Analyzing the draft standard contractual clauses

As discussed in our prior post, on November 12, 2020, the European Commission published a draft implementing decision on standard contractual clauses (SCCs) for the transfer of personal data to third countries and draft standard contractual clauses. Once finalized, the SCCs will replace the existing SCCs for data transfers out of the EEA.

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Hackers exploiting MobileIron vulnerability

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre has issued an alert on the MobileIron remote code execution vulnerability. According to the alert, APT nation state groups and cybercriminals are exploiting this vulnerability to compromise the networks of UK organizations.

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Anatomy of data breach in cloud generation

In 2017, Gartner predicted that the public cloud computing industry would be worth $236 billion by 2020, as its demand, driven by the growing number of businesses recognizing cloud computing as a data center solution, seems to surge. And for good reasons. Cloud has proven to offer enhanced stability, security, flexibility, and cost-saving.

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5 minutes with Ian Thornton-Trump, CISO of Cyjax

Meet Ian Thornton-Trump. He is the Chief Information Security Officer at Cyjax, and an ITIL certified IT professional with 25 years of experience in IT security and information technology. As CISO Cyjax, Ian has deep experience with the threats facing small, medium and enterprise businesses. His research and experience have made him a sought-after cybersecurity consultant specializing in cyber threat intelligence programs for small, medium and enterprise organizations. In his spare time, he teaches cybersecurity and IT business courses for CompTIA as part of their global faculty and is the lead architect for Cyber Titan, Canada's efforts to encourage the next generation of cyber professionals.

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Home Depot settles 2014 data breach

Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced that Delaware has joined a total $17.5 million settlement against Georgia-based retailer The Home Depot, resolving a multistate investigation of a 2014 data breach which exposed the payment card information of approximately 40 million Home Depot consumers nationwide. Through the settlement The Home Depot has reached a resolution with 45 other states and the District of Columbia. The DOJ’s Consumer Protection Unit helped secure the settlement.

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Center for Internet Security (CIS) celebrates 20th anniversary

The year 2020 has been a whirlwind of adaptation and change, prompting the phrase “business as usual” to take on a whole new meaning. The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS) has become a leader in supporting both public and private organizations in the COVID era, when many are shifting more of their workforce remote and more of their workloads to the cloud. 2020 also marks a milestone for the Center for Internet Security, as CIS is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month.

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Vince Houghton named Director of NSA's National Cryptologic Museum

NSA’s National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) is thriving and plans to keep growing as it welcomes a new Director. Dr. Vince Houghton, who brings a deep background in intelligence and history, joined the Agency last month after serving as historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. Dr. Houghton said he already is impressed with the professionalism of the current staff.

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CISA warns public about online holiday shopping scams

With more commerce occurring online this year, and with the holiday season upon us, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) reminds shoppers to remain vigilant. Be especially cautious of fraudulent sites spoofing reputable businesses, unsolicited emails purporting to be from charities, and unencrypted financial transactions.

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Why email needs a zero-trust security model

Content-centric solutions that evaluate each message based on how likely it is to be bad create a gap through which identity-based email attacks can slip. A zero-trust email security model is vital to closing that gap. Zero-trust may also be characterized as zero-assumption.

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Packet capture and analysis: The force multiplier in the cybersecurity battle

For organizations experiencing data breaches, the consequences are considerable, especially for security operations. IBM reports that over 25,000 data records are stolen with the average data breach, and costing the targeted company as much as $8.64M per breach in the United States. And it takes on average a staggering 280 days between identifying and containing a data breach (known as the breach cycle). So why is it so hard to fight this digital war, and why is the breach cycle so long?

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Why application-layer security is critical in preventing data breaches

Stories about cyberattacks and security breaches are popping up more and more frequently in the news and it seems as though no company is immune to the sophisticated strategies hackers use to obtain high value confidential data. These data hacks result in bad PR, lost customer trust, possible fines, and potentially ruined reputations. Needless to say, it should have you questioning whether or not your data is properly protected, and the answer is — it’s probably not.

