EXPERT SPEAK of technical steps to a contractual reestablishment of critical services .
Four types of considerations underpin these plans .
Prioritised recovery
A very delicate ranking that can only be established through a regular exchange between the board and the operations team . The board ’ s sign-off is crucial here . Otherwise , who would ever qualify their own activity as noncritical ? However difficult to establish , this ranking is truly a fascinating exercise that brings the CISO and team to the heart of the business .
Defending strategies
Assessing the right combination of products , services , staffing , and processes is crucial . Less is more in this matter . After years of accumulation , cyber officers have realised the hard way that a maelstrom of products and vendors was not very efficient . The next era of security will happen via convergence , not addition .
Offer options
This is about providing information and an array of solutions in which , ultimately , the board makes the call . It is part of the CISO ’ s job to offer scenarios as a series of documented steps : investment 1 , timeline 1 , benefits 1 , and risk 1 . Then , the CISO can suggest a second and a third sequence of the above .
Choosing how to proceed is the board ’ s job . This way , the CISO becomes an empowered execution lever for a consensual decision instead of being pinpointed as the only one to blame for the results .
Executive leadership
The CISO needs to report directly to the CEO , otherwise the job is a widow maker . The consequences of unclear or diluted support go beyond the discomfort of the position ; the survival of the company is at stake . In 2024 and beyond , submitting cybersecurity to any other consideration than the company strategy is a major governance mistake . Like the Titanic shipbuilders who traded rescue boats for rooms on the sundeck .
Cybersecurity is not only about avoiding icebergs . It is a holistic approach that embraces all the active and passive security dimensions into one integrated platform . Holistic here does not mean monopolistic . Legacy , old-school , best-of-breed , and point solutions are facts of life .
Window Servers are not the appropriate place to host DNS , DHCP
The global outage of Windows computers caused by a bug in CrowdStrike software underscores a lesson we should all take to heart : You should not run critical network services , such as DNS and DHCP on Windows Servers .
Most organisations spend millions creating robust network infrastructure that prevents any single networking device ’ s failure from impacting operations . However , the operations of all network devices are dependent on critical network services , such as DNS and DHCP .
Window Servers are not the appropriate place to host network services . Windows Servers should be focused on their critical role supporting identity , Active Directory services . Windows Servers are a frequent source of
However , the number of technologies , vendors , processes , and the magnitude of digital transformations call for simplification . Too often , this maelstrom turns into major incidents that operate as wake-up calls . Then the question is not about the 1 million dollars we did not spend , but about the 100 million dollars we just lost . •
Cricket Liu , Chief DNS Architect , Infoblox vulnerabilities , resulting in constant patching . Their vulnerability makes them a favourite target of attackers .
Running critical network services on Windows Servers increases the likelihood of a failure of DNS and DHCP , and such a failure can disable the rest of the infrastructure . Infoblox recommends organisations run DNS and DHCP on infrastructure separate from Windows infrastructure and not subject to its vulnerabilities .
Dedicated DNS and DHCP servers , running on operating systems other than Windows and hardened against attack , are the best defence against an outage like this occurring again .
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