CISO Guide to Cyber Resilience

After completing this section, learners will be able to explain the concept of cyber resilience, its importance in modern organizations.

This session provides a real-world scenario of a major cybersecurity breach, breaking down how an attack unfolds and how organizations can respond and recover. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Analyze how cybercriminals infiltrate an organization through phishing, RDP, and SMB vulnerabilities.

• Understand the stages of a ransomware attack and how data exfiltration occurs.

• Evaluate incident response strategies used by CISOs and IT teams to mitigate damage.

• Learn from case studies such as Colonial Pipeline and SolarWinds attacks.

• Develop an effective breach response plan to contain, remediate, and recover from cyber incidents.

Why is this important?
Understanding how attacks happen in the real world helps organizations strengthen defenses and improve resilience against sophisticated cyber threats.

This session covers best practices in authentication and access control, helping students build a secure identity management strategy. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to reduce unauthorized access.

• Use secure password policies in alignment with NIST 800-63B guidelines.

• Understand and deploy passwordless authentication using passkeys and biometrics.

• Recognize common authentication attacks, such as credential stuffing and phishing.

• Implement role-based and least-privilege access to minimize insider threats.

Why is this important?
IAM is the first line of defense in cybersecurity. A strong IAM strategy prevents 99.9% of account compromise attacks.

These questions will help reinforce the key concepts covered in Section 3 MFA Quiz.

This session guides students on developing and enforcing security policies to ensure compliance and reduce risk. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Draft and implement essential security policies, including acceptable use and data protection policies.

• Ensure compliance with industry regulations like ISO 27001, SOC2, and NIST.

• Understand how security policies protect against legal and financial consequences after a breach.

• Develop an employee security awareness plan to ensure policies are followed.

• Audit and update policies regularly to adapt to new cybersecurity threats.

Why is this important?
A well-defined security policy is the foundation of any cybersecurity program, ensuring consistency, compliance, and risk mitigation.

These questions will help reinforce the key concepts covered in Section 4 Developing Security Policies.

This session covers risk management strategies, helping organizations balance cyber risks, security investments, and business objectives. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Conduct risk assessments using Impact vs. Likelihood models.

• Understand key risk management frameworks like NIST CSF and ISO 27001.

• Implement preventive, detective, and corrective security controls.

• Develop a risk register to prioritize cybersecurity initiatives.

• Align security budgets with risk tolerance and business goals.

Why is this important?
Cybersecurity isn’t about eliminating all risks—it’s about managing them effectively while ensuring business continuity.

These questions will help reinforce the key concepts covered in Section 5 Security & Risk Management.

This session introduces endpoint security strategies, helping students protect devices from malware, ransomware, and unauthorized access. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Implement Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions.

• Utilize antivirus, firewalls, and application control to secure endpoints.

• Harden endpoint configurations using disk encryption and VPNs.

• Deploy Network Access Control (NAC) and Zero Trust security.

• Protect mobile devices using Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions.

Why is this important?
Endpoints are the most common attack vector for cybercriminals. Securing them is critical to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

These questions will help reinforce the key concepts covered in Section 6 -

Endpoint & Network Security.

This session covers data protection strategies, ensuring data integrity, availability, and confidentiality. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Understand backup strategies (full, incremental, differential) for disaster recovery.

• Create business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plans.

• Ensure backups are tested at least annually, quarterly is recommended

  
  

Why is this important?
Proper data protection ensures organizations stay resilient against cyberattacks, ransomware, and compliance violations.

These questions will help reinforce the key concepts covered in Section 7 -

Data Safeguarding & Disaster Recovery.

This session helps students develop security awareness programs to reduce human error-related breaches. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Train employees on phishing, social engineering, and password security.

• Develop engaging cybersecurity awareness campaigns.

• Measure training effectiveness using phishing simulations and KPIs.

• Choose the best security awareness tools (KnowBe4, Curricula, NINJIO).

• Foster a culture of cybersecurity responsibility within an organization.

Why is this important?
Many breaches result from human error—security awareness training is the best defense against phishing and social engineering attacks.

These questions will help reinforce the key concepts covered in Section 8 -

Security Awareness & Asset Inventory Management.

This session teaches students how to identify, assess, and remediate vulnerabilities before they are exploited. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Use vulnerability scanning tools (Nessus, Qualys, OpenVAS).

• Prioritize vulnerabilities using CVSS and CISA’s KEV catalog.

• Implement patch management best practices.

• Secure applications using OWASP Top 10 guidance.

• Integrate security into DevOps (DevSecOps) for continuous protection.

Why is this important?
Regular vulnerability management is essential to prevent cybercriminals from exploiting known weaknesses in systems.

These questions will help reinforce the key concepts covered in Section 9 Vulnerability Management.

This session covers asset inventory management, helping students identify and protect critical assets. By the end of this session, students will be able to:

• Create a comprehensive asset inventory of hardware, software, and cloud resources.

• Use automated discovery tools like ServiceNow, CloudWize.io, and Drata.

• Align asset tracking with compliance frameworks (NIST, CIS, ISO 27001).

• Secure mobile devices and endpoints using MDM.

• Integrate asset inventory with change management processes.

Why is this important?
You can’t protect what you don’t know exists—an updated asset inventory is critical for cyber resilience.

These questions will help reinforce the key concepts covered in Section 10 Asset Inventory.