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New Information Security Forum research explores human-centered security

According to the Information Security Forum (ISF), with growing recognition that security awareness in isolation rarely leads to sustained behavior change, organizations need to proactively develop a robust human-centered security program to reduce the number of security incidents associated with poor security behavior.

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Reimagine your organization’s approach to in-office infrastructure

There is an opportunity here for IT teams to stabilize their work-from-home situations while also preparing for the future back in the office, or for many, supporting a hybrid model. Long term solutions are needed for organizational success. There are many steps that can be taken to ensure infrastructure is properly cared for and ready to be used when teams are able to return to the office.

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Multi-cloud adoption grew by 70% year over year

Sumo Logic released findings from its fifth annual report. ”The Continuous Intelligence Report: The State of Modern Applications, DevSecOps and the Impact of COVID-19” provides an inside look into the state of the modern application technology stack, including changing trends in cloud and application adoption and usage by customers, and the impact of COVID-19 as an accelerant for digital transformation efforts.

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How to maximize traffic visibility with virtual firewalls

Few cybersecurity components are as familiar as the next-generation firewall (NGFW) for enterprise protection. Despite this ubiquity, it is common for security teams to operate their NGFW in a suboptimal manner. The TAG Cyber team has observed, for example, that many enterprise teams operate their NGFW more like a traditional firewall. This can result in a reduction of traffic visibility, which in turn degrades prevention, detection, and response.

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KnowBe4 partners with the Center for Cyber Safety and Education to bolster women in cybersecurity

KnowBe4 announced it is partnering with the Center for Cyber Safety and Education to launch a Women in Cybersecurity Scholarship to offer $10,000 to be applied to tuition, fees, books and required electronics for the recipient.

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CISA and the Chemical Sector Coordinating Council (SCC) to host Chemical Security Summit

The Chemical Security Summit will be hosted by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in collaboration with the Chemical Sector Coordinating Council (SCC). The summit is the signature industry event for chemical representatives across the chemical and interconnected sectors—including energy, communications, transportation, and water—to learn, share perspectives, and engage in dialogue. Securing chemicals in an evolving threat environment requires cross collaboration between facility owners and operators, industry, law enforcement, community members, and all levels of government.

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Facebook Messenger bug allowed Android users to spy on each other

Facebook has fixed a critical flaw in the Facebook Messenger for Android messaging app. Natalie Silvanovich of Google’s Project Zero reported the bug to the Facebook bug bounty program. The bug could have allowed a sophisticated attacker logged in on Messenger for Android to simultaneously initiate a call and send an unintended message type to someone logged in on Messenger for Android and another Messenger client (i.e. web browser).

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Iowa City hospital suffers phishing attack

During a time where hospitals are already strapped for resources, Mercy Iowa City hospital reported that an internal email compromise and phishing email incident led to the exposure of personal information of some 60,473 individuals.

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VDI improvements ensure business continuity in the age of remote work

Working at home poses many challenges. One smart solution for enterprises that continues to help maintain business continuity is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). It enables IT organizations to deliver a corporate endpoint experience on relatively inexpensive hardware while maintaining strict IT standards that will provide benefits well into the future. 

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A cluster without RBAC is an insecure cluster

The Principle of Least Privilege is one of the longest standing principles of security. People (as well as applications) should only have access to the things they need to do their job, and nothing else. While being overly permissive may make life a bit easier in the short-term, it can easily come back to haunt you long-term, whether due to a malicious attack, misplaced credentials, or even an honest mistake.

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Curiosity, creativity, collaboration: the human elements of the SOC

Machines are better at speed and scale than humans. But humans have the edge over machines at thinking outside of the box, using their curiosity and creativity to come up with solutions, and reasoning that machines cannot define or replicate. When it comes to security operations, humans and automation are the duo that’s stronger and more effective in partnership than when they’re apart. Using extended detection and response (XDR) can bring these skills to the forefront of the Security Operations Center (SOC), leaving the repeatable, boring tasks to the machines and allowing for these human traits to shine.

