How to Identify Cybersecurity Risk in Your Organization

How do you begin identifying security risk in your organization?

We like to think the rainbow—the risk rainbow 🌈

Here's how it works:

🎯 Every business has a Mission Critical Asset at its core that needs protecting! That could mean your design elements, financial data, sensitive employee or client information—or even CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information).

🧐 Looking at the rainbow here, we can see the many ways that the door can be opened to this Mission Critical Asset—these are where the potential security vulnerabilities exist. From physical doors 🚪 to network breaches, to compromised endpoint devices—and especially the outermost layer of HUMANS.

🔐 Now, work to secure the layers with the most risk(like the humans!)

Remember, you will never prevent cybersecurity threats completely, but by maintaining secure layers you'll be able to stop a threat actor in their tracks 😉

Here's a short video from our CEO that goes a bit more in-depth:

Our president and CEO, John Sinopoli, was recently a speaker at the MITRE Advanced Manufacturing event. The event provided information and resources for small to medium sized manufacturers in the Massachusetts area, and John's presentation, "Cyber Security Assessments for Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers", was meant to raise awareness about the cybersecurity risks within many organizations.

Watch the full video to learn more about our rainbow layers approach to understanding cybersecurity risk opportunities, and how you can use this approach to better secure your business.

Want to take it to the next level?

Contact us to begin a cybersecurity assessment for your organization—we'll lay out an achievable plan and strategy to set you on the path to CMMC compliance, or just better cyber hygiene. ✆ ℡ 413.650.5230

Synagex Reviews Cybersecurity in New Recorded Webinar with CCAT

Discover preventive measures that you can take today to protect you and your organization

John and Pete recently had the opportunity to join forces with the cybersecurity team at CCAT, the Connecticut Advanced Center for Advanced Technology, for an Advanced Training Webinar—a recording is now available for viewing at any time!

VIEW THE WEBINAR NOW

The team reviewed real-life examples of cybersecurity threats, as well as preventative cybersecurity measures for individuals and businesses, including methods and best practices to guard sensitive information from being stolen, compromised, or attacked.

Lessons include:

• The steps can you take to protect your organization and ensure compliance.

• Case studies and vulnerability updates.

• An overview of operational technology for industry 4.0 manufacturing.

• In depth explanation of flat vs segmented network topology.

• Discussion of Zero Trust Framework and why it's such a hot topic!

The webinar is suitable for small manufacturers, small businesses, or even individuals seeking to learn how to protect themselves online. Fill out CCAT's simple registration form and enjoy the free recording at any time here.

Synagex Presenting on CMMC and Cybersecurity at MITRE's Advanced Manufacturing Event

Get the recap of John's cybersecurity advice from MITRE's recent event!

Our president and CEO, John Sinopoli, recently attended and presented at the MITRE Advanced Manufacturing (AM) Trust Showcase event at the UMass Lowell Innovation Hub in Haverhill, MA. If you weren't able to attend, you're in luck! We have a full recap—plus a video of John's presentation, including valuable advice on CMMC and cybersecurity.

An overview:

• How Synagex became a compliance resource for manufacturers

• A real-world example of the importance of CMMC

• Taking a layers approach to cybersecurity and risk

• A fun analogy to explain cybersecurity risk

• Why partner relationship is key

Please enjoy our recap of the informative presentation, and feel free to reach out to the Synagex team for more information!

How did we get here?

Our story on becoming an expert resource for cybersecurity and compliance in the manufacturing industry.

When John started Synagex 6 years ago, he didn't imagine he would be working so closely with manufacturers. In fact, he imagined his clientele to be mostly in banking, considering his background working with IT in the banking industry.

Working in IT in banking presented a lot of focus on compliance, which has given Synagex an advantage in understanding industry standards that need to be met in order to continue doing business and keep growing. With audits and regulations being nothing new for John and the Synagex team, it was an easy transition to begin applying similar compliance plans and strategies to the manufacturing industry, where we saw a growing need for CMMC support.

Why is CMMC so important?

Our real-world example comparing two military jets should help explain why.

CMMC is essential to keep controlled unclassified information secure. For example, any parts that are designed or manufactured by the Department of Defense could be at serious risk of being stolen or copied—even by other countries. A famous example of this phenomena is comparing an American-made F-35 jet to a Chinese J-31 jet, which both feature strikingly similar design builds. Cybersecurity issues are speculated to have caused this copycat design.

Cybersecurity is about layers.

There's a lot of ways to talk about cybersecurity. We like to focus on risk—in layers.

Every business has a mission critical asset to protect, whether you are working for the DoD supply chain, a manufacturing organization or otherwise, and you need layers of protection to not only defend against risk, but also to contain and quarantine any threat that might get inside any part of your fortressed system.

We also want to think about layers of a company that can present risk, like you see in this risk rainbow illustration. Surrounding the mission critical assets, we have layers of risk beginning with physical access, and all the way out to humans on outermost layer—presenting the area with the most vulnerability.

An analogy of security layers with cars!

Consider the layers of protection for a family inside a 1970's Chevy vs. an autonomous vehicle.

We want to take our risk mentality and apply it when thinking about the possible risk layers that a car can present when it comes to getting the family inside from A to B. To follow this analogy, we can think of a 1970's Chevy as a flat network topology, with far less risks than say, an autonomous vehicle. Both have tires, mechanical pieces, etc. that could potentially have an issue, causing risk to our goal.

An autonomous vehicle, however, (relative to new industry operational technology) has exponentially more layers of risk. To name a few, there's GPS, cameras and sensors, and computers all powering the operation of the vehicle. These layers all need our attention to be sure they don't threaten our mission critical assets and goals!

Relationship is key.

When partnering with a cybersecurity service, a strong relationship will help you reach your goals.

Our clients often want to cut to the chase and arrive at their end goal as fast as possible—whether that's a compliance goal or otherwise. However, when talking about cybersecurity risk, the strategy and path to compliance can be so unique and personal to every individual business.

Technology alone won't solve the cybersecurity problem. While there is no one-box solution, Synagex tries to simplify the process into a package of people, process, tools, coaching and consulting. We believe the key is building a partner relationship with someone who understands your business needs and goals in order to achieve an effective and on-going result that is affordable attainable for your business.