CSA Security Update

In our enlightening interview with Steve Orrin, Federal CTO at Intel, we delve into the intricate world of government cloud technologies, the key role of FEDRAMP, and the future of CCM/STAR integration. Orrin provides an insider's perspective on how these powerful tools are shaping the landscape of data security and regulatory compliance in the digital age. We also explore the challenges and opportunities presented by these technologies, offering valuable insights for stakeholders navigating the complex government cloud infrastructure. This engaging conversation promises to deepen your understanding of these critical domains and their transformative impact on today's digital governance landscape.

In this podcast interview, we sit down with Nandor Csonka, the global practice lead for cloud security services at NCC Group, to explore their adoption and implementation of the CSA Cloud Control Matrix (CCM). Nandor shares the initial process of why NCC Group adopted the CCM and the challenges they encountered as a non CSP (Cloud Service Provider), along with their strategies for overcoming them. He also highlights the specific benefits and improvements that resulted from the adoption within NCC Group. Furthermore, Nandor delves into the common challenges faced by clients when implementing the CSA CCM and provides insights on successful adoption strategies. We discuss the transition from older versions to CSA CCM V4 and its associated challenges. Lastly, Nandor sheds light on NCC Group's future involvement with the CSA CCM, including their journey to become an accredited CB (Certification Body) and CSA STAR (Security, Trust & Assurance Registry) auditing firm. He also shares his perspective on areas where organizations may need to focus more attention and allocate resources in the coming years. Join us for an insightful discussion on securing cloud technology and reducing risk with NCC Group's cloud security expert.

This case study highlights Dell Technologies' journey towards adopting the Cloud Security Alliance's (CSA) Security, Trust, and Assurance Registry (STAR) program to enhance its cloud security. Dell Technologies addressed the continued challenges of the cloud by adopting the CSA STAR program, which provided a framework for assessing and documenting cloud providers' security and compliance posture.  Join us as we talk to Andrea Doherty; Technical lead for the Dell Technologies Security and Resiliency Organization's Trusted Cloud and Services program where she discusses Dell's challenges, objectives, and implementation outcomes.Find out how they were able to enhance their comprehensive security and compliance program, gain a competitive advantage, and enhance customer trust.

Private cloud computing refers to a computing infrastructure setup where an organization operates its own cloud environment within its data center.What are the unique information security challenges faced day to day. VS other types of cloud, and how does one use the CSA Cloud Control Matrix to mitigate the risks?Due to heightened security issues over the last few years, are companies considering moving to a private cloud? What are the pros and cons and what is the best advise from those doing it?Listen as we interview Balasubramanian (Bala) Krishnamurthy; Head of Cloud Security & Cloud Automation Services at Nokia. Bala will take us on a virtual case study concerning the private cloud, its advantages, challenges, and their journey to achieving CSA STAR Certification, along with advice to all CSPs in the process of considering STAR Certification.

As organizations look to cloud services to process more sensitive and critical data, security and risk management teams require tools to quickly assess and understand the types and rigor of security controls applied by cloud service providers. CSA STAR Attestation is the first cloud-specific attestation program designed to meet this need. CSA STAR Attestation is a collaboration between CSA and the AICPA to provide guidelines for CPAs to conduct SOC 2 engagements using criteria from the AICPA (Trust Service Principles,AT 101) and the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix.Requirements for the cloud can be quite different than non-cloud environments, so a generic approach to security compliance is not a viable solution for providing evidence of assurance in the cloud. Unique considerations must be given to:• Understanding the scope of the cloud computing environment.• Do the current security controls cover the unique aspects of the cloud environment?• Can the current risk assessment capture the risks correctly?• Audit trails that prove the effectivenessJoin me as I interview  two Principles from Schellman, Ryan Mackie and Gary Nelson as they take you on a journey down the road to Cloud Attestation and provide details of the audit,  advice on implementation and the value proposition. 

