IMO this misses the mark. Yes, it’s a decent attempt at simplifying cybersecurity, but if this is aimed at entry-level, non-technical people, it’s not gonna work.
One of my earliest jobs was to redesign training materials for one of the worlds largest companies. I stripped the training to its core, the true basics, and started there. The results were remarkable. I feel the urge to do the same with this document…
I do a lot of explaining to non-techy people. My approach would be to print out the document and walk through it with them. Have the goal first be understanding of why certain things are a priority. Like it’s a baseball game: the three outfielders and three infielders are important to covering all your bases. We’re talking about this angle, in this context, and once the “why” is understood it’ll help them interpret the document correctly.
https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/CSWP/NIST.CSWP.50.pdf
https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/fact-s...
https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/MFA-Fa...
Not only are there links to go deeper into each subject matter but also a part telling the employer how to hire help if they need cybersecurity help and with a link to the "Small Business Cybersecurity Support Programs Finder" directory. Ideally they should be asking around in the small business community for a local vendor, but this document does a lot of things right.
I think this is an excellent document for small business and doesn't really talk down to them.
Right, the gp has not read it or are intentionally trying to spread FUD.
This is a good document as is generally the case for all NIST documents. It is even more relevant for the "general public" since every home has similar problems as far as cybersecurity is concerned.
Cybersecurity knowledge is vital for everyone nowadays. Hence I highly encourage people to read this and other documents linked to.
NIST is one of the few orgs who still do a pretty good job and hence should always be taken seriously. Based on their recommendations create your own checklist/workflow and have everybody at your org/home follow it.
It’s a darn fancy algorithm and a cool tool. Putting it on a pedestal instead of grounding it to reality is not going to help anyone. My condolences to the authors.
You could say the president is just joking about such things; I don't think this will actually be acted upon, but the political/legal situation is quite rough.
This doesn't apply to executive orders renaming things of course, since they're not illegal. But the point is that working for the government is not some sort of legal suicide pact.
If you do the thing then you're a criminal. If you don't do it, your employer will still do everything they can to make your life hell, such as illegally firing you for insubordination to an illegal order - you might get your backpay in court if you're lucky later, but you're never getting your job back.
Requests for comments from career security experts: is this any good?
As a "solo" anything you are going to fail sooner or later. At minimum one requires a gray-beard IT person/consultant with a vested interest in your survival, legal consultant in corporate contract/employment laws, legal consultant in Intellectual Property (Copyright/Trademarks/Patents), a commercial Accountant familiar with tax laws, and a customs broker to handle international shipping rules.
No one is an "expert" all the time, but without key people a small firm will get squashed pretty quickly. =3
What’s your advice to a non-technical / non-tech savvy small business owner? Say, for example, people used to buy anti virus as a solution. What could they do now that resembles that?
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I work with lots of non-technical / non-tech savvy small business owners and many of them are showing concern. So, I’d love to share as much as possible with the people who are not Palo Alto networks clients.
Otherwise, you need to start with an idea of what valuables you have and what threats - hackers? lawsuits? competitors? how well-resourced? - you're protecting against. No security will be perfect. You need to make it more expensive to steal your data than it's worth to the attacker.
A few general tips off the top of my head:
* As much as possible, don't store anything on a computer that you don't want to read in the news or hear read to you in court. The safest data doesn't exist. For any communications, set a retention period (e.g., delete messages in 30 days), and just save separately anything you need to keep.
* Store confidential data (passwords, credit card numbers, anything that can cost money or reputation) only in a secure database; the only exception is when the data is actually requird. Password databases, if they have long-enough fields, can work here. Do not keep it in emails - don't email around passwords, credit card numbers, etc.; otherwise when the hacker accesses your email, all is lost. This especially applies to confidential client data - you don't want to have to explain to all your clients, 'you're confidential data might have been stolen - I don't really know if they hacker found it or will use it.' With a secure database, you have peace of mind.
* Use Apple products. They prioritize security and have the resources to deliver on it; they are the fastest route to security. Windows' value is to larger organizations managing large numbers of computers. Linux is too complicated to secure for non-technical users (and probably isn't as secure as Apple). It does require trusting Apple, but you need to trust someone.
* Use Signal for communication, as much as possible.
* Security is much too hard to do yourself. Depending on need, use products that a vendor remotely manages (but then you need to trust the vendor). Use your firewall to filter viruses, though that's imperfect and you need to be careful about it slowing down throughput.
At least we now know that making things go bad is yet another attack vector they have.
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An anecdote on Apple:
I was in Colombia a couple of months ago and I got my phone stolen (iPhone 16). I rushed home to mark it as stolen using the find my feature using my Mac. It went through and I felt incredibly relieved. Then, a couple of minutes after, I receive a bunch of emails from many of my online accounts sending auth codes and making sure it was me changing the password. I then spent several hours in a back and forth trying to get a hold of the situation which thankfully was solved. I just know that my grandma would’ve had a different story to tell…
I’ve heard the same story from friends that have had their phones stolen also.
So, how secure is Apple? I think it is and feels like it’s transforming to an it used to be.
It feels like anything that’s now connected to the internet holds a back door waiting to be discovered sooner or later.
So, from what I’m learning, it’s not really about stopping the breaches because it’s hard to say you’re ever going to be free from breaches, but creating a system of data storage that takes potential breaches in mind.
Then they can load the extracted bits onto something else and go forward from there.
> it’s not really about stopping the breaches because it’s hard to say you’re ever going to be free from breaches, but creating a system of data storage that takes potential breaches in mind.
It's all of the above; generally it's called 'defense in depth': you don't just want a hard shell, you also want to secure the internal components - data and code.
Again, you want to start with a census of what is valuable and focus on protecting those things. You don't have resources to secure everything.
Hopefully the Canadian, Australian or some European governments have a better and functionally equivalent guide that can be better trusted not to mislead the reader.
Therefore, the laypeople this is aimed at will never find it.
Or you could download it directly from the link given by a user here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50345842
We must not encourage useless comments like these particularly when it comes to publications from NIST. NIST is one of the best sources for technical information. While they have traditionally focused on govt. agencies and experts, they have also majorly expanded their offerings targeted at general public/small businesses/solopreuners/etc.
Here is their main portal for the above; Small Business Cybersecurity Corner - https://www.nist.gov/itl/smallbusinesscyber
The original publication is now withdrawn and replaced with this new one, which targets self-employed people / solopreneurs specifically. So, there is no current guide for small businesses anymore?
yet its title is:
> Small Business Cybersecurity: Non-Employer Firms (NIST Cybersecurity White Paper 50)
Small businesses don't identify as 'Non-Employer Firms', have no idea what 'NIST' is, most wouldn't know what a White Paper is, nor number 50.
'A Crash Course in Cybersecurity for Small Businesses' would be an improvement.
Everything is available if you had cared to look - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50349123
> Self-Employed? Solopreneur? NIST Has a Cybersecurity Guide Just for You.
then follow the steps already outlined i.e. click on the abstruse Small Business Cybersecurity: Non-Employer Firms (NIST Cybersecurity White Paper 50), which directs to an academic style page with the report.
If anything, the linked page makes it harder to find, since it requires an additional step.
Since this is intended for small business owners with a thousand competing priorities, hiding the guide between walls of text and down a rabbit hole of unfamiliar links and titles will result in significant drop-off.