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Chrome gets patched again, but 83% of users aren’t running the latest version

How to build a culture of security

No matter how much you spend on your security infrastructure, it won’t do a bit of good if the people you employ aren’t using it correctly. For example, you could install the best antivirus in the world, but if an employee falls for a spear-phishing scam and inadvertently gives their password to a hacker, it’s all for nothing. That’s why it’s more critical than ever to have a culture of security.

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Michael Jordan is zero trust, then identity governance is Scottie Pippen — Why cybersecurity is a team sport

Basketball can teach us a lot about managing the cybersecurity of an enterprise: it takes teamwork. This is perhaps most evident as organizations seek to adopt zero trust principles. The zero trust concept is not new, but I hear more organizations discussing it than ever before — driven by a desire for greater security, more flexible access, and accelerated by the shift to remote work due to COVID-19. At its core, zero trust focuses on providing least-privilege access to only those users who need it. Put it this way: don't trust anyone and even when you do, only give them what they need right now. This security philosophy would make Jordan proud, but in that vein, zero trust would not work without another player: identity management (perhaps it’s the Pippen factor!).

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Analyzing the EDPB’s draft recommendations on supplementary measures

In a flurry of activity last week, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Commission made major announcements affecting cross-border data transfers out of the EEA. First, the EDPB announced the adoption of draft recommendations on measures that supplement cross-border data transfer tools as well as recommendations on the European Essential Guarantees for surveillance measures. The recommendations were adopted during the EDPB’s 41st plenary session and in response to the CJEU’s Schrems II ruling. The following day, the European Commission published a draft set of new standard contractual clauses. Taken together, these documents will, once finalized, fundamentally change data transfers out of the EEA. The below post will examine the EDPB’s draft recommendations on supplementary measures. The draft new standard contractual clauses will be discussed in a separate post.

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Cyber resilience through deception: What businesses can learn from federal cybersecurity frameworks

With cyber resilience, it is the same kind of philosophy: reducing your cyber incident risk and not just relying on one line of defense or one capability you think will be the one that finally stops the bad actors. Looking at the standards for cyber resilience in federal agencies will help businesses understand both the essentials and the additional steps they need to take to fully safeguard their assets.

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Cybersecurity doorways left ajar in the race to remote work

SailPoint Technologies Holdings, Inc. released an international study uncovered several security threats with every worker whose access was freely granted without proper security controls in place, including phishing attempts, using personal devices for work and vice versa, and sharing passwords with friends and family.

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Continuous Automated Red Teaming (CART): The future of security testing

Today's cyber environment is one of rapid and constant change. Stepping up in technological savvy, threat actors are using an arsenal of new and sophisticated techniques that make recognizing their attacks harder than ever. There are several thousand products and thousand different threats and risks. Cybersecurity seems as elusive and probably as impossible as the “happiness problem.” 

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The Standoff wraps up; Attackers breach perimeters of all six organizations and gain access to corporate networks

The Standoff, an online offensive/defensive competition in which defenders (blue teams) compete against attackers (red teams) to control the infrastructure of a simulated digital city, has concluded. The event took place Nov. 12-17, 2020, pitting information security veterans against skilled hackers in a battle to hack mock banks, utilities, airports, downtown hubs, IoT systems, cargo and public transportation, telecoms systems and more.

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53% of manufacturing organizations say operational technology is vulnerable to cyberattacks

TrapX Security released findings of a research survey in partnership with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). The survey asked 150 cyber and IT professionals directly involved in security strategy, control and operations within manufacturing organizations about their current and future concerns.  

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Trump fires CISA Director Christopher Krebs; Chief of Staff confirms who's next in line

President Donald Trump announced late on Tuesday that he had "terminated" Christopher Krebs, who served as the first director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Trump claimed that Krebs' statement that the 2020 election was one of the most secure was "highly inaccurate." 