As we're seeing more cyber attacks in software, open-source software, etc., there is a crucial need for businesses to future-proof against emerging threats. - How  can companies take preventative (vs reactive) measures, including embedding security into the software as it's being built (security by design)- Urgency for daily scans- How the CCM and STAR Program can facilitate reducing risk and understanding the Shared Responsibility Model.- What to expect in 2022 (more supply chain attacks expected)Get the answers to all these topics and more as we interview Farshad Abasi, Founder and Chief Security Officer of Forward Security. In this episode, we discuss software design and development, network and system architecture and cybersecurity, management. 

STAR Certification is the internationally recognized cloud security certification program from CSA that specifies comprehensive and stringent cloud security requirements on CSPs. The CSA Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) is the de-facto standard for cloud security assurance and compliance, widely used in assessing cloud security performance of cloud implementations.Ribose Achieved the world's first STAR Certification with CSA Cloud Controls Matrix v4 that was released in January 2021. Recorded live from Hong Kong, Ronald Tse; CEO and founder of RIBOSE, takes us through their journey with STAR over the years and discusses the value, ROI and future of STAR and the work being done to increase the value of the auditing and compliance landscape.

As the businesses change the world changes and so does the standards industry. Being up to speed on those changes and paying attention to such changes can help company's succeed.CSA is dedicated to keep our followers up-to-date on these changes and how they may affect the users and provide guidance and information on what can be expected moving forward as well as what organizations should be concerned about as well as tips on preparing for these changes.Listen as we interview Ryan Mackie of Schellman and Eric Hibbard of Samsung, both members of SC27 and discuss the most critical changes already released as well as those yet to come and what organizations can expect as well as what you should be thinking about.

In order to fight against ransomware in the cloud, you need to have a multifaceted strategy so you can be better prepared to protect against and respond to attacks. But IT organizations often struggle to understand the priorities and the appropriate approach to mitigate risk and minimize the impact of ransomware. With more tools and software, organizations many times throw money at technology solutions and do not address people and processes not to mention sector-specific controls to help detect, prevent, respond to ransomware not to mention other malware attacks.Listen as we discuss the subject and solutions with Greg Edwards; CEO of CryptoStopper.In this episode we get into:Practical steps to defend against RansomewareThe importance of implementing sector-specific controls as there is no "Onesize fits all solution".The powerful impact you can have by including all of People, Process and Technology

Cloud computing has created new security vulnerabilities, including security issues whose full impacts are still emerging.  With the massive growth the cloud industry is experiencing, it's a "buyer beware" environment for sure. The procurement process can be a daunting task for clients since each cloud service provider shows its security methods unique ways, making comparisons between sellers time-consuming. CSA facilitates this process. "We take security very seriously, focusing on protecting our customers and ourselves. In a constantly shifting landscape, we map out security threats and risks to plan current and future dangers. As the next step in our security journey, we've joined the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), where we will be actively participating in an organization that raises awareness for cloud security best practices globally. With our membership, we will help and participate in cloud security-specific research, education, certification, events, and products". ~Nick Murison; Ardoq~ Listen as we interview Nick Murison; CISO of Adoq and explore yet another case of how organizations are utilizing the STAR program and associated tools to help them improve their security posture meet compliance requirements and decrease risk and complexity.

Through a funded initiative called the EU-SEC Project, CSA has analyzed the issue of the proliferation of cloud security standards and compliance schemes, and has observed that many security requirements and control objectives in different standards are largely overlapping.As a consequence, the process of adhering to different standards, laws and regulations for CSPs is inefficient, with a lot of duplicated work that unduly increases costs and complexity.The idea behind the MPRF is not to create yet another cloud certification or auditing architecture. Instead, it aims to provide a unified method of systematic and consistent activities with the goal of minimizing the burden and complexity of compliance and obtaining certification.CSA partners with organizations like the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and The Cyber Risk Institute as well as our approved Assessment Firms to work together to build a process that eliminates redundancy, complexity, reduces cost and facilitates lower risk all the while building a culture of resiliency.Join us as we interview representatives from CIS, CRI and Shellman and discuss this State of the art in cloud service monitoring and certification.

