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Research & Education Networks Information Sharing & Analysis Center Indiana University

REN-ISAC to join March 9 University of California & FBI Panel at Cyber Security Virtual Symposium

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Kim Milford (Executive Director of the REN-ISAC), Don Welch (Vice President of IT for New York University), Brett Yager (Special Agent with the FBI), and Rachel Nava (University of California Executive Vice President and COO) will join a virtual panel discussion on leadership’s role in the success of a higher education cyber security program on March 9, 2022. The panel will discuss how an effective cyber security program in higher education requires the support and engagement of senior leadership in oversight and decision-making.

The University of California, Office of Ethics, Compliance, and Audit Services, in collaboration with the FBI, is hosting a panel discussion to address how leaders can effectively engage on cyber issues and give participants tools to help ensure the success of their own cyber security programs.

 

 

Resolve to Get Big Discounts on SANS Cybersecurity Training.

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Available to accredited educational institutions in the US & Canada—including colleges, universities, technical training institutes, and K-12.

SANS Institute, a recognized leader in cybersecurity training, knows that educational institutions have a clear impact on national security. At the same time, budget constraints limit access to necessary training. That’s why SANS has created a special aggregate buy program in partnership with the Research and Education Networks Information Sharing and Analysis Center (REN-ISAC) to help qualified institutions get the training needed to improve their security posture.

This program provides deeply discounted training to constituencies so they can purchase more affordable training, during what’s called the “Winter Aggregate Buy,” and use it to train staff and faculty, throughout the upcoming year.

From December 1st-January 31st, SANS is offering Technical and Security Awareness Training at highly discounted prices. Order training through this special purchase program and save more than 50%.

Learn more by visiting: https://bit.ly/3D3FwxB

 

Discounted Cybersecurity Training through SANS/REN-ISAC Partnership through January 31, 2022

Posted on by ctconron

SANS Institute, a recognized leader in cybersecurity training, knows that educational institutions have a clear impact on national security. At the same time, budget constraints limit access to necessary training. That’s why SANS has created a special aggregate buy program in partnership with the Research and Education Networks Information Sharing and Analysis Center (REN-ISAC) to help qualified institutions get the training needed to improve their security posture.

This program provides deeply discounted training to constituencies so they can purchase more affordable training, during what’s called the “Winter Aggregate Buy,” and use it to train staff and faculty, throughout the upcoming year.

From December 1st-January 31st, SANS is offering Technical and Security Awareness Training at highly discounted prices. Order training through this special purchase program and save more than 50%.

Learn more at: https://bit.ly/3D3FwxB

 

November 30: SANS/REN-ISAC Webcast on Discounted Winter Training

Posted on by ctconron

Educational institutions have a clear impact on national security. Unfortunately, budget constraints can limit access to necessary cybersecurity training. That’s why SANS has created a special “Aggregate Buy Program” in partnership with the Research and Education Networks Information Sharing and Analysis Center (REN-ISAC). SANS helps qualified institutions get the training needed to improve their security posture.
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National Council of ISACs Provides Congressional Update

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The National Council of ISACs (NCI), with planning and support provided by council member, the REN-ISAC, hosted a Congressional briefing on Thursday, September 23 at 1:00pm ET to highlight the critical role that Information Sharing and Analysis Centers play in national cybersecurity protection. The briefing covered how the 27 members of NCI support national areas of critical infrastructure and how Congress can help them be even more successful.

Congressman John Katko, (R – New York’s 24th District), began the briefing by urging Congress to continue to foster the public / private collaboration of ISACs. “I firmly believe ISACs play a key role in defending critical infrastructure, the Federal Government, and private and public sector networks.” Katko called ISACs a “cornerstone for our nation’s multipronged approach to sharing information on cyber and physical security threats.”

Denise Anderson, NCI Chair and President and CEO of Health-ISAC, reiterated the valuable role of the ISACs, “We have a strong reach into our sectors. If an incident happens, we can quickly share information as well as assess any impact to owners and operators.”

NCI, formed in 2003, is a cross-sector partnership, providing a forum for sharing cyber and physical threats and mitigation strategies among the various critical infrastructure ISACs. The ISAC threat sharing model – based in the private sector and collaborating with government and law enforcement – helps shield American enterprises from threat actors.

During the update, Congress learned ISACs continue to closely monitor the increase of ransomware on the current threat landscape, and NCI recently published Statement on Ransomware, a multi-ISAC collaboration outlining security best practices enterprises can use.

Expounding on various methods of sharing, Erin Miller, Executive Director of Space ISAC, described 13 different communities of interest where companies in her sector share between one another around specific topics, such as the Supply Chain Risk Management working group. Miller explained how the newer Space-ISAC sought out collaboration opportunities with other ISACs. “We ran an extremely successful Value of Space Summit with FS-ISAC, Maritime Transportation System ISAC, and Communications ISAC, around how they could assist Space ISAC if the Space system went down.”

The Research & Education Networks Information Sharing & Analysis (REN-ISAC) played a key role in the planning and execution of the event. “We are proud to have been a contributor to this important update to Congress on the vital role that ISACs play across the national cybersecurity landscape,” noted Charles Conner-Rondot, Chief of Engagement for the REN-ISAC. “The alliances represented by the ISACs are far-reaching and critical in protecting the entire nation from cyber threats.”

