Exabeam News Wrap-up – December 1, 2022

Here’s the latest collection of Exabeam topics, headlines, and news coverage. Stay up to date with the Exabeam News Wrap-up! For press releases, articles, awards and all things newsworthy, check out the Exabeam Newsroom.

Cybersecurity news

The Nature of Cybersecurity Defense: Pentagon To Reveal Updated Zero-trust Cybersecurity Strategy & Guidelines

U.S. government officials have set a five-year deadline to implement effective zero-trust solutions. With cyber capabilities of other nation-states continuously improving and evolving, the country is more susceptible to digital aggressiveness. The United States is aiming to meet the cybersecurity challenge head-on by updating the zero trust, trust and verify approach.

One way these strategies can be implemented is by using tools designed to achieve visibility across on-premises and attack surfaces. “A compromise could come at any point within the ecosystem, and more often than not it will come from an adversary using valid credentials,” shares Jeannie Warner, director of product marketing at Exabeam. “It’s clear that ‘watching the watchers’ in security terms is important. This is where threat detection, investigation, and response (TDIR) capabilities should be focused, and why any security operations team needs to consider having visibility of their identity management, security log management, and other threat detection tools across their on-premises and cloud attack surfaces.”.

The Evolution of SIEM: Where It’s Been and Where It is Going

Today, SIEM accounts for approximately $4.4 billion of total cybersecurity spending and is expected to increase to $6.4 billion globally by 2027. This is easy to understand as SIEM has evolved into the data store for cybersecurity data which has been exploding as the volume of data and number of alerts is growing exponentially.

According to Ponemon Institute, the average number of cybersecurity products a company uses is 45. Some vendors claim Fortune 2000 companies have upwards of 130 tools, with each generating both log files as well as alerts. Exabeam CEO Michael DeCesare takes a look back at how SIEM has evolved, and where the SIEM market goes from here.

Suffolk cyberattack: County consultant also lobbies for vendor hired to fortify system

A consulting firm hired to help manage Suffolk County’s response to a ransomware attack also has served as a lobbyist for the computer security company brought in more than three years ago to analyze and fortify Suffolk’s networks. The firm and its founder’s roles as state lobbyist for the company — and consultant to Suffolk County — could present potential conflicts of interest in the cleanup of the Sept. 8 cyberattack.

Tyler Farrar, chief information security officer at Exabeam, said hiring a third-party forensic auditing company is considered the best practice to ensure a “complete, independent and objective forensic investigation.

“Simply using the forensic arm of the vendor company whose product may have been breached is a risky option,” he said. “Industry best practice would require hiring a separate, independent company to conduct their own investigation. In these circumstances, it is not a matter of one versus the other, but taking full advantage of the key strengths of both third parties.”

Ansell Adopts Exabeam Fusion

Global PPE manufacturer Ansell selected Exabeam for the New-Scale SIEM™ leader’s simple, powerful Cisco security stack integrations.

“One of the first things that drew us to Exabeam was its ability to integrate out of the gate with many of our Cisco security products,” said George Michalitsianos, vice president of information security for Ansell. “We also look forward to working with a true cloud-native SIEM provider that can give us the data lake and security technologies we need under one roof to protect our business, including cloud-scale security log management, powerful behavior analytics, and an automated threat detection, investigation, and response (TDIR) experience.”

People and culture

Embracing neurodiversity in the modern workplace

In many organizations, traditional processes are not designed for neurodiverse workers, writes Exabeam CHRO Gianna Driver. From recruitment to retention and career development, there is a need for education and positive change to ensure people of all backgrounds and gifts are afforded the same opportunities to contribute.

According to Harvard Medical School, neurodiverse people “experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits.” These different perspectives are what make neurodivergent employees particularly valuable to organizations. Unique solutions and “out of the box” thinking are the birthplace of innovative, new solutions. Successful businesses understand the role of neurodiverse employees, embrace these diverse points of view, see the value in divergent thinking and provide support wherever necessary.

“Like a psychologist, but it’s a place”: One S.F. business is targeting the needs of lonely remote workers

Studies have shown the pandemic has led to many people experiencing increased feelings of loneliness. While many companies have talked about, and poured resources into, different mental health apps and initiatives to help remote employees, none of those can replace chatting with a coworker over coffee.

To help foster cameraderie, Exabeam offers employees catered lunches on Wednesday and a happy hour on Monday with a full spread, events that plenty of employees show up to, said the company’s human resources chief Gianna Driver.

Driver said when she talks to people about the events afterwards, work and productivity aren’t the main reasons they show up. “People cite building relationships with one another as the real value of coming into the office,” she said. “When people say ‘The relationships’ they’re really talking about with one another.”

Nine Ways Emotional Intelligence Skills Can Boost Business Results

Leaders are dependent on particular skills, including emotional intelligence (a.k.a., emotional quotient, or EQ), to have successful relationships with employees and customers and to boost business performance results. Tactics like focusing on other people’s needs and creating a better listening space are just some ways EQ can help with that.

One benefit, says Exabeam CHRO Gianna Driver, is the promotion of a healthy, diverse culture. “The EQ of leaders in an organization impacts the employee experience and overall culture,” she says. “People stay at fun, healthy places where they have an impact and career growth. Ensuring you promote a healthy, positive and diverse culture means embracing emotional intelligence by actively investing in the well-being and psychological safety of your employees.

Stay tuned for the next issue of the Exabeam News Wrap-up, and catch up on previous editions!