Threat modeling is a practice in information security that involves identifying and evaluating threats and possible attack vectors during the design phase. This makes it possible to address the identified threats appropriately and at an early stage. This is particularly relevant for risk management, as decisions regarding risk acceptance or mitigation can be made on the basis of the risk assessment from the threat model.

In addition, the European Cyber Resilience Act and the IEC 62443 series of standards stipulate that a cybersecurity risk assessment or threat modeling must be carried out for products, software and hardware. In the course of threat modeling, the components of a product, the data flows between these components and external influences are evaluated with regard to potential risks. By carrying out this project step early on in the product development life cycle, it is possible to make design decisions based on the results and to mitigate the identified threats as far as possible with the help of a secure design.

Interview about the preparation and legal aspects of cyber incidents read more...

The term OSINT stands for “Open Source Intelligence” and refers to the systematic systematic collection and analysis of freely available information. These These freely accessible sources of information include, for example databases, social media, (dark net/deep web) websites, online blogs, but of course offline content such as magazines, books or company flyers. company flyers.

The use of The use of publicly available sources to obtain information has a very long history and was already used over 100 years ago by secret services, security security organizations and resourceful entrepreneurs to gain an information advantage. information advantage.

In Zeiten von Naturkatastrophen, Cyberangriffen und anderen Krisen ist es für Unternehmen unerlässlich, sich auf diese Bedrohungen bestmöglich vorzubereiten.

Business Continuity Management (BCM) und Resilienz sind zwei wesentliche Aspekte, um Unternehmen und Organisationen vor unvorhersehbaren Ereignissen, dies kann alles von Naturkatastrophen bis hin zu Cyberangriffen, umfassen, zu schützen und im Ernstfall das Unternehmen schnell wieder handlungsfähig zu machen. Es geht dabei nicht nur darum, eine Krise zu überstehen, sondern vor allem auch gestärkt daraus hervorzugehen.

In cooperation with the University of Innsbruck CERTAINITY is conducting an online survey to investigate how well-prepared companies are for the introduction of the European Cyber Resilience Act.

Our target audience are organizations and stakeholders being responsible for product development and ongoing maintenance. If your organization develops, sells or imports networked hardware or software products within the EU, you are a perfect candidate to participate in our study.

We highly appreciate it, if you take 10 to 15 minutes to share your expertise and participate in our survey. We will ask questions concerning your organization, the current state of your secure development and product vulnerability management processes as well as your current documentation practices.

The importance of exercises in IT security

While the saying "No plan survives first contact with the enemy" is certainly true, this fact rarely leads to resignation and surrender. Rather, attempts are made to keep the delta between plan and reality as small as possible, even after fine contact, through constant practice and training. Transferred to the preparation for IT security incidents (incident readiness), this means regularly and thoroughly practicing emergency plans, backup-restore processes, and the like. One way to do this is by conducting IT security exercises.

Cyberangriffe gehören zu der weltweit am schnellsten wachsenden Form an Kriminalität. Ein guter Indikator für den aktuellen Zustand ist die Tatsache, dass laut Medienberichten die Versicherbarkeit von Unternehmen gegen Cyberangriffen deutlich schwerer geworden ist. Die Versicherer schrauben den erforderlichen Reifegrad an Sicherheit hoch. Und genau das wird die Ablöse der derzeit gängigen Self-Assessments durch qualifizierte Audits mit der Hinterlegung zwingend erforderlicher Evidenzen mit sich bringen.

Geschäftsführung ist in der Pflicht

Durch die Richtlinie (EU) 2022/2555 erfolgt eine wesentliche Erweiterung der betroffenen Unternehmen und deren Pflichten. Ab 2024 kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass in Österreich ca. 3.000 Unternehmen, unterteilt in 16 Sektoren, ab 50 Mitarbeitern und 10 Mio. EUR Umsatz, nachweislich Cybersecurity Maßnahmen umsetzen müssen. Die nationale Gesetzgebung wird die Überprüfung der Einhaltung der Mindeststandards übernehmen und in weiterer Folge Geschäftsführer von Betreibern kritischer Infrastrukturen in die Pflicht nehmen.

As a Cyber-Incident Response provider, we at CERTAINITY have to deal with Ransomware- and other cyberattacks that do have devastating effects on the affected organization. In this blog post, we outline the most important do’s and don’ts when dealing with Cyber-Incidents. Cyber incident response refers to the actions taken by an organization to manage and contain the impact of a cyberattack or data breach. Effective cyber incident response is crucial to minimizing the damage caused by a cyber incident and restoring normal operations as quickly as possible.

The final proposal of the European Cyber Resilience Act is publicly available since September 2022 and so are the results of the EU's impact assessment of the planned regulation. While the overall need for the European Cyber Resilience Act or a similarly targeted regulation is out of question so is the fact that it will impact enterprises throughout Europe in the market of digital product development and sales.

In this article we will offer a high-level analysis of the regulation itself, provide some clarification regarding its scope and the potential impact as well as immediate remediation steps enterprises can take to address the requirements. This article will mostly focus on issues relevant for digital product developers and manufacturers.

CERTAINITY offers all employees ample opportunities for professional and personal growth – during interesting customer projects and via dedicated trainings.

Michael Brunner decided to take this offer to expand his already profound security architecture knowledge and attended the SABSA foundation courses in October 2022. SABSA is a proven methodology for developing business-driven, risk and opportunity focused Security Architectures at both enterprise and solutions level that traceably support business objectives. Thereby, it is ensured that security services are designed, delivered, and supported as an integral part of IT management infrastructure and in accordance with business needs.