 

 

Blended Threat Workshop Series Final Findings Report Published

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For the third year, the REN-ISAC’s Blended Threat Workshop Series provided an opportunity for incident response professionals to confront a complex threat. The 2021 scenario focused on an on-campus ransomware attack that interrupted both IT systems and physical facilities.

To pass on what we learned, we are releasing the 2021 REN-ISAC Blended Threat Workshop Series Final Findings Report. Because of the unique enterprise approach to risk management, this report gives readers access to expert knowledge from a variety of functional offices and a broad selection of institutions in Australia, Canada, and the U.S.

The full report contains practical insight into the modern threat landscape from the diverse, expert knowledge of workshop participants. You will find:

  • A full explanation and lesson plan for this year’s workshop series
  • A list of best practices, areas of improvement, and challenges that arose from real-world experiences
  • Actionable suggestions for improving your institution’s security posture

In addition to the full report, we also created the Final Findings Brief, a two-page document highlighting the strongest best practices discovered during the 2021 series.

These documents are TLP: WHITE so feel free to share them with all members of your organization.

If you have any questions about this document or about the Blended Threat Workshop Series, visit the workshop webpage.

 

Virtual Event | How Colleges Can Bolster Their Cybersecurity

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Upcoming: Thursday, August 26 at 2 p.m., ET

The Chronicle of Higher Education will host a virtual panel discussion addressing recent cyberattacks making national headlines. As colleges explore a future with remote work and learning likely to be permanent fixtures, what can all administrators — not just CIOs and technologists — do to bolster cybersecurity?REN-ISAC Executive Director and expert, Kim Milford, will join the panel in addressing this and other questions including:

  • How have data breaches been able to occur in the past, and how are colleges acting to avoid them in the future?
  • What emerging practices should institutions be aware of?
  • What new strategies can colleges employ to protect and secure their vast amounts of data?

Register online.

 

 

We’re Hiring! Want to be a Lead Security Software Engineer?

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If you dream of being a lead security software engineer working to protect higher education from nefarious forces, this job is for you. You can apply online. The (fairly dry) details are below.

Job Summary

  • Designs, develops, and implements more complicated information security software and systems to address security exposures and potential threats; evaluates, recommends, and implements vended security software.
  • Responds to incidents of information security breaches and participates on emergency response teams.
  • Develops and implements solutions to address more complicated information security vulnerabilities and threats; partners with information security analysts to ensure exposures and risks are avoided and/or addressed.
  • Documents solutions, including current intrusion methods and protections.
  • Provides an advanced level of information security technical and practical consulting; makes recommendations on appropriate strategic security actions; performs digital forensic investigations as appropriate.
  • Researches and stays abreast of current higher education information security environment and trends; stays up-to-date on information security engineering best practices, tools, and approaches; disseminates information to team members and junior peers to promote best practices as appropriate.
  • Acts as point of escalation for response to information security incidents; may provide leadership for information security emergency response teams and/or for other information security projects.
  • Often provides guidance and support to junior peers.
  • Collaborates and participates in committees to share and improve information security practices across the university.

Specific departmental duties:

  • Designs, develops, and maintains front-end member-facing UIs for REN-ISAC security services. Collaborates with other technical operations staff on continuous improvement of existing security services and UIs. Maintains documentation for security services and coding projects.
  • Participate in the scoping, design, development, deployment, and maintenance of new security services for REN-ISAC members including UI and infrastructure.
  • Works within a rotation with other technical operations staff to respond to security operations center (SOC) inquiries, issues, and notifications.
  • Interacts with various national and international entities (network operations centers, computer emergency/incident response teams, etc.) to service development, implementation, and information sharing activities.
  • Represents the REN-ISAC at a variety of national and international forums concerned with security and research networking.

Hosted at Indiana University, the Research and Educational Networks Information Sharing and Analysis Center (REN-ISAC) is an integral part of the United States and research and education’s strategy to improve security through proactive mitigation, information collection, analysis, dissemination, and response. The REN-ISAC services and products are specifically designed to support the unique environment and needs of higher education and research institutions while bolstering the protection of the national cyberinfrastructure in partnership with ISACs from other critical infrastructure sectors.

 

 

Ransomware Meets Its Foe: Cooperation

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The Research & Education Networks Information Sharing & Analysis Center (REN-ISAC) was founded on the idea that the cybersecurity community is stronger together, and as the threat of ransomware has grown, so has our dedication to combatting current threats with collaboration and cooperation. Our Blended Threat Workshops continue that tradition by bringing together cybersecurity professionals in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and our cybersecurity allies across the US to examine the current state of ransomware preparedness in higher education. Thanks to this year’s participants, we were able to compile a short Ransomware Best Practices (TLP:WHITE) document that contains top access vectors, mitigation techniques, and practical prevention and response strategies.

In early June, we held our last workshop for 2021, and we are currently working on the final report. That report will focus on the sharp insights and best practices uncovered during the entirety of the series. Be on the lookout for the full report coming in early fall. You can view the results of previous years’ workshops.

In addition, REN-ISAC and the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research (CACR) at Indiana University created “Briefing: Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity (TLP:WHITE),” which provides an overview of the actions listed in President Biden’s executive order on information security and higher education’s role in shaping those actions.

 

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