What Cyber Security and Chess Have in Common
“Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do; strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do,” said the Polish-French chess player Savielly Tartakower. You can only win a solid game of chess if you have a strategy, if you exercise often, if you think a step ahead, if you are quick and last but not least, you keep calm at any time. This describes very well the parallels between a good party of chess and preparedness for cyber-attacks. As it is no longer a time if but only when a cyber-attack will hit your organisation, it is key to know before what the strategy will be and then, once it happens to know what to do. It is all about preparation, thinking a step ahead of your opponent and reacting thoughtfully.
October is the declared Cyber Month and the thoughts of management revolve around this topic. But why should we all even care about cyber? Our world runs on data, and the integrity of our systems relies on strong cybersecurity measures to protect them. Weak cybersecurity preparedness can have a massive impact, but strong cybersecurity tactics can keep your data safe. No matter if you work at an SMB or Enterprise or if you are the CEO or the intern – everyone can be attacked. Hence, a solid strategy and preparedness, just as for a party of chess, are key to every firm. Healthcare organisations like insurance companies are especially attractive to cyber attackers as they work with a lot of delicate personal data.
Dr. Klaus Schäfer: VP Technology F24 Group F24 Group
The major Luxembourgish insurance company Foyer Assurances has multiple locations around Europe and shows a best practice on how to set up a state-of-the-art crisis management adapted to modern requirements around cyber threats.
Imagine the following situation: A phishing spam is received by an employee with some privileges on the network. Once the attachment is opened, the ransomware is activated and spread autonomously from computer to computer. Then, files cannot be decrypted without a mathematical key known only by the attacker. The user is presented with a message explaining that their files are now inaccessible and will only be decrypted if the victim sends an untraceable Bitcoin payment to the attacker. Also, the access to the office is locked and the crisis management team cannot meet in their crisis room to interact or access their crisis procedure documents on computers or in physical form.
No matter if you work at an SMB or Enterprise or if you are the CEO or the intern – everyone can be attacked.
Hence, Foyer Assurances’ Crisis Management Team uses the advantage of F24’s solution and meets in the virtual crisis room. This is a cloud-based (SaaS) solution, independent from Foyer Assurances’ own infrastructure and accessible at any time, also in case of a cyber-attack. The FACT24 dashboard includes a summary of the incident, which enables every stakeholder to be up to date with all required information at any time. Pre-defined action cards have been prepared for such a scenario and describe every task that must be done by what person at what time. These tasks can be adapted flexibly to individual requirements, case by case. A chat functionality allows to share information, pictures and documents in a secure communication environment.
With the push of one button, a conference call is started, next steps are discussed, and the communication procedure is aligned. First, the communication to the employees is key, as they do not know what is happening, how to react and what to do. With F24’s solution, the crisis management team communicates to the employees via telephone, private email, push message in the App or SMS. They advise on what to do, share what will be the next steps, regularly send updates on the current situation, and can request information from the employees.
In addition to the communication via the above-mentioned channels, the crisis management team starts the desktop alarm that informs employees whose computers still work, via a pop-up window on the screen that there has been a cyber-attack, not to start any programs and shut down their computers.
Foyer Assurances’ Crisis Management team is prepared for the cyber threats like for a good party of chess.
Once, a smooth communication is ensured, the Crisis Management team follows all further actions described in their virtual crisis room. With the incident overview, everyone knows at any time what has been done already, who must do what and what will happen next to handle the situation smoothly. Thanks to the automated minuting functionality, all activities are revision safely logged and reports can be created swiftly with predefined templates and on-spot information.
Dr. Klaus Schäfer; VP Technology F24 Group F24 Group.
In short: Foyer Assurances’ Crisis Management team is prepared for the cyber threats like for a good party of chess. They know their strategy at calm times, they know their tactics when there is something to do. A solid exercising in advance helps them to stay calm in the stressful moment of an attack. Finally, the separated infrastructure, independent of their own servers, offers a security net in case of cyber-attacks.