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5 minutes with Jason Soroko - The importance of zero trust during COVID-19

​​​​​​Between distributed workforces and scattered schedules, there’s no doubt the work environment has faced enormous disruption over the past few months, forcing enterprises to modernize their security measures. The solution? Jason Soroko, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Sectigo, believes it's a Zero-Trust Security Strategy. Here we talk to Soroko about the importance of a zero-trust strategy, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Foundational excellence: How a ‘Connected Government’ strategy can support IT needs

Government can no longer afford to pursue monolithic, exquisite technology solutions. Given rising citizen expectations and the fast-changing technology landscape, state and local governments need to work closely with key stakeholders, including both citizens and IT vendors. This vision – call it “Connected Government” – will drive IT modernization. It’s a relationship-based approach to technology that will help state and local governments meet the immediate challenges of remote work and virtual citizen service, while also helping government IT leaders keep pace with innovation. Given the potential power of a Connected Government approach to IT services, it’s worth taking a deeper dive into how this mode of operation works.

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Pharmaceutical industry sees increase in mobile phishing encounters

Lookout's newest Pharmaceutical Industry Threat Report shows attacks have turned to spear phishing campaigns to steal employees’ login data or deliver malicious payloads to their mobile devices to compromise the infrastructure of pharma companies. 

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The future of SOAR (Is there one?)

Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) solutions came on the market around six years ago. The two main objectives of these tools were to orchestrate 3rd party tools for filtering false positive alerts out of the network, and to automatically block attacks. SOAR came on the scene with bold statements to fill in some of the gaps that existed in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms, which have been making security analysts miserable for twenty years now.

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Why CISOs need broader C-suite support to drive a strong security culture

Generally, the chief information security officer (CISO) is thought of as the top executive responsible for information security within organizations. However, in today’s remote work environment, the need to expand security beyond one department or the responsibilities of CISOs is more important than ever. Due to the pandemic, the physical barriers of the office have been removed and the threat surface has exponentially expanded leaving more endpoints to be attacked. In this scenario, each employee’s home office has become a new potential risk, which is why building a strong security culture within organizations should be a priority.

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5 keys for protecting health data in WordPress

As increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks continue to target healthcare’s essential systems - including networks, IoT medical instruments, and mobile devices - the need for advanced security protections continues to grow. Healthcare leaders are beginning to embrace the truth: cybersecurity is now an indispensable part of patient care. Yet even as this move toward secure connected technologies expands, a favorite target of malicious actors continues to be the healthcare organization’s website - especially if the site is powered by WordPress.

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Lazarus misuses legitimate security software in a supply-chain attack in South Korea

ESET researchers recently discovered attempts to deploy Lazarus malware via a supply-chain attack (on less secure parts of the supply network) in South Korea. In order to deliver its malware, the attackers used an unusual supply-chain mechanism, abusing legitimate South Korean security software and digital certificates stolen from two different companies. The attack was made easier for Lazarus since South Korean internet users are often asked to install additional security software when visiting government or internet banking websites.

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2 in 3 concerned about data breaches during the holiday shopping season

Generali Global Assistance released the findings of its fourth annual Holiday Shopping ID Theft survey. The survey examines consumer sentiment on retail data breaches and the identity theft risks holiday shopping poses.

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Cybercriminal forum offers Wisconsin voter data for free

Digital Shadows has identified a post on the English-speaking cybercriminal forum, RaidForums, alleging to possess a complete 2020 Wisconsin voter database. The author of the post provided a free download link to a database containing statewide voter and absentee data acquired from the "Badger Voters" site, a website established by the State of Wisconsin Elections Commission.

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5 minutes with Omri Kletter – COVID-19, cybersecurity, crime, and fraud management

How is the current COVID-19 pandemic affecting fraud levels, and what can firms do to protect their employees and customers? Below, we talk to Omri Kletter, VP, Cyber Crime and Fraud Management at Bottomline, about best practices for managing risk and cyber threats in the payments process more broadly. 

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Security budget battles in the age of COVID-19

Budget bandwidth is often a strong contention point for businesses. And even with the increase in cybercrime threats, some firms still struggle to allocate proper budget allowances to meet security and regulatory requirements. According to a recent report by Accenture, organizations face on average 22 legitimate security breaches each year and the average cost of a single cyberattack is $380,000.

