A closer look at recent chaotic events surrounding the DDoS attacks on Dyn DNS reveals some frightening things about our rapidly growing dependence on the Internet. A recent NY Times article does a great job of explicating the events in layman’s terms, including the warning, “And the threats will continue long after Election Day for a nation that increasingly keeps its data in the cloud and has oftentimes kept its head in the sand.”

But that genie is long out of the bottle, right? As we build and grow the digital universe, including the Internet of Things that enhance, facilitate, or even regulate our every action from the ether, we often hesitate to interrupt the flow. Data — and our dependence on it — evolves at a blistering pace, unlike the infrastructure we count on to curate and process it. We hold on to equipment, people, and protocols forever, like luggage. What we don’t do is allocate time and resources to make sure we stay near the leading edge of the security infrastructure landscape. We close our eyes and cross our fingers.

That Dog’ll Bite You

Complacence is unwelcome at your organization’s table, but it is especially dangerous for IT and cybersecurity. Complacence increases vulnerability by making infrastructure more predictable to those working patiently in the ether to ruin your day. Complacence increases the chances of spear-phishing and other APTs. It may be sleeping right now, but that dog will bite you.

Your cybersecurity infrastructure is important to you. Let ICS use penetration testing and vulnerability assessment to show you how important it is to us.