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Posted January 24, 2019
Roses are red, violets are blue, we love cybersecurity, how about you?
Whether you’ve got Valentine’s Day plans with your significant other or will be celebrating Singles Awareness Day with friends, we can all agree that this time of year we’re all really thinking about one thing: cybersecurity. Or maybe that’s just us at GreyCastle Security – we do cybersecurity all day, every day so it can be hard to tell. Regardless, one thing that we’re 100% sure about is that, in the same way you need to nurture romantic relationships, you need to nurture your cybersecurity program.
Are you in love with your cybersecurity program? If not, maybe it’s time for a little “couple’s therapy” to help you reconnect with cybersecurity best practices. Here are a few things we recommend:
The goal of any risk assessment will be to identify, prioritize, and measure your organization’s cybersecurity risk. The type of risk assessment your organization requires will depend upon your business strategy, industry, and regulatory requirements. The threat landscape is ever-evolving – and that’s what your cybersecurity program needs to be, too. By performing a risk assessment, you’ll learn the acceptable amount of risk to your business and how close you are to actually reaching that state. A risk assessment will help you identify the gaps in your security as well as how to close them. It will also allow you to focus on the critical areas rather than low-hanging fruit.
System weaknesses can be exploited by hackers to disrupt your business and expose sensitive information. You’ll want to find your vulnerabilities before hackers do. A vulnerability assessment is a comprehensive process for identifying, measuring, and ranking the security vulnerabilities in your business environment. It provides your organization with the knowledge and risk profile necessary to understand these threats to your business and react accordingly. Depending on the problem you’re trying to solve, the maturity of your cybersecurity controls and your regulatory requirements, we recommend pairing this with penetration testing.
Creating a culture of cybersecurity awareness within your organization won’t happen overnight. But have you heard the expression, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now”? The same goes for starting your awareness program. People are your greatest risk, but they don’t have to be. Your employees and coworkers are motivated by convenience, not cybersecurity best practices. Knowing this, you can build a cybersecurity awareness program that motivates them to change behaviors and reduce people risk. An aware and educated employee base means better data security organization-wide.
You will experience a cybersecurity incident. It’s not “if,” it’s “when.” Your organization needs strong policies, processes, and plans in place to respond to a cybersecurity incident in a timely manner. Having these elements as well as knowledge and preparation in place before you need them can mean the difference between a total loss and a successful outcome. Your incident response plan should include your process for responding to an incident as well as contact information for your legal team, forensics firms, insurance, and any other contacts you’ll need to reach ASAP. Once you have a plan in place, it’s time to test it. An incident response plan is no good to you if all it does is gather dust on a shelf. You need to be able to implement it quickly and efficiently when an incident occurs. Test your plan and train your team on your process.
Those are just a few things you can do to rekindle your relationship with your cybersecurity program. Need a little help making the first move? We love playing matchmaker – we promise we’ve got a Security Specialist that’s perfect for your business. Email us at intel@greycastlesecurity.com or call (518) 274-7233.
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800-403-8350Copyright © 2022 GreyCastle Security. All Rights Reserved
Ho Chin is Chief Financial Officer at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Ho leads Finance, HR, IT and Professional Development. As part of the executive leadership team, Ho works to establish the company’s overall strategy and ensure proper execution of the supporting initiatives pertaining to the above areas of responsibility.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Ho led finance and administrative functions at multiple private equity and venture-backed portfolio companies across multiple industries. Ho holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University in Centre County, Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Michael Stamas is an entrepreneur, board member, Vice President and a founder of GreyCastle Security. With more than two decades of experience in the technology sector, Mike pairs his management and business development skills with a deep understanding of cybersecurity. Mike brings a unique brand of risk-based advising to GreyCastle clients and prospects.
Mike holds certifications in numerous security and technology related areas, including the Department of Homeland Security and other security technologies like Symantec, Cisco and Microsoft.
Mike plays an active role in his community and serves as a board member and Vice President of InfraGard Albany as well as an advisory board position with the Capital Region YMCA.
Mike has been recognized for his numerous achievements through various honors including the Albany Business Review’s prestigious 40 Under 40 award.