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Engaging in diversity, equity, and inclusion for stronger cybersecurity

As institutions of higher education reel from recent cyberattacks in the United Kingdom, IT departments work tirelessly to secure sensitive student data. Student records offer a wealth of personally identifiable information (PII) from birth dates and social security numbers to bank account numbers and home addresses. In parallel, a study released by EDUCAUSE in July 2020 notes that the CIO’s Commitment on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) reports that 83.1% of respondents strongly agree that “diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace environments foster more effective and creative teams of technology professionals.” Although at first glance, these two issues appear unrelated, bringing diverse voices to the cybersecurity table may provide a way through, rather than around, the current security struggles facing remote learning models in higher education. 

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Malware activity spikes 128% in Q3

The Q3 2020 Threat Landscape Report by Nuspire demonstrates threat actors becoming even more ruthless. Throughout Q3, hackers shifted focus from home networks to overburdened public entities, including the education sector and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Malware campaigns, like Emotet, utilized these events as phishing lure themes to assist in delivery.

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FPA launches cybersecurity certificate program for financial planners

Financial services firms are reportedly hit by security incidents 300 times more frequently than other businesses, according to ID Theft Resource Center. To help financial planners protect their data and comply with the cybersecurity requirements established by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FINRA, the Financial Planning Association (FPA) today launched Cybersecurity for Financial Planners: An FPA Certificate Program.

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Suite success: Three steps executive teams should take to prevent and survive a data breach

The following outlines three steps the C-suite and other executive team members should take to prevent and survive a data breach. But first, it’s imperative all involved heed this initial piece of advice when planning cybersecurity; treat breaches not as a possibility, but as something that is going to happen.

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3 ways to ensure network security with a shift to remote work

The need for improved security for remote workers requires more resources; however, the ongoing economic conditions often require lowering costs. A Microsoft survey found most leaders increased budgets for security and compliance (58 and 65% noting an increase), while 81% of respondents also reported pressure to lower security costs overall. IT is therefore tasked with protecting their company’s networks from the remote work-related threats while operating with leaner budgets. Doing this effectively will require multiple strategies to make sure your network is secure with the shift to remote work. Here are three examples on how broader security can be achieved.

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The 6 stages of a holistic hardware security development lifecycle

Building security and privacy into product development is more critical today than ever before. First introduced through the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing initiative in the early 2000s, the well-known security development lifecycle (SDL) is a framework designed to do just that. It was originally devised to enhance software security, but an SDL process can and should be applied to all types of products to help root out security and privacy vulnerabilities, while establishing long-term resilience in the rapidly evolving threat landscape.

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Remote workers more at risk for social engineered deception and cyberattack

Social engineering is a term that refers to efforts by hackers and cybercriminals to use people — rather than technology — to gain access to sensitive systems and information. It’s a problem that information security experts have been wrestling with for years and one that, in the midst of COVID-19, has become both more prevalent and more challenging.

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DHS announces new Homeland Security Advisory Council members

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad F. Wolf introduced two new members to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC): Tom Jenkins and Catherine Lotrionte. Created by President George W. Bush in 2002, the HSAC is a Department of Homeland Security federal advisory committee that provides the secretary with independent, informed recommendations, and advice on a variety of homeland security issues.

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Retailers should safeguard digital storefronts as cyberattacks increase

Keeper Security has examined new challenges for the retail industry as part of its Cybersecurity in the Remote Work Era: A Global Risk Report. With the holiday season quickly approaching, Keeper Security is issuing an advisory for retailers.  

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5 minutes with Stephanie Benoit-Kurtz – A seat at the table

Meet Stephanie Benoit-Kurtz, lead of cybersecurity faculty at the University of Phoenix – Las Vegas. She is also director of cybersecurity for Station Casinos in Las Vegas. She has spent three decades in the IT industry, working for a variety of large and small organizations and as a consultant. In the early days of her career, despite being part of the team responsible for implementing decisions at the IT company where she was employed, she “was routinely left out of the decision-making process. Here, we talk to Benoit-Kurtz about how the cybersecurity space has changed over time, and how the industry can embrace more individuals to meet demand and close the cybersecurity gap.

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CISA says there's no evidence of election fraud; 2020 election was the most secure in American history

The members of Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee - Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), released a statement noting that the 2020 election was the most secure in American history.

