Caffeinated Risk

McCreight & Leece

The monthly podcast for security professionals, by security professionals.Two self proclaimed grumpy security professionals talk security risk, how they’ve managed it in the past and forward looking discussions with guests working in information security and risk management. read less

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Deviance Normalization & Risk Management with Marco Ayala

Deviance Normalization & Risk Management with Marco Ayala

Technological change is inevitable and often one of the aspects that attracts people toward careers in information and operational technology. Although risk management is a part of navigating advancement in any area, the fundamental flaw in any management system is our human tendencies. This episode explores how organizations can make slow, steady migration from first principles to risky undertakings without noticing. Marco Ayala, an operational technology cybersecurity expert and current Houston InfraGard president, joins this episode to further explore the reasons behind this normalization of deviance, a concept first introduced to OT cyber specialists at S4 in 2024. Mr. Ayala is also CCE proponent and facilitator leading to a discussion on possible options for course correction back off the normalization path. Although solutions must always be tailored to work within organizational constraints, the early contributors to catastrophic outcomes associated with the Challenger space shuttle and Boeing 737 Max warrant exploration or we will inevitably repeat.

Episodes

Deviance Normalization & Risk Management with Marco Ayala

Deviance Normalization & Risk Management with Marco Ayala

Technological change is inevitable and often one of the aspects that attracts people toward careers in information and operational technology. Although risk management is a part of navigating advancement in any area, the fundamental flaw in any management system is our human tendencies. This episode explores how organizations can make slow, steady migration from first principles to risky undertakings without noticing. Marco Ayala, an operational technology cybersecurity expert and current Houston InfraGard president, joins this episode to further explore the reasons behind this normalization of deviance, a concept first introduced to OT cyber specialists at S4 in 2024. Mr. Ayala is also CCE proponent and facilitator leading to a discussion on possible options for course correction back off the normalization path. Although solutions must always be tailored to work within organizational constraints, the early contributors to catastrophic outcomes associated with the Challenger space shuttle and Boeing 737 Max warrant exploration or we will inevitably repeat.

Managing Supply Chain Risk Management - with Darren Gallop

Managing Supply Chain Risk Management - with Darren Gallop

Whether it's the NIST CSF, 8276 or the new European Cyber Resilience Act there is no denying the expectation that supply chain management (SCM) is a risk management area no organization can ignore. While SolarWinds is recent common reference in many SCM discussions, this episode's guest takes us back to Target's major data breach that resulted in significant changes to the PCI-DSS standard. Darren Gallop, a serially successful Canadian tech entrepreneur, recounts the early journey into the software as a service business up to his current role as CEO of Carbide. The episode talks frankly about the current challenges with supply chain management, but Mr. Gallop also shares where he sees bright lights on the horizon and a path forward for organizations willing to consider the shift.

Metawar and Fostering Resilience with Winn Schwartau

Metawar and Fostering Resilience with Winn Schwartau

Long before the Matrix captured peoples imaginations, Winn Schwartau was steadily offering red pills for those reading his many books on information warfare. A scholastic level researcher without the pretense, Mr. Schwartau has been recognized internationally as one of the leading security thinkers of our time and has a special capability for distilling complex security concepts into every day language and metaphor. In this episode Tim and Doug talk with Winn about the battle big tech is waging on our cognitive capabilities. Recorded just days before the release of Winn's latest book, this interview is a very frank examination of our current human state and some sound direction on how to counter the effects of coexisting with technology.Some sample chapters of the new book and links are available here:https://winnschwartau.com/metawar/

Resilience and I.R. Lessons Learned (the hard way) - with Adam McMath

Resilience and I.R. Lessons Learned (the hard way) - with Adam McMath

Almost all incident response plans include a "lessons learned" step, and in the post adrenalin phase that follows many breaches, reviewing what worked and what needs improving doesn't excite a lot of people. Adam McMath is clearly the exception, leading incident response activities in both the cyber realm and physical. How do resilience and incident response lessons learned while literally fighting fires translate into risk management practices within cyber security, is a good question explored in depth with this month's guest. Mr. McMath's experience and exuberance are evident throughout, with a great deal of additional content that will appear in a future espresso shot bonus episode.

ESRM a Transformation Catalyst with Radek Havlis

ESRM a Transformation Catalyst with Radek Havlis

Amongst the industry verticals classified as critical infrastructure, few would argue that telecommunications belongs in the top that list, placing even more weight on a risk management program due to cascading impacts. Consequently, safe reliable operations are essential for success while continuing to grow in a highly competitive marketplace. A security risk management challenge across many dimensions that has become an ESRM success story. This episode features Radek Havlis, Vice President, Director Business Resilience and Chief Security Officer at O2 Telefonica Germany sharing insights into O2 Telefonica's transformation toward a highly converged security model. An early advocate of ESRM, Mr. Havlis explains how the risk management philosophy remains consistent but the requirements for successful implementation can vary greatly by organization. The Telefonica journey started with visionary leadership and in less than three years has transformed the view of security as a business enabler.

