What Happens Behind the Scenes at Risk & Security Department?

In August’s newsletter there was a topic about Samlink’s Risk & Security Department. The topic highlighted that most parts of the department’s work happen behind the scenes. But what actually happens when the curtains are closed?  

Daily activities of the department include protection against attackers and malware as well as detecting threats possibly slipping through and handling them. Weekly based technical discussions with SOC (Security Operations Center) include sorting out false alerts and improving the detection against unwanted activities. 

Monitoring that identified vulnerabilities are fixed on time is an important part of the work. The department is also ensuring that all software becoming close to the end of its life is replaced and making sure that sufficient base level of security is applied in the IT environments.  

In addition, the capability to rapidly respond to different security incidents is documented in playbooks, describing step by step how the incidents should be handled as well as trained in table-top exercises.  

Samlink has a very talented team working at the Service Desk. Most of the direct contacts and security concerns from customers come through this team, but whenever needed, the Service Desk will contact the Risk & Security Department for more information or support.  

The department has created an extensive toolbox that makes the team able to internally strengthen security and privacy already in the early stages of a project. The toolbox includes non-functional security and privacy requirements, that naturally are in line with the client’s requirements. In addition, the toolbox includes verification of the need for privacy enhancements, threat assessment, as well as requirements for testing the applications before being released. This approach will lower the cyber risk in the delivery process towards clients.