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The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams holding annual conference online next week

The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is holding its annual conference online next week. The three-day event, which is taking place online for the first time, will feature both industry experts and academics from the global community talking about the latest developments on how to prevent, detect and respond to computer security incidents. The

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Building a resilient enterprise with threat intelligence

Building a cyber-resilient enterprise informed by threat intelligence is not an easy task. Risks and requirements are often as unique and diverse as organizations themselves. Determining factors like industry, size, and market contribute to one simple truth: a one-size-fits-all approach to incorporating threat intelligence does not exist. Some invariants, however, do remain; successful threat intelligence programs must staff the right people in the right positions. Below, I’ll introduce four core threat intelligence focuses to consider as businesses plan and allocate budgets for 2021:

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Cybersecurity industry veteran, Jon DiMaggio, joins Analyst1 as Chief Security Strategist

Analyst1, provider of a threat intelligence platform (TIP), added recognized cybersecurity industry veteran, Jon DiMaggio, to its executive team. As chief security strategist, DiMaggio will be responsible for driving security research and strategy for the next generation threat intel company.

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Identity is the new cloud perimeter

Securing identities and their privileges and access should be at the center of your strategy for reducing your cloud attack surface. The old network perimeter, with its limited number of points of ingress secured with firewalls and other perimeter defenses has given way to a distributed arrangement. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) today is the new IT, and cloud identities are the new perimeter with thousands of users and points of potential failure existing outside of your traditional security protocols. The greatest threats to this new perimeter include:

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1.3 billion bot attacks were detected in Q3 of 2020

Arkose Labs, provider of online fraud and abuse prevention technology,  released new data-driven analysis of 2020 fraud trends that shows a rise in consumer digital traffic has corresponded with a rise in fraud attacks.

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ISC West 2021 postponed to July

ISC West, originally slated to take place March 23-26, 2020, has been rescheduled to July 19-21, 2021 at The Venetian Resort and Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas.

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Get bent on cyber intent

The cyber intent strategy is to seek out the reconnaissance traffic that precedes an attack and manipulate it so well that the attack never succeeds. Leveraging and countering malicious cyber intent as your earliest defense draws from information warfare. Investing a small misdirection here could pay dividends later.

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Five tips for chief information security officers to increase their strategic value to the CEO and board of directors

The role of the chief information security officer – or CISO for short – is to understand a corporation’s cyber threat landscape and know where vulnerabilities lie. And given the relentless increase in sophisticated hacking, their clout and importance to the CEO and Board is increasing exponentially.

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ESET Research discovers ModPipe, backdoor targeting POS software used by thousands of restaurants, hotels

ESET researchers have discovered ModPipe, a modular backdoor that gives its operators access to sensitive information stored in devices running ORACLE MICROS Restaurant Enterprise Series (RES) 3700 POS (point-of-sale) – a management software suite used by hundreds of thousands of bars, restaurants, hotels and other hospitality establishments worldwide. The majority of the identified targets were from the United States.

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The Maritime Transportation System ISAC welcomes John Felker as Senior Advisor

John Felker, former Assistant Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency brings significant public-private sector relationship building expertise to the Maritime Transportation System Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s (MTS-ISAC) nonprofit, community focused mission.

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Federal funds available for converting airports from military to civil and joint-use airports

The Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) will accept applications from airport sponsors through Dec. 17, 2020, under the Fiscal Year 2021 Military Airport Program (MAP). The MAP provides funding to help develop former military airports or designated joint-use military airfields for civilian use.

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9 reasons digital fraud is on the rise

What is causing digital fraud to rise year over year? From current trends and consumer attitudes to technological enhancements and more sophisticated tactics, let’s take a look at the top nine reasons digital fraud is rapidly increasing:

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How the cloud changes everything

Organizations' migration to the cloud is a broad term that encompasses many different trends: (1) Moving existing applications from private data centers to AWS, Azure, or the Google Cloud Platform as cloud service providers (CSPs), often referred to as lift-and-shift or infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS); (2) Completely restructuring how applications are built to make heavier use of prepackaged services available on these cloud service platforms – often referred to as lift-and-reshape, serverless, or platform-as-a-service (PaaS); (3) Choosing to forgo running copies of standard applications instead of having the application vendor host them is sometimes referred to as drop-and-shop or software-as-a-service (SaaS).

