access control, and data lifecycle management.
• Leadership should be collaborative, open to ideas, and adaptable to different situations.
• Stress management is crucial for effective leadership and should be acknowledged and actively managed.

Links
Privacy Operations Template
Swathi's LI Profile

Chapters

00:00 Navigating Career Challenges and Learning from Rejection
08:13 The Role of Mentors in Career Growth
15:26 Building a Strong SaaS Security Program
21:20 Meeting Compliance Needs in a SaaS Environment
21:56 Backup and Risk Scoring for SaaS Vendors
22:38 Managing Vendor Risk
26:12 Improving Vulnerability Management through Third Parties
26:35 Navigating Incident Response in SaaS Applications
34:03 Operationalizing Privacy Operations in SaaS
40:50 The Importance of Collaboration in Leadership
43:04 Managing Stress for Effective Leadership

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Episode Summary

On this episode, Sandy Bird, CTO and Co-Founder of Sonrai Security, joins the show to discuss identity security in the Cloud. Prior to Sonrai Security, Sandy co-founded Q1 Labs, which was acquired by IBM. He then became the CTO and helped IBM Security grow to $2B in revenue.

Today, Sandy talks about his journey in cybersecurity and how to manage and eliminate dormant identities. Why should listeners be concerned about zombie identities? Hear about the permissions attack surface and where to start implementing zero trust policies.

Timestamp Segments

·       [01:41] Getting into cybersecurity.

·       [03:48] Key lessons from IBM.

·       [08:40] Zombie identities.

·       [12:53] Is it possible to manage and eliminate dormant identities?

·       [16:17] Tying the process into a CI/CD pipeline.

·       [21:01] The Dirty Dozen of Cloud Identity.

·       [24:13] The permissions attack surface.

·       [27:00] Zero Trust best practices.

·       [30:08] Creating nett new machine identities.

·       [33:17] Prioritizing identity misconfigurations.

·       [35:15] Sandy’s mentors and inspirations.

·       [37:37] How does Sandy stay sharp?

Sound Bites

"Nothing is a straight path in starting companies in your career."
"Zombie identities are identities that were part of previous projects and never get cleaned up."
"Fix the low-hanging fruit first, such as getting rid of zombie identities and locking down sensitive identities."

Relevant Links

Website:          sonraisecurity.com

LinkedIn:         Sandy Bird

Quantifying Cloud Access: Overprivileged Identities and Zombie Identities

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Episode Summary

Corey Elinburg, a cybersecurity leader, discusses the importance of approaching cybersecurity as a transformational force and empowering the business. He emphasizes the need to avoid draconian controls and adopt a mentality of finding solutions rather than saying no. Corey also shares insights on hiring security leaders and building relationships with vendors. He highlights the value of cloud-based security services in rapidly aligning IT with the business and shares examples from his experience. Corey emphasizes the importance of digital trust in healthcare and the need to prioritize patient safety. He also discusses personal growth and staying up to date in cybersecurity.

Takeaways

• Approach cybersecurity as a transformational force that empowers the business.
• Avoid draconian controls and focus on finding solutions rather than saying no.
• Embrace innovation and set the terms of adoption to drive business transformation.
• Build trust and empower your team to enable scalability and focus on strategic initiatives.
• Cloud-based security services offer agility, scalability, and rapid alignment with the business.
• Build relationships with vendors by understanding their value proposition and engaging in problem-solving.

Chapters

·       [02:10] Kind words about Corey.

·       [03:13] Transforming business through IT.

·       [05:20] Where security programs go wrong.

·       [06:35] Corey’s hiring persona.

·       [07:50] Embracing innovation.

·       [14:26] Principles to accomplish your vision.

·       [17:20] Cloud-based security models.

·       [23:55] Bringing value to businesses.

·       [28:09] From practitioner to leader.

·       [33:41] Unifying security and developers in purpose and practice.

·       [38:15] Implementing digital trust.

·       [41:28] Corey’s growth formula.

·       [42:53] Corey’s parting words.