Saxo Bank became the first bank in the world to earn the Cloud Security Alliance STAR Level 2 Attestation and Trusted Cloud Provider accreditation.This milestone in the bank's technology aspirations means Saxo Bank qualifies for and adheres to the highest and most comprehensive principles in terms of transparency, privacy, security and harmonization of standards across its IT systems, services and infrastructure that supports the business and different client segments from back-office systems to open APIs. The CSA STAR Level 2 attestation is verified and validated by a third-party auditor.The admission to the CSA and STAR Level 2 attestation demonstrates Saxo's commitment to holistic security and is set to further accelerate the bank's growth as a capital markets solutions provider for partners looking to run their investment infrastructure as a Service.Listen as we interview Mads Hasling; Group CISO at Saxo Bank and he takes us on the journey to STAR Attestation from implementation, to successful attestation to looking at and measuring the ROI.

The  mission of the CSA CxO Trust is to help Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) better understand the priorities of their peers within the C-Suite and to also enable CISOs with tools to communicate business risk, governance, and compliance issues of cloud computing and cybersecurity in the proper context to their peers within the C-Suite and their boards of directors. This initiative will be forward looking and innovative in advancing cloud computing and cybersecurity within the C-Suite.Join us as we interview Illena Armstrong;  President of CSA and discuss the details about the CSA CxO as well as what are the biggest challenges for the "C-Suite" in today's environment, how the CxO initiative will help mitigate risk and some tips on how to engage with high-ranking officers of a company.

"There is a proliferation of security products. As more high-value assets come online, the cybersecurity threats grow and the application environments rapidly change. Security teams are stretched thin trying to continuously map the desired business outcomes to disparate product configurations in these environments"."What we lack as an industry is a cohesive and a high-level approach to enabling security teams to deliver cybersecurity outcomes. A different approach to security is needed".~Vishwas Manral, Forbes Councils Member~Join us as we interview Vishwas Manral Forbes Councils Member, founder and CEO at NanoSec (acquired by McAfee) and chief cloud architect of cloud security at McAfee as well as co-chair of the Cloud Security Alliance, Silicon Valley. We discuss a more powerful common sense approach to laying the ground work for a more robust cybersecurity posture that will ensure organizations are more resilient by using the core business requirements as the input. 

The Cloud Control Matrix (CCM) is composed of 197 control objectives that are structured in 17 domains covering all key aspects of cloud technology. It can be used as a tool for the systematic assessment of cloud implementation and provides guidance on which security controls should be implemented by which actor within the cloud supply chain. The CCM is considered the de-facto standard for cloud security and privacy.Listen as we interview Harry Lu; The current Co-Chair of the Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Control Matrix Working Group and discuss the CCM, the advantages it brings to organizations, how it mitigates risk, the benefits, and how it facilitates the reduction of complexity in a business, plus an insight into the just-released CCM V4 and the future of the CCM.

The CCM is used as the standard to assess the security posture of organizations on the Security, Trust, Assurance, and Risk (STAR) registry. The STAR program promotes flexible, incremental, and multi-layered certifications that integrate with popular third-party assessments to avoid duplication of effort and cost. Security providers can fill out the extended question set that aligns with the CCM and send it to potential and current clients to demonstrate compliance to industry standards, frameworks, and regulations. It is recommended that providers submit the completed CAIQ to the STAR Registry so it is publicly available to all clients.Join us as we interview Chris Dixon; Governance, Risk & Compliance Manager at TokenEx and listen as he takes us on their journey utilizing the CCM and STAR including What problems does it solve or how did it help mitigate risk?How has using the CCM helped Tokenex reach some of its security targets?What are the major benefits?

As organizations look to cloud services to process more sensitive and critical data, security, and risk management teams require tools to quickly assess and understand the types and rigor of security controls applied by cloud service providers. CSA STAR Attestation is the first cloud-specific attestation program designed to meet this need. Based on the CSA’s Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM), STAR is the only meta-framework of cloud-specific security controls, mapped to leading standards, that enables third party audit review to give security teams the support and trust they require to enable this move to the cloud.Listen as we interview Ashwin Chaudhary Director and CEO of Accedere group and discuss STAR Attestation, the advantages of SOC2 plus CCM, and the business value it brings to organizations.

