The Cybersecurity Close Call That Still Haunts Me

Hey there,

Let me tell you about one of the most stressful first 24 hours with a new client as their fractional CTO.

I was working with a healthcare startup, helping them shore up their tech infrastructure. We were in the middle of a major product launch when I got an urgent message from the CEO.

"Check out this email," it read. "It says all our data is exposed. What do we do?"

My heart skipped a beat. This was the nightmare scenario every CTO dreads. A data breach in healthcare isn't just costly - it's catastrophic. We're talking HIPAA violations, seven-figure fines, irreparable brand damage.

I immediately started digging to get the details. Turns out, a Ukrainian security researcher had discovered a wide-open S3 bucket containing not just our company's data, but data from 14 other companies as well.

It was a massive vulnerability, and we were lucky it was found by a white hat hacker and not someone with malicious intent. But how did it happen in the first place?

As I dug into the incident, a few red flags emerged:

1. The dev team was using insecure FTP with a shared username and password to access the server, rather than secure SSH with individual keys.

2. Developers were connecting to the server from their personal computers, rather than a secured, company-managed device.

3. All source code was hosted on the contractor's servers, rather than our own.

These were all major deviations from cybersecurity best practices - and clear signs that security wasn't being prioritized in the rush to ship code.

In the end, we were able to lock down the exposed data and notify affected customers. But the incident served as a stark reminder of the importance of baking security into every layer of your tech stack.

As fractional CTOs, it's easy to get caught up in feature development and delivery dates. But we can't afford to treat security as an afterthought. The risks are simply too high.

My advice? Conduct regular security audits. 

Insist on industry-standard security protocols, even if it slows development slightly. And most importantly, foster a culture where security is everyone's responsibility, not just the security team's.

The old saying in cybersecurity is "it's not a matter of if you'll be breached, but when." Our job is to make sure that "when" is as far off as possible.

What cybersecurity close calls have you weathered? What best practices do you insist on in your engagements? 

Stay safe out there,
Lior

Lior Weinstein
Founder & Head Coach, CTOx