Contingency Planning, Cyber Resilience and Incident Response

Contingency Planning, Cyber Resilience and Incident Response

Regulatory frameworks from PCI-DSS to NERC-CIP to the newly minted NIST CSF 2.0 each require organizations of all sizes to have cyber incident response plans. Most of us who have spent any time in cubicle filled office towers are familiar with fire drills to clear the building and gather staff at muster points, and that is as close as we get to the real thing. Unfortunately that same lucky streak will Unlike a fire drill, recent research estimates 85% of businesses will expereince a cyber incident annually, and many will find short-comings in their incident response plan.This episode explores a couple of recent news-worthy Canadian Cyber incidents, challenges with incident response plans and as always, how to use ESRM principles to further your program, even in a time of crisis.

The Business Context of Cyber Resilience with Steven J Ross

The Business Context of Cyber Resilience with Steven J Ross

Those running a business today who have not experienced disruption due to cyber issues or attacks know it is only a matter of time. Even if their organization is not directly targeted, the modern marketplace comprised of multiple, interconnected supply chains, means impact is unavoidable but this episode's guest, Steven J Ross contends planning, design and clear priorities can provide mitigating resilience.Steven J Ross, executive principal of Risk Masters International, is a recognized cyber security expert, specializing cyber resilience, recovery and business continuity. His decades of experience come through loud and clear with a somewhat unflinching perspective on the current digital threat landscape and the impact on organizations and individuals. In addition to leading a boutique risk management practice helping Finance, Health care, Defense and more, Mr. Ross has been the author of one of ISACA Journal's most read columns since 1998.

Building a Cyber Risk Management Program with Brian Allen

Building a Cyber Risk Management Program with Brian Allen

The U.S. Security Exchange Commission defined new rules for cyber risk matters facing publicly traded corporations in July of 2023. Although the SEC's mandate is limited to publicly traded companies in the United States, where one regulator goes others are apt to follow. Brian Allen is the co-author of a brand new book putting form, structure and traceability around the SEC mandated requirement for a Cyber Risk Management Program. Mr. Allen was on of the original creators and advocates of the ESRM framework first published in 2013, and has been practicing security risk management throughout his career. Caffeinated Risk is very please to bring a very candid conversation with a true thought leader in the risk management field to our ever growing family of listeners.

CyberPHA - OT Risk management With John Cusimano

CyberPHA - OT Risk management With John Cusimano

The ISA 99 standards body is one of the most recognized authorities on cyber physical security covering many aspects of a cyber security management system for industrial control systems including risk management. This episode features John Cusimano, former chairman of the ISA subcommittee responsible for authoring the risk management portion of the standard 62443-3-2:2020 Mr. Cusimano takes us back to the origins of the OT specific risk assessment process, originally dubbed CyberPHA, we also explore how the methodology can be managed and percieved at different levels of the organization as well as how this approach can safely carry organizations into a future that includes cloud computing.John is currently the Vice President for Operational Technology Security at Armexa, more than 30 years experience in OT and one of the early thought leaders in this unique areas of cyber security and risk management.

Science, Crime and Workforce Development with Dr. Martin Gill

Science, Crime and Workforce Development with Dr. Martin Gill

Security and crime are often in close proximity but not always studied together. This month's episode features Martin Gill a criminologist who made the study of crime and security his life's work. After a decade as a lecturing professor at the University of Leichester, Mr. Gill started Perpetuity Research in 2002 and continues to provide very high quality research, both qualitiative and quantitiative, on what works -- and more importantly what does not -- on many different areas of the security field. In addition to leading the annual Security Research Initiative reports, Martin Gill is also the a contributing author and editor of many criminology and security textbooks including "The Handbook of Security" -- now in it's third edition.

ESRM a Decade In and The Emergent Threat Landscape

ESRM a Decade In and The Emergent Threat Landscape

Post GSX conference, which included an in-depth review of ESRM and an interview with former U.S. president George W Bush, this episode considers how enterprise security risk management has stood the test of time as well as how risk analysis will need to evolve . Financial receptors can be found in almost every organizational risk matrix but how do those decisions change with modern ransomware attacks? How does a threat intelligence program contribute to organizational defense and resilience?