As a cloud service provider (CSP) customer engagement is crucial. It impacts customer loyalty, which directly impacts the bottom line. The potential cost of incompetent customer engagement should be concerning to CSPs.The lines between cloud providers and cloud consumers keep getting fuzzier every day. What are the main challenges of cloud computing that users face?What is the growing paradigm shift in what users will expect from CSP’s moving forward as a minimum requirement? What are the top 3 or 4 risks of cloud computing they should be aware of on their end?Get answers to these questions and more as we interview Jennifer "Jen" Chermoshnyuk; Security and Trust Engineer for GitHub and shed some light on this critical subject matter.

As organizations look to cloud services to process more sensitive and critical data, security and risk management teams require tools to quickly assess and understand the types and rigor of security controls applied by cloud service providers. CSA STAR Attestation is the first cloud-specific attestation program designed to meet this need. CSA STAR Attestation is a collaboration between CSA and the AICPA to provide guidelines for CPAs to conduct SOC 2 engagements using criteria from the AICPA (Trust Service Principles, AT 101) and the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix.1. What is CSA STAR & SOC2? What is CSA STAR & SOC2? 2. What are the prevalent business drivers which lead to the necessity of obtaining a CSA STAR & SOC2 attestation?3. Why should my business plan for a CSA STAR & SOC2 rather than react to the demand for the attestation?Join us as we interview Audrey Katcher; partner of RubinBrown’s Business Advisory Services Group, overseeing the group’s Information Technology Risk Services. She also serves as the Open Certification Framework Working group liaison for AICPA and made a significant contribution to the STAR Attestation guidelines.Listen as Audrey answers these questions and more regarding STAR Attestation and the assessment process.

The Security Trust Assurance and Risk (STAR) Program encompasses key principles of transparency, rigorous auditing, and harmonization of standards. Companies who use STAR indicate best practices and validate the security posture of their cloud offerings.The STAR registry documents the security and privacy controls provided by popular cloud computing offerings. This publicly accessible registry allows cloud customers to assess their security providers in order to make the best procurement decisions.Listen as we interview Larry Greenblatt, Information Security Specialist at QAD as he takes us through his journey to CSA STAR Certification from business case to implementation to through the audit process as well as discussing the ROI and the importance the maturity evaluation and how this has facilitated improving their business overall.

IoT defines the journey of digital technology and data to enable organizations to perform better, boost well-being and respond to local and global challenges – presenting a huge opportunity but risk as well. With SMART Cites and SMART Nations emerging, a sustainable, pragmatic approach is necessary, ensuring the people, processes, and systems are secure. With predictions that three-quarters of the world’s 9 billion people will be city-dwellers by 2050, it’s vital we ensure cities provide a safe and pleasant environment that is sustainable and resilient to change. Listen as we interview David Mudd, Global Digital and Connected Product Certification Director with BSI Group and discuss these pressing issues as well as how IoT can make a positive impact on the environment and the business community in general as well as how CSA is working with industry through the development of the CSA IoT Control Matrix.

Excerpt from the most recent PODCAST interview with Jim Reavis; Co-Founder and CEO of Cloud Security Alliance discussing the activities and speakers at the upcoming CSA Summit at RSA!

2019 was another great year for CSA and it sets the stage for an even greater year in 2020.Listen to this insightful interview with Jim Reavis; Co-Founder and CEO of the Cloud Security Alliance as he provides a look back at the accomplishments and milestones achieved in 2019 and provides a look into the journey we will be taking in 2020.If you're not already, it is a great starting point to get involved with CSA and it's massive cloud community.

The Security Trust Assurance and Risk (STAR) Program encompasses key principles of transparency, rigorous auditing, and harmonization of standards. Companies who use STAR indicate best practices and validate the security posture of their cloud offerings.The STAR registry documents the security and privacy controls provided by popular cloud computing offerings. This publicly accessible registry allows cloud customers to assess their security providers in order to make the best procurement decisions.Listen as we interview Willibert Fabritius; Global Head of Information Security and Business Continuity of BSI Group and take the journey with us down the road to Level 2 CSA STAR Certification including use cases on implementation and auditing best practices.

