Introduction
Charles Iszard is the Owner of Iszard Services LLC, where he helps clients prepare for and respond to data breach and cybersecurity incidents and develop and implement data privacy and information security programs.
Charles has an extensive background in professional consulting during his tenure leading Digital Forensics and Incident Response teams at various world renown firms. In these roles, Charles has responded to a myriad of information security and data challenges across all industry verticals, from small credit firms to large nation state APT threats with significant press coverage.
He advises clients and works closely with legal counsel through the entire incident lifecycle by quickly assembling a digital forensic and incident response plan, supervising and executing incident response technologies, and briefing C-suite executives and legal counsel.
Experience
Examples of Charles’ background include responding to an incident where a local state government declared a state of emergency due to a ransomware attack.
During this time, the local government was unable to respond to 911 calls, operate penitentiaries, or monitor various other critical services. Charles worked in conjunction with the national guard and local FBI to determine how a threat actor was able to gain entry into the network and build a plan to recover in a manner which limited the risk of reentry.
Charles was able to successfully work with the mayor to inform accurate and up-to-date information for press briefings, and the local attorney general to ensure that legal considerations related to data access and their constituents were addressed.
Among other cases, Charles also responded to a threat involving a large pharmaceutical company where an excess of 30,000 systems had been taken offline in a matter of five minutes due to a compromise within their network caused by the Russian government. During this time, data was originally thought to be irrecoverably damaged and a clear plan of recovery was undetermined.
Charles was able to arrive onsite to quickly determine how the threat actor originally gained entry into the network, and rapidly begin collaborating with team members to build a plan of recovery which directly addressed the methods the threat actor was able to leverage to compromise their network.
Additionally, Charles was able to forensically recover small amounts of data, resulting in the restoration of intellectual property that would have otherwise resulted in a loss of productivity estimated in the scope of several 10s of millions of dollars.
Conclusion
Charles’ continued involvement in responding to current industry threats positions him to uniquely inform on the proactive approach in delivering exercises which are rooted in real-world experience. Charles has helped organizations strengthen their environments through the use of Tabletop Exercises, Process/Playbook/Plan development, Cyber Range Exercises, Purple teaming, and consultations on general risk planning.
The experience Charles brings from responding to active threats on a near daily basis has allowed him to ensure organizations that he partners with are positioning themselves where they are informed and confidently mitigating risks which might have otherwise resulted in a significant impact if not already previously planned for.