Business Enablement using Converged Risk Management with Michael Lashlee

Business Enablement using Converged Risk Management with Michael Lashlee

The convergence buzzword has come and gone and some organizations have struggled to reap the benefits of physical and cyber security departments working in tandem toward common goals. Michael Lashlee, deputy Chief Security Officer at Mastercard, shares security insights from the US Marines, secret service and financial services tech giant Mastercard, illustrating how principles from very different missions overlap surprisingly often. Mr. Lashlee also discusses how technology supports the physical, intelligence and fraud specialists working to keep Mastercard customers client data safe as well as steps they are taking to resolve the cyber skills talent shortage.

Interpreting Risk within a Regulatory Context with Terry Freestone

Interpreting Risk within a Regulatory Context with Terry Freestone

Calgary was an ICS cyber hub before most knew such measures were necessary, Terry Freestone was one of the ICT specialists from those early days who now applies his decades of hard-won knowledge in the offices of the Canadian Energy Regulator. Speaking as a private citizen and cyber security expert rather than a government representative, Terry and the Caffeinated Risk team explore risk management from the energy producer's perspective and his four point strategy for risk mitigation prioritization that works for any size staff or budget.

2023 Summer Show

2023 Summer Show

Keeping up the accidental annual tradition Tim and Doug take a retrospective look at risk management as a mid-year pulse. The 10th annual Cyberthreat Defense report forms the underlying theme but digging under the statistics to analyze how these might pertain to ESRM. Communication also popped up as a topic, and Tim shares some lessons learned from the field as well as a professional development resource.

ESRM and Data Science with Rachelle Loyear

ESRM and Data Science with Rachelle Loyear

One of the original authors of the ESRM framework, now in it's tenth year, and Caffeinated Risk's first guest returns to discuss how data science is changing security and risk management. While alchemy may be a bit of a stretch, Ms. Loyear ongoing focus of including human behaviour in the risk equation is leading to the development of data science based detection capabilities that would have appeared magical even 5-10 years ago. Rachelle Loyear is the Vice President of Integrated Security Solutions for Allied Universal and co-author of The Manager's Guide to Enterprise Security Risk Management.

Attack Tree Calibration with Terry Ingoldsby

Attack Tree Calibration with Terry Ingoldsby

Threat modeling expert and inventor of one of the world's first attack tree modeling products talks about how to integrate subject matter expertise into the risk equation, the answer may be surprising.Bonus content not included in the original interview with Terry which dove deep into the history of attack trees, modern applications and exploring why there is no AI magic when it comes to identifying events that could end your organization. Well worth a listen if you missed it.

FAIR and ESRM, exploring common ground with Jack Freund

FAIR and ESRM, exploring common ground with Jack Freund

Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) and Enterprise Security Risk Management (ESRM) took different evolutionary paths yet share a lot more commonality than catchy 4 letter acronyms and mainstream adoption by notable organizations like NIST, The Open Group and ASIS international. Jack Freund personifies the term "risk management thought leader" with professional qualifications and public recognitions too long to list, but co-author of Measuring and Managing Information Risk can't go unmentioned since industry peers inducted this seminal title into the Cybersecurity Cannon. With risk management discussions ranging from banking to defeating door locks, Dr. Freund was consistently insightful, humorous, and a delightful guest.

Cyber-Physical Convergence Revisited

Cyber-Physical Convergence Revisited

In addition to hybrid work and regular time in the office being the new normal, 2023 marks the year Caffeinated Risk's co-host Tim McCreight serves as the president of ASIS international. ASIS has long been a proponent of both physical and cyber security professionalism and one of the first organizations to explore and embrace Enterprise Security Risk Management (ESRM) as an integral element of security.Scholarly articles on cyber-physical security convergence started appearing in the late 1990s, more than 25 years later the convergence buzz has ebbed and flowed but silo's remain. In this episode Tim shares his insights from the past 40 years, the benefits to a converged approach as well as some of the paths toward success.

ESRM Enablement via Location Intelligence with Alex Martonik

ESRM Enablement via Location Intelligence with Alex Martonik

Realtors have long advocated "location, location, location" as a path to investment success. Fast forwarding a few generations, location intelligence applied to risk management is paying dividends well beyond real-estate and Esri is a world leader in this fascinating application of geo-spatial information. Esri business solutions leader Alex Martonik shares examples of businesses making improvements to resilience and the bottom line by combining GIS, financial, technological and political data into risk calculations. Mr. Martonik also shares Esri's approach to "democratizing risk insights", helping solve the all to common problem of procuring buy-in.

Privacy & Toxic Data with Michelle Finneran Dennedy

Privacy & Toxic Data with Michelle Finneran Dennedy

A great discussion point that didn't make it to air from the original 2021. Not all data is of equal value to the organization and the viable shelf life is seldom tracked or even discussed. This espresso shot takes a humorous look at a serious question about privacy considerations during the development cycle and check out the original full episode with privacy thought leader Michelle Finneran Dennedy.