Dan Kalil is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Chairman at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Dan provides vision, leadership and strategies that drive GreyCastle Security’s position as an industry leader. With an emphasis on customer success, Dan’s profitable growth model leverages a customer-centric business approach that balances employee wellbeing and social responsibility.
Prior to becoming CEO, Dan served as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, during which he supported multiple acquisitions and helped the organization achieve substantial sales growth. In addition to serving as CEO at GreyCastle Security, Dan continues to hold the position of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Assured information Security (AIS) in Rome, New York, a company he co-founded in 2001.
Over the course of the last 22 years, Dan has been committed to advancing the state of cybersecurity and has played an instrumental role in the identification and development of critical, next-generation cyber capabilities. He has held positions in almost every facet of cybersecurity, beginning as a computer forensic examiner and progressing through the management and executive leadership ranks. In addition to co-founding AIS, Dan has facilitated multiple cybersecurity startups, raised investment capital and has served in various lead and support roles toward the acquisition of five companies in the last eight years.
Dan has a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity and a master’s degree in Cybersecurity from Utica College in Utica, New York.
Dan Maynard serves as GreyCastle Security’s Chief Operating Officer, where he currently leads Sales, Marketing and Legal.
Dan has enjoyed a 30+ year career in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry, during which time he has held various leadership positions for organizations such as Rochester Tel/RCI, Citizens Communications (Frontier), PAETEC Communications, IntegraOptics, tw telecom/Level3 and Centurylink.
In addition to various voice and data technology platforms, he possesses a strong background in leadership development, sales and marketing leadership, transformational leadership and strategic planning. Dan has a thirst for knowledge and as a committed lifelong learner, he encourages and supports professional development initiatives for his teams and continues his involvement with Vistage International.
Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he was selected as a member of their Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.
When not at work, Dan enjoys traveling, golfing, attending Utica Comets hockey games and relaxing in the Adirondacks on beautiful Canada Lake with family and friends.
Dan Didier is the Vice President of Solutions and board member at GreyCastle Security.
Dan has been a cybersecurity practitioner for more than 20 years and uses his knowledge and experience to develop cybersecurity solutions that ensure readiness and preparedness.
Dan received his bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a master’s degree in Information Assurance from Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.
Our Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) have responded to hundreds of breaches, intrusions, malware infections, thefts, employee investigations, fraud cases and other incidents. Our highly-certified experts have extensive experience in command, coordination and correction of incidents in nearly every industry throughout North America, from local businesses to Fortune 500 international conglomerates.
800-403-8350Francesca LoPorto-Brandow is Director of Culture at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Francesca leads all social responsibility efforts and partnerships and develops effective strategies that promote organizational-wide behaviors and attitudes consistent with a culture of safety, inclusion, teamwork, motivation and high-performance.
Prior to this role, Francesca was Director of People & Culture at GreyCastle and with her leadership, the company’s culture has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Nationally recognized Best Workplace, Albany Business Review Best Places to Work and Albany Times Union Top Workplaces.
Before joining GreyCastle Security, Francesca worked as an OD consultant and focused on strategic culture change at The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc. for more than six years. There, she facilitated client education sessions, coached leaders and teams, developed and executed consulting interventions and served as strategy project leader on various client engagements. Her work has taken her into Fortune 100 companies and across borders including Panama, Singapore and beyond.
Francesca is a Lean Six Sigma–certified Green Belt, a proud YWCA-GCR board member and in 2013, she coordinated and emceed the inaugural TEDx Troy—a livestream of TEDCity 2.0. Since 2012, she has coordinated and emceed the Troy 100 Forum, a biannual forum for government, religious and community leaders to discuss issues vital to the future of Troy, New York.
Bilingual in English and Italian, Francesca holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Technology from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management & Technology. She was awarded Cybersecurity Recruiter of the year North America in 2017 by the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards.
Jamie Aiello is Senior Vice President of Services and Product Management at GreyCastle Security. In this position, Jamie is responsible for leading a high performing and well-balanced team that is ultimately responsible for the identification, selection, execution and successful performance of our company’s diverse portfolio of cybersecurity offerings.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Jamie has held leadership positions with Annese and Associates, ConvergeOne and BlueSky IT Partners with a focus on delivering cost effective information technology solutions for companies across multiple verticals.
Jamie holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, a master’s degree in Business Administration from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from University of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona.
