The European Union’s NIS2 directive has introduced stringent new cybersecurity regulations for businesses and organizations operating in Europe.
In response to the growing threats from cyberattacks and global geopolitical instability, NIS2 is intended to strengthen Europe’s cybersecurity and prevent incidents causing serious economic and social disruption.
NIS2 and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs)
NIS2 is focused on providers of essential infrastructure and services such as energy, water, transport, financial services, and healthcare. These organizations are required to:
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Implement a range of specific cybersecurity measures.
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Report cyber incidents to the authorities and their customers within strict timelines.
They’re also required to assess and monitor risks related to their suppliers and service providers. In this way, NIS2 makes providers of essential services responsible for security throughout their supply chains.
That means that smaller businesses in non-essential sectors can be subject to the NIS2 requirements indirectly. If you’re a partner or supplier to an essential service provider, you must meet NIS2 cybersecurity standards or risk losing business.
Non-compliance with NIS2 is punishable by fines of up to 10 million euros or 2 percent of global turnover, and senior executives can be held personally liable. We can expect impacted organizations to incorporate cybersecurity criteria into their supplier selection criteria and contracts.
How CTI helps with NIS2 compliance
NIS2 requires strong identity security. Compromised personally identifiable information (PII), such as usernames and passwords, are a significant security risk for organizations. Cybercriminals use stolen data to break into accounts and systems, steal further data, or commit fraud.
Cybersecurity threat intelligence (CTI) solutions like Cybercheck scan dark web forums, marketplaces, and criminal networks for compromised PII obtained through data breaches and infostealer malware. Cybercheck delivers an early warning system that:
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Detects exposed vulnerabilities from data breaches at an early stage.
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Alerts your security teams immediately when compromised accounts are made available on criminal channels.
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Provides regular trend analytics and reporting on domain posture.
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Integrates with SIEM, SOC, and EASM systems for enhanced vulnerability and threat intelligence, and streamlined compliance.
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Protects employee and customer PII from use in cyber attacks.
This can help you meet the key NIS2 requirements for cybersecurity:
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Risk assessments and security policies for information systems: CTI solutions help organizations identify threats early, allowing proactive risk management to shut out attackers before they strike.
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Evaluation of the effectiveness of security measures: CTI solutions continually monitor emerging threats and evaluate how effectively your security policies and processes counter them.
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Security incident response and business continuity plans: Understanding your vulnerabilities can help you plan for worst-case scenarios and build systems and processes to ensure business continuity. CTI insights can also help to expedite incident reporting and root-cause analysis.
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Cybersecurity training and hygiene: By understanding historical vulnerabilities and root causes on domain level, organizations can develop policies and procedures to address them, including training programs to foster a culture of security awareness.
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Secure procurement, development, and operation of systems and monitoring of supply-chain security: Solutions can also be tailored to assess the security posture of your vendors and supply chains to protect against third-party risks.
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Access controls for sensitive data and use of multi-factor authentication: NIS2 compliance requires human resources security, access controls, and asset management. Credential monitoring solutions alert you immediately to compromised credentials that attackers could use to access your organization’s accounts and data.
NIS2 is an opportunity to enhance your security and resilience
As cyber threats grow and evolve, investing in proactive security measures is vital to safeguard your operations, data, customers, and reputation.
Threat intelligence, including organizational domain monitoring can help you meet the NIS2 requirements relating to threat detection, risk management, incident handling, and assessing the effectiveness of security measures.