As organizations look to cloud services to process more sensitive and critical data, security and risk management teams require tools to quickly assess and understand the types and rigor of security controls applied by cloud service providers. CSA STAR Attestation is the first cloud-specific attestation program designed to meet this need. CSA STAR Attestation is a collaboration between CSA and the AICPA to provide guidelines for CPAs to conduct SOC 2 engagements using criteria from the AICPA (Trust Services Criteria) and the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix.Listen as we interview Debbie Zaller; Principal, practice leader, and SME for Schellman & Company, LLC who leads the Midwest Region along with the Privacy, SOC 2 and SOC 3 service lines. We take you inside a STAR attestation engagement following the process from start to finish along with discussing the value having successfully completed a STAR Attestation audit.

Forensic readiness is defined as the ability of an organization to maximize its potential to use good quality digital evidence to protect the organization, support the investigators while minimizing the costs of an investigation.Trust in the cloud is constantly under attack, so good data-driven decisions are critical. Determining whether a data source provides an acceptable level of digital evidence is one thing, but how do you safeguard data integrity to ensure that the information contained within supports the investigation with the proper content or context, transparency, and trust? Proving "Due Diligence" and "Standard of Care" is critical when building a case to protect your organization.Listen as I discuss this all-important topic with Lamont Orange; CISO, Netskope and we take the journey down the road of forensics and the importance of being prepared along with some best practice suggestions.

Security compliance based on third-party audit is becoming increasingly complex –especially as a result of the considerable number of national, international and industry-specific standards and certification schemes present in the market, generating "compliance fatigue", not to mention sometimes contradicting audit reports related to similar controls, That often translates into substantial costs for those service providersThe idea behind the MPRF is to provide a unified method of systematic and consistent activities with the goal of minimizing the burden of obtaining certification "Y" for a CSP, once it has already obtained certification "X". The MPRF’s purpose is, therefore, to use and promote a comparison analysis between different security frameworks, standards,and best practices.Listen as Damir Savanovic; Senior Analyst & Researcher; CSA and project manager for the EU-SEC project discusses this exciting evolution of the compliance eco-system and how it promises to change how we approach security assessments in the near future.

As a cloud service provider, there are many security challenges that organizations have to face which include providing customers and regulators with the proper level of transparency and assurance that is needed to achieve the required level of trust. Many organizations are turning to CSA STAR in answer to mandates, provide a marketing differentiator or just raising the bar in terms of their level of assurance and transparency. Listen as Deepak Gupta; Co-founder and CTO at LoginRadius explains their journey and approach to implementation. How they weaved the CCM controls into their current management system including all the stakeholders of the business as well as what challenges STAR solved for the organization.

Security is not simply a CIO, CSO, or IT department issue. It is critical that organizations have a system in place that can prove the all important "Standard of Care" was deployed and maintained.Breaches, leaked documents, and cybersecurity attacks impact stock prices and competitive edge. It is a responsibility that must be shared amongst all employees. It is a matter of resilience and survival of the company.How should CEOs and board members get proactively involved in mitigating future challenges and get involved in the decision making process in an industry where there is so much "noise".As CEOs technical knowledge and security experience can vary quite a bit, what should they do when the vendors start crowding the door?Listen as Phillip Merrick; CEO of Fugue provides advice from the boardroom and how CEOs think and approach security VS the IT department.

Ribose has achieved STAR Attestation, Certification and C-STAR along with being one of the first adopters of STAR Continuous. What was the main driver? What was the approach to implementation and how did they weave the STAR controls into their current management system to build one holistic integrated process?Listen as Ron Tse; Founder and CEO of Ribose as he addresses these questions along with discussing what challenges STAR addressed and predictions on what can be expected in the global compliance landscape.

