250310 Cyber Roundtable for SMEs with STAR Refrigeration

Cyber Security Roundtable: Security Quality (lunch and learn)

The session will examine our experience with the Conti Ransomware Incident, to share our recovery story, reflect on the critical lessons learned and the improvements we have since implemented.

Ransomware remains a persistent threat, and despite having controls in place at the time, our experience underscored a vital truth: security quality is not just about the presence of controls but about how well they are configured and maintained. Our incident review revealed that while we had robust tools at the time, we had, at times, missed some of the basics. This exposed vulnerabilities and demonstrated the need to shift our focus from merely having controls to ensuring those controls are effectively aligned with our security strategy.

The discussion will explore:
• An Incident Review: What happened, our immediate response, and the steps we took to recover.
• Security Quality: How treating the cause of the incident, rather than just the symptoms, led us to refine (and continue to refine) our security configurations and processes.
• Continuous Improvement: Our journey towards embedding security quality into our culture, ensuring we address root causes and adapt to evolving threats.

We also face ongoing challenges:
• The pace of change in technology, especially in cloud environments.
• Balancing the breadth of security controls with the need for simplicity and effectiveness.
• Training staff to recognise and respond to threats appropriately.
• Making incident response (IR) relevant to busy (non-technical) managers and ensuring our security approach is practical, effective, and forward-looking.

We are keen to hear your insights. How do you manage security quality within your organisations? What strategies or practices have worked well for you? And where do you see opportunities for improvement, particularly when it comes to aligning security configuration with quality over sheer quantity of controls?

I hope the session will allow attendees to exchange ideas, challenge each other’s thinking, and hopefully leave with new perspectives and practical approaches to enhance our security posture.

Please get in touch with m.ronnie@ceed-scotland.com if you are interested in getting involved.