[0:39] The dust has finally settled after Frankly MSP Live in Santa Barbara a couple of weeks ago and wow…. If you missed it, you may have heard the chatter from the folks who were there about what an experience it was. The feedback we’ve had has been nothing short of phenomenal.
We heard things like “best content-focused event I’ve ever been to” and “blown away by the people here” and “you knocked it out of the park.” Perhaps one of my favorite comments was “Frankly MSP Live? Let’s be real, the hashtag should be #FranklyMSPLove.” We just might have to steal that one. 🙂 (Shout out to Jordan Silva.)
[01:13] For those of you who were there, you know what I’m talking about, and I appreciate you! I was so thrilled to meet many of you in person and to hear your feedback about how the podcast has helped you in your MSP business. Because that’s what it’s all about.
By the way, if you have a minute, I’d really love if you could share some of your Frankly MSP feedback in a review on iTunes. If you do that, send me an email at [email protected] to let me know and I’ll mail you an awesome Frankly MSP t-shirt.
[01:46] Let’s dig into our topic for today: Trend Micro’s predictions for the major cybersecurity trends you and your clients will be grappling with this year. My guest is Trend Micro’s Director of Global Threat Communication, Jon Clay and we’re going to be picking out some of the highlights of their new report, called The New Normal.
The Biggest Cybersecurity Threats for MSPs in 2020: Interview With Jon Clay
[02:50] Patching might seem mundane but threat actors always go back to what works and what has worked in the past and will continue to work in the future is targeting unsecured systems.
[03:29] Zero-day exploits are relatively rare. Most of the time the threat actors are going to take a standard vulnerability that was patched last year or the year before and use those in their attacks so patch management is still critical.
[03:59] A lot of organizations use older operating systems that don’t have patches available.
[05:11] Virtual patching allows you to use an intrusion protection system (IPS) that can block exploits from running on your devices. This can give you more time to test the patches deployed by the vendors.
[06:10] Virtual patches can also help protect older operating systems where a patch isn’t available.
[07:22] Intrusion protection systems have been around for several years and should be part of everybody’s protection strategy.
[07:48] Ransomware is a threat that keeps on coming. MSPs have been targeted because by compromising an MSP’s architecture or infrastructure, threat actors can deploy the ransomware to all of the MSP’s customers. This makes it a one-to-many versus one-to-one process.
[08:55] Ransomware actors are adopting a nation-state model where one group goes in and compromises a network, then sells access to other ransomware actors.
[09:39] Deep fakes use AI to build a voice recording or even a video of a person that makes it look and sound like them, but it’s not actually them.
[10:54] We’ve seen deep fakes where voice-enabled instructions have come into an organization asking them to wire money. We will probably see voice only, initially, as opposed to video.
[12:19] There’s an easy solution to these issues, and its two-factor verification. It adds a little time to each request, but it allows you to verify the authenticity of requests that come in, no matter which way they come in.
[13:00] MSPs need to educate their customers that this could happen. Not everything they see and hear will be legitimate.
[13:41] It’s easier to blend into a large organization as opposed to a small organization. Public companies could see deep fakes of their CEO talking about things that would affect the stock.
[14:33] We’ve seen the use of cameras and microphones in mobile devices used to spy remotely. A smart TV is a similar medium because it has a camera and a microphone.
Everything is a computer, and threat actors have the ability to compromise these devices.
[15:20] Trend Micro has a product called Smart Home Network, and they see threats going into homes regularly and what devices are being compromised. Smart TVs, cameras, DVRs, and printers are common targets.
[16:10] A forever-day is a device with a known vulnerability, but it’s not ever going to be patched because it’s an old device or an IoT device. IoT is going to introduce a whole new realm of challenges as an industry.
[17:05] A network IPS can monitor the traffic and identify an exploit coming through the network. IoT devices aren’t going to be able to support a security agent. You have to build a wall around the network traffic.
[18:15] There’s going to be more legislation and public and private requirements for security on IoT devices. We need manufacturers to start thinking about security for the entire lifetime of the device.
[19:33] Malicious actors are going to go after low-hanging fruit. They will target people in their homes to go after their business. It’s easier to compromise a home network than a corporate network.
[21:05] In the future, we’ll likely see improved security on the pipe between the home and corporate network.
[22:00] Bad actors are going to continue to target organizations and businesses and MSPs. We’re going to see more and more cybercriminals coming from different parts of the world. We have to be vigilant about security and look at our security controls. We need to have the mentality that we are probably already breached and we need to go and close that breach.
Links from this episode
- Frankly MSP Live Polar Plunge (video)
- Frankly MSP Live (recap video)
- The New Norm: Trend Micro Security Predictions for 2020 (report)
- Trend Micro Security Analysis & Intelligence
- Trend Micro Simply Security blog
- Jon Clay on LinkedIn
Listen here
Like what you hear? Listen and subscribe.
