The number of U.S. data breaches bumped up 17% in 2019 but despite the increase, the volume of sensitive consumer records that were exposed declined substantially by 65%, according to a newly published report. These statistics are a complete reversal of what happened in 2018, when the number of exposed consumer records soared by 126% and breaches declined by 23%, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) End-of-Year Data Breach Report for 2019  Data breaches tracked in 2019 in the United States jumped to 1,473, from 1,257 in the previous year, the report revealed. Meanwhile, 164,683,455 sensitive records were exposed, compared to 471,225,862 in 2018. The ITRC notes, however, that the 2018 Marriott data alone exposed 383 million records,

By Diana-Lynn Contesti, CISSP-ISSAP, ISSMP, CSSLP, SSCP  and John Martin, CISSP-ISSAP Continued discussion from Security Predictions for 2020 from the (ISC)² Community of Security Professionals (Part 1) Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Operating Technology (OT) related to the state of digital certificates The issue is not just self-signed digital certificates or expired certificates. Many of these devices have digital certificates, which need to be managed via a Key Management System and maintained. The fallout, of course, is that without proper controls, these devices can and will be compromised. Currently, the onus is on the consumer to ensure that they know what they are purchasing is actually secure – which is almost an impossible job.  So, the

By Diana-Lynn Contesti, CISSP-ISSAP, ISSMP, CSSLP, SSCP and John Martin, CISSP-ISSAP Cyber-attacks will impact businesses on a larger scale in 2020 and will affect those who are unprepared, whether it is attributed to human error or other disasters. In an effort to combat some of the issues faced by corporations, it is time for CEOs to grasp the mettle and officially buy-in with their security practitioners’ advice. We have all seen various vendors make predictions for Information Security for 2020. These predictions include an increase in targeted Ransomware, threats to the 2020 Elections in the U.S. and other countries, and many conversations on Deep-fakes, attributed to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and the fast pace of technological developments We asked

As use of the internet becomes more acceptable in schools and expected at younger ages, cyber safety education is a necessity. While tablets, computers and smart devices are the norm at home and school for children, many students are not taught about the potential dangers faced while using technology. Shockingly, 40% of students in fourth through eighth grades have chatted with a stranger online, of those, 53% gave out their phone number to the stranger and 11% met with a stranger according to Children’s Internet Usage Study. Statistics like these are the impetus behind the mission of the Center for Cyber Safety and Education and its city-wide educational event “Cyber Safety Day.” This one-day event, created by the nonprofit, educates

One of the most common complaints cybersecurity professionals voice about their employers is that they have to pay for certifications out of their own pockets. It’s not a trivial issue, since workers consider certifications their number one career hurdle, according the (ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2019. Based on study findings, most employers don’t pay their cybersecurity workers’ certification fees. Considerably fewer than half of respondents in the study (37%) say their employers pay for them while 21% say they share the cost with employers. More than one third of respondents (35%) pay for all of their own cybersecurity certification costs. For many, having to pay for certifications themselves is a problem because of the associated costs. It’s the most common