2022 Cybersecurity Recap and Trends: What Resonated Most with Security Leaders?

As another year comes to an end, one of the things we like to do is reflect on what content and topics had an impact with our readers in 2022 – and will continue to do so in 2023.

With this in mind, here’s a list of our most read blogs of 2022. These are the topics that most interested and resonated with security, risk, and business leaders as they seek to understand and manage cyber risk.  

1. 7 Cybersecurity Frameworks that Help Reduce Cyber Risk

While security controls and practices are critical to maintaining the cyber health of your organization, you also need to show that you’re adhering to industry and regulatory standards. A cybersecurity framework can help.

Cybersecurity frameworks provide a common language and set of standards. They help security leaders in any industry define the processes and procedures they must take to assess, monitor, and mitigate cybersecurity risk internally and across the supply chain.

There are many frameworks – including NIST, ISO, SOC2, GDPR, and NERC-CIP – that can help guide this process. If you’re interested in exploring which framework is right for you, this blog is a useful point of reference.

2. Cybersecurity vs. Information Security: Is There a Difference?

Although often discussed in the same breath, cybersecurity and information security are quite distinct concepts. Understanding the differences and using the right tools to ensure you are addressing both can significantly lower your risk profile.

In this blog we cover the key principles of cybersecurity and information security. We also look at how the roles  of CISOs and security managers are evolving to cover both, and how they can be effective in doing so.

3. 9 Critical Responsibilities of an IT Security Manager

Although published months apart, this blog is a natural follow-on to our #2 blog. It answers the question “What does an IT security manager do?”

In the past, the answer was straightforward. An IT security manager or cybersecurity manager served as an organization’s expert on cybersecurity protection, detection, response, and recovery. Although, these responsibilities vary based on the size of the team and the industry.

If you’re an IT security manager or looking to hire one, this blog explains the nine key responsibilities of this role and why it’s critical that each is tested and communicated across the organization.

4. A Vendor Risk Management Questionnaire Template

Driven by digital transformation and the shift to the cloud, organizations are onboarding new vendors at warp speed. But 79% of these companies are adopting technologies faster than they can address related security issues.

To prevent cyber risk from entering your supply chain, it’s important that you ask your vendors the right questions. To this end, we developed a set of questions you should include in your vendor risk management questionnaire as well as insight into why risk assessments need to go beyond simple checklists.

5. 5 Risks of Outdated Software & Operating Systems

Over the years, Bitsight researchers have consistently proven a direct link between successful cyberattacks and outdated software. For instance, delaying important software updates makes your organization highly vulnerable to ransomware. Third-party vendors who fail to keep their systems up-to-date could also expose your data to risk.

This evergreen post illustrates these risks and explains how a continuous monitoring strategy can help you discover and quickly remediate outdated software – internally and across your supply chain.

Takeaways: Where to Focus Your Security Efforts in 2023

As we head into the new year, what are the common threads in these top-performing posts? A few things strike us as important as you plan your cybersecurity strategy for 2023:

• Security leaders continue to seek information on industry best practices, whether in the form of guideposts such as cybersecurity frameworks, the evolving role of the security team, and how best to manage risk in their expanding digital ecosystems.
• Reducing the attack surface and remediating risk exposure – such as unpatched systems – is top of mind.
• Third-party risk management is a big focus. More attacks come through a partner or vendor than any other source. Mitigating that risk in 2023 is a priority for everyone from the SOC to the boardroom.
• Manual risk management processes make it nearly impossible to scale security programs and keep pace with the expanding attack surface and evolving threats.

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