CSA research is such a big part of what CSA does, providing high quality relevant papers, studies and data free for all to take advantage of, yet in some cases is one of the best kept secrets on the amount of effort that goes into the output that has produced over 400 artifacts and to ensure its value and relevance.Collaborating with industry and harnessing the right subject matter expertise to ensure good cross-functionality is critical when it comes to producing valuable research. Listen as John Yeoh: Global V.P. of Research for CSA provides insight to the research process, the people behind the scenes, some common pain points that have been identified and some of the great research coming down the pipeline to address tomorrow's problems today.

Business email compromise (BEC) scams are not going away anytime soon. For such a relatively low-tech type of financial fraud, it has proved to be a high-yield and lucrative enterprise for scammers. But the prevention measures are not expensive and not technology dependent.Listen as Ken Dunham;Senior Technical Director, Cyber Operations for Optiv discusses this growing issue, the process hackers use, the root cause and prevention recommendations you can use for cloud security when adopting the cloud and why transparency is so important.Episode is Not LivePublish: Aug. 14, 2019 @ 6AM EditPublishAmplify this EpisodeAdd Chapter Markers$.10/minuteTranscribe this EpisodePromote this EpisodeCreate a Video SoundbiteShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedInEmail Link to EpisodeDirect Link to MP3Embed this ONE Episode

Information sharing activities when combined with other threat intelligence activities can be seen as important part of the arrangements of human and non‐human activities that, together, form a critical part to achieving organizational resilience. There is a reciprocal relationship between all processes within an organization and the ways in which information is used and shared. Join us as we talk to Paul Kurtz; Former white house senior member relating to critical infrastructure and counterterrorism on the White House's National Security and Homeland Security Councils under Presidents Clinton and Bush and internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity and the co-founder and CEO of TruSTAR Technology. We discuss how to get the most out of your intelligence involving all applicable stakeholders to build this preventive culture that is weaved into the day-to-day way of operation incorporating more threat intelligence into every stage of the workflow.

Continuous Monitoring enables automation of the current security practices of cloud providers. Providers publish their security practices according to CSA formatting and specifications, which customers and tool vendors can then retrieve and present in a variety of contexts. Continuous monitoring/auditing improves on the traditional point-in-time certification in both trust and transparency. Point-in-time audits while the foundation of many respected certifications, often contain a considerable time gap between audits, and by adopting continuous monitoring/auditing with an increased audit frequency, chances of deviation of the security posture becomes less. This empowers cloud service providers to make precise statements on compliance status of their cloud services covered by the continuous audit process, achieving an “always up-to-date” compliance status. There has been considerable amount of research and science that has gone into proving the business case for continuous monitoring and its effectiveness. Listen as we discuss the data in detail with Stephen Boyer, Founder and CTO of BitSight Technologies along with use cases that show how the paradigm is changing once again on how industry defines risk and security.

CSA and Whistic identified the need for a lighter-weight assessment questionnaire in order to accommodate the shift to cloud procurement models, and to enable cybersecurity professionals to more easily engage with cloud vendors. CAIQ-Lite was developed to meet the demands of an increasingly fast-paced cybersecurity environment where adoption is becoming paramount when selecting a vendor security questionnaire. CAIQ-Lite contains 73 questions compared to the 295 found in the CAIQ, while maintaining representation of 100% of the original 16 control domains present in The Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) 3.0.1.Listen as we talk with our guest Nick Sorensen, CEO of Whistic and discuss the research and statistical analysis that went into the creation of the CAIQ-Lite along with some use cases of how and when it should be used.

Dr. Ron Ross, Fellow and Senior Computer Scientist and Information Security Researcher in the computer security division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) joins us to discuss the growing problem of too much complexity and the associated security issues that are growing because of it. In this episode we discuss the problem, the root cause and the proven best practice solutions that will facilitate moving from a reactive to proactive culture providing organizational resilie

An interview with Jim Reavis; Co-Founder and CEO of CSA addressing the many challenges and solutions regarding trust and transparency in the cloud as well a new operational security issues that is coming with 5G technology.