ESG Violation
In the context of cybersecurity, an "ESG Violation" refers to a failure by an organization to adhere to Environmental, Social, and Governance standards, where that failure has cybersecurity implications or consequences.
Here's a breakdown:
ESG Standards:
Environmental: Practices related to environmental protection, such as reducing carbon footprint, managing waste, and conserving resources.
Social: How a company manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where it operates. This includes issues like labor practices, human rights, and data privacy.
Governance: A company's leadership, ethics, internal controls, and compliance. This covers areas like board structure, executive compensation, and anti-corruption measures.
Violation: A violation occurs when an organization's actions, policies, or lack thereof deviate from accepted ESG norms or legal requirements.
How does this relate to cybersecurity?
While ESG traditionally focuses on non-cyber areas, there's a growing recognition of the intersection between ESG and cybersecurity:
Data Privacy (Social): A data breach that exposes customer information is a cybersecurity incident and a social issue. It potentially violates privacy regulations and damages customer trust, which falls under the "Social" aspect of ESG.
Governance and Cybersecurity Risk: Poor governance practices, such as a lack of cybersecurity oversight or inadequate internal controls, can increase an organization's vulnerability to cyberattacks. This is a "Governance" issue with direct cybersecurity implications.
Supply Chain Risk (Social & Governance): If a company's supply chain is disrupted due to a cyberattack on a supplier, this can raise concerns about its social responsibility to ensure business continuity and its governance practices in managing supply chain risks.
An ESG violation in cybersecurity highlights how failures in traditional ESG areas can create or exacerbate cybersecurity risks, and conversely, how cybersecurity incidents can lead to ESG failures.
ThreatNG and ESG Violations in Cybersecurity
ThreatNG's capabilities offer insights into areas that intersect with ESG and cybersecurity.
ThreatNG’s Capability: ThreatNG performs external, unauthenticated discovery. This helps establish the organization's overall digital presence, which is the foundation for identifying potential ESG-related issues.
Example: ThreatNG discovers all web applications and data repositories. This is the first step in identifying potential data privacy issues (a social aspect of ESG) if these systems are not adequately secured.
Synergy with Complementary Solutions:
Data Discovery Tools: ThreatNG's discovery can usefully combine with data discovery tools that scan for sensitive data within an organization's systems. This combination can provide a more complete picture of potential data privacy risks.
ThreatNG's external assessment capabilities provide specific insights into ESG-relevant areas:
ESG Exposure: ThreatNG rates the organization based on discovered environmental, social, and governance (ESG) violations through its external attack surface and digital risk intelligence findings.
Example: ThreatNG analyzes and highlights competition, consumer, employment, environment, financial, government contracting, healthcare, and safety-related offenses. If ThreatNG finds evidence of exposed data related to consumer complaints or employee records, this could indicate a failure in data privacy (Social) and potentially a cybersecurity risk.
Data Leak Susceptibility: ThreatNG assesses the risk of data leaks.
Example: ThreatNG's cloud and SaaS exposure assessment can reveal if sensitive data is stored in unsecured cloud environments. A failure to secure cloud data is a cybersecurity issue with significant Social (data privacy) implications.
Synergy with Complementary Solutions:
Privacy Compliance Tools: ThreatNG's data leak susceptibility assessments can be used in conjunction with privacy compliance tools to ensure adherence to regulations like GDPR.
3. Reporting
ThreatNG’s Capability: ThreatNG provides reports that include findings related to ESG violations. These reports help organizations understand the cybersecurity risks associated with ESG issues.
Example: ThreatNG's reporting includes U.S. SEC Filings. If a publicly traded company fails to disclose a material cybersecurity risk in its SEC filings, it is both a Governance issue and a potential legal one.
Synergy with Complementary Solutions:
GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) Systems: ThreatNG's reports on ESG-related cybersecurity risks can be integrated into GRC systems to provide a holistic view of organizational risk.
ThreatNG’s Capability: ThreatNG continuously monitors the external attack surface and digital risk. This is essential for detecting emerging ESG-related cybersecurity risks.
Example: ThreatNG's continuous monitoring can detect the exposure of new data that could have ESG implications, such as customer data or employee information.
Synergy with Complementary Solutions:
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): Threat intelligence platforms can usefully combine with ThreatNG's monitoring data to identify threat actors who might exploit ESG-related vulnerabilities.
ThreatNG's investigation modules provide detailed information that helps in understanding the cybersecurity context of ESG violations:
Sentiment and Financials: This module provides data on organizational related lawsuits, SEC filings, and ESG violations.
Example: ThreatNG's Sentiment and Financials module provides data on ESG violations. This information can help security teams understand the potential impact of cybersecurity incidents on the organization's reputation and financial stability.
Data Leak Susceptibility: This module helps in investigating potential data leaks, which have direct Social (data privacy) implications.
Example: The Code Repository Exposure investigation module discovers public code repositories uncovering digital risks that include Access Credentials.
Synergy with Complementary Solutions:
Legal Hold Software: In a legal investigation related to a data breach (an ESG issue), ThreatNG's investigation data can be used with legal hold software to preserve relevant evidence.
6. Intelligence Repositories (DarCache)
ThreatNG’s Capability: ThreatNG's intelligence repositories (DarCache) include data on ESG violations. This provides valuable context for understanding the broader risk landscape.
Example: The ESG Violations (DarCache ESG) repository provides information on discovered environmental, social, and governance (ESG) violations.
Synergy with Complementary Solutions:
Risk Management Platforms: DarCache data on ESG violations can enrich risk management platforms, providing a more comprehensive view of organizational risks.
In conclusion, ThreatNG offers capabilities that help organizations understand the intersection of ESG violations and cybersecurity. By providing discovery, assessment, monitoring, investigation, and intelligence, ThreatNG enables a more holistic approach to risk management that considers both traditional cybersecurity threats and the growing importance of ESG factors. The potential synergies with complementary solutions further enhance its value in this evolving landscape.