Notable Quotes

·       “It’s not just controls. It’s empowering the business to operate in a resilient way.”

·       “Too often in cyber, we forget that we’re selling in every interaction.”

·       “When you engage trying to solve a problem rather than engage trying to sell a product, you’re immediately on a better footing.”

Relevant Links

Website:          www.commonspirit.org

LinkedIn:         Corey Elinburg

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Episode Summary

On this episode, Global Head of InfoSec and GRC Strategy at VMWare, Ashish Suri, joins the show to discuss data security and AI. Ashish has over 20 years of experience in business transformation, cybersecurity, data privacy, and enterprise risk management. He has served in numerous roles, including Head for Data Risk, Privacy, and Cybersecurity at Apple, Head of Technology Process and Controls at PayPal, and Senior Director of Finance Internal Controls at Visa.

Today, Ashish talks about the distinction between data secrecy and data security, data security in the Cloud, and the business benefits of investing in data security. How does AI fit into security? Hear about cost-effective risk mitigation strategies and the evolving DSPM space, and get Ashish’s formula for personal growth.

Timestamp Segments

·       [01:33] Ashish’s role at Apple.

·       [04:27] Data secrecy vs data security.

·       [07:20] Data security in the Cloud.

·       [09:30] Ashish’s approach to data security.

·       [13:53] What does a business get out of data security?

·       [17:34] The CIA Triad.

·       [21:39] AI and Cloud security.

·       [24:24] AI in cybersecurity products.

·       [27:59] Cost-effective risk mitigation strategies.

·       [30:49] Wading through the DSPM space.

·       [35:15] Ashish’s growth formula.

·       [37:06] Being humble.

·       [38:00] Ashish’s parting words.

Notable Quotes

·       “The more we are out there in the Cloud, the larger our footprint becomes, and the risk continues multiplying in different directions.”

·       “Speed, accuracy, and automation will also get complimented with people, process, and technology.”

·       “Keep learning and keep listening.”

Relevant Links

Website:          Bedrock Security

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Episode Summary

On this episode, CISO at Palo Alto Networks, Niall Browne, joins the show to talk about Security, Cloud, and AI. Before joining Palo Alto Networks, he served as the CSO of Cloud platforms for the past sixteen years, including as the CSO and CTO at Workday.

Today, Niall talks about his journey starting in the early days of the Internet, his work during Palo Alto’s shift to Cloud and now AI, and how to keep track of risk with automation. How can teams do more with less? Hear about how to communicate risk to company board members, the usefulness of Gen AI, and the cyber skills shortage.

Timestamp Segments

·       [01:39] Niall’s Bank of Ireland experience.

·       [05:07] How did the early internet catch Niall’s attention?

·       [08:56] What is Niall most proud of?

·       [11:34] Palo Alto’s shift to Cloud.

·       [16:43] Overcoming resistance to the shift.

·       [22:53] Keeping a pulse on risk.

·       [28:07] Communicating risk to boards.

·       [33:46] Doing More With Less.

·       [38:00] How does Gen AI make processes better?

·       [41:27] The cyber skills shortage.

·       [47:04] Niall’s personal growth formula.

Notable Quotes

·       “More with less is key.”

·       “Hiring the right skill set is very difficult.”

Relevant Links

Website:          www.paloaltonetworks.com

LinkedIn:         Niall Browne

Resources:

Doing More with Less: The Case for SOC Consolidation.

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Episode Summary

In this episode, Jerich Beason, CISO at WM, joins the show to discuss becoming a CISO. Before joining WM, Jerich served in various roles at Lockheed Martin, RSA, Capital One, AECOM, and Deloitte.

Jerich talks about how he tailored his roles throughout his career, learning communication soft skills and his passion for sharing with others. 

Hear about how AI affects leadership, how Jerich would change the cybersecurity industry, and the true value of vendors (it's positive!).

Timestamp Segments

·       [02:51] When Jerich knew he wanted to be a CISO.

·       [04:52] Tailoring the roles.

·       [06:02] What is Jerich most proud of?

·       [07:17] Jerich’s best advice.

·       [13:22] Transitioning away from geek-speak.

·       [17:29] When Jerich developed the passion.

·       [20:28] The PRIME framework.

·       [25:20] What should be talked about with AI?

·       [29:09] What would Jerich change about the cybersecurity industry?

·       [30:33] Hiring the right people.

·       [33:37] How Jerich stays sharp.

·       [35:06] The value of vendors.

Notable Quotes

·       “Not every issue warrants a ‘sky is falling’ alert.”

·       “When it comes time to leave, leave a legend.”

·       “We don’t exist without vendors.”

Relevant Links

Website:          www.wm.com

LinkedIn:         Jerich Beason

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Episode Summary

On this episode, Co-Founder and CTO of Gutsy, John Morello, joins Matt to talk about Process Mining in Cybersecurity. Before co-founding Gutsy, John served as the CTO of Twistlock and VP of Product for Prisma Cloud.

John holds multiple cybersecurity patents and is an author of NIST SP 800-190, the Container Security Guide. Before Twistlock, he was the CISO of an S&P 500 global chemical company. Before that, he spent 14 years at Microsoft, working on security technologies in Windows and Azure and consulting on security projects across the DoD, intelligence community, and at the White House. 

John graduated summa cum laude from LSU and lives in Baton Rouge with his wife and two sons. A lifelong outdoorsman and NAUI Master Diver and Rescue Diver, he's the former board chair of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and a current Coastal Conservation Association board member.

Today, John talks about governance challenges in cybersecurity, the importance of security as a process, and how to apply process mining. How is process mining useful in cybersecurity? Hear about process mining human actions and unstructured sources, and how John manages to stay sharp.

Timestamp Segments

·       [02:20] John’s cybersecurity journey.

·       [07:43] Pivotal moments in John’s career.

·       [10:23] The most pressing governance challenges.

·       [14:07] What is process mining?

·       [19:03] How process mining can benefit certain functions.

·       [21:09] Security as a process, not a product.

·       [25:37] Why there’s not more focus on process.

·       [32:03] Applying process mining.

·       [38:07] Filling in the gaps.

·       [42:03] How John stays sharp.

Notable Quotes

·       “Security is a process, not a product.”

·       “In security, inefficiency and inconsistency are highly correlated with risk.”

·       “Almost everything in security is about process.”

Relevant Links

Website:          gutsy.com.

LinkedIn:         www.linkedin.com/in/john-morello.

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Episode Summary

On this episode, Best Selling author of Cyber for Builders and blogger Ross Haleliuk joins the show to talk about his writing on the cybersecurity industry. Ross is active in the cybersecurity ecosystem as a startup advisor and angel investor, currently leading the VIS Angel Syndicate. He often writes about cybersecurity, security investment, growth, and building security startups on TechCrunch, in other leading industry media, and in his blog, Venture in Security, read by tens of thousands of security leaders every month.

Today, Ross talks about the usefulness of apprenticeship programs and the impact of AI on the talent shortage. What makes the talent shortage a qualitative issue? Hear about AI and cybersecurity problem-solving, Ross’s recently released book, and how Ross stays sharp (and fit).

Timestamp Segments

·       [02:23] Pivoting into cybersecurity.

·       [08:20] The role of project manager.

·       [11:24] The BISO role.

·       [13:41] The talent shortage as a qualitative issue.

·       [23:58] Apprenticeship programs.

·       [30:51] Qualitative vs quantitative talent shortage.

·       [33:15] The impact of AI.

·       [39:06] AI in cybersecurity.

·       [41:54] What is Ross writing about next?

·       [43:12] How Ross stays sharp.

Notable Quotes

·       “A lot of problems in cybersecurity are not unique to the space.”

·       “It is difficult to find an entry-level job in the technology space, period.”

·       “There is a shortage of senior talent, but there is also an oversupply of junior talent.”

Relevant Links

LinkedIn:         Ross Haleliuk

Resources:

ventureinsecurity.net