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Bringing greater attention and awareness to cybersecurity practices in the global public health sector

With the emergence of major public health issues, or crises, such as COVID-19, grant funding for research and program development will be made available from various government agencies to help with the response. Additionally, foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or Ford Foundation may provide the precious funds to perform the vital work to battle the at hand issue. If fortunate, those in receipt of funding to pursue the global health issue to be addressed will often utilize technology either developed or custom created and implemented to address the critical response, or in the case of COVID-19, slow the spread or research the creation of vaccines.  

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Apple's new requirement puts additional focus on consumer and data privacy

Starting on December 8, Apple will require all third-party developers to detail their app’s privacy information, according to an Apple post. Security experts note that this new update (iOS 14) puts additional focus on on user privacy, and in particular gives users better visibility into their personal information that is shared with third parties. 

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5 minutes with Mark Kedgley – Minimizing security threats of alert fatigue

Security alerts are imperative for effectively mitigating and preventing cyberattacks. But, a key challenge of modern threat protection solutions is the sheer number of alerts they generate – leading to “alert fatigue.” To learn more about the dangers of alert fatigue, we talk to Mark Kedgley, CTO at New Net Technologies (NNT).

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OCC reports key risks, effects of COVID-19 in federal banking system

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reported the key issues facing the federal banking system and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the federal banking industry in its Semiannual Risk Perspective for Fall 2020.

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Common security vulnerabilities within travel management companies

Since the COVID-19 crisis, many travel management companies have been ground to a halt. But what will happen when the borders open back up and employees get back on planes? For many organizations, business travel is a core operational element that enables growth through networking and meeting existing and future customers and partners.

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Tackling the challenges of detecting P2P botnets

While the technical root causes are the same, the impact of an IoT botnet attack on consumer versus enterprise and industrial devices is vastly different. An attack on a consumer gadget could be limited to a privacy issue, whereas the effect of a successful breach on a commercial device can have a significant production or safety cost.  That’s why it’s more critical than ever for IT and OT security professionals to understand and be prepared to defend against this growing threat.

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How DDoS activity has evolved this year

Although DDoS as a threat vector may have been overshadowed in the media as a result of several high-profile ransomware operations this year, instances of DDoS attacks show little sign of slowing down as a common tool for malicious actors. According to new Digital Shadows research, 2020 saw the largest DDoS attack on record, peaking at rate of 2.3 terabytes per second and causing three days of downtime for the targeted business.

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US bank regulators issue best practices to improve operational resilience

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, the agencies) issued an interagency paper titled “Sound Practices to Strengthen Operational Resilience.” The sound practices paper generally describes standards for operational resilience set forth in the agencies’ existing rules and guidance for domestic banking organizations that have average total consolidated assets greater than or equal to (1) $250 billion or (2) $100 billion and have $75 billion or more in average cross-jurisdictional activity, average weighted short-term wholesale funding, average nonbank assets, or average off-balance-sheet exposure.

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Liberating network management: Your first line of cyber defense

Cybersecurity breaches are an all-too-common and ever-evolving threat that every organization should be prepared for. But as digital ecosystems evolve to support new innovations and an increasing number of connected devices, so does the complexity of managing and securing critical network infrastructure. What can be done to prevent attacks and protect sensitive data and critical infrastructure? One of the first and most critical steps to improving security is to ensure network management operates independently from the production network.

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Human error poses cybersecurity challenges for 80% of businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Eighty percent of companies say that an increased cybersecurity risk caused by human factors has posed a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in times of heightened stress. This is according to Cyberchology: The Human Element, a new report that explores the role employees and their personality play in keeping organisations safe from cyber threats. Including that:

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CyberSeek helps organizations address growing cybersecurity staffing challenges

New data from CyberSeek, America’s top free resource on the U.S. cybersecurity job market, shows that the shortage of cyber professionals is approaching a danger level, putting digital privacy and infrastructure at greater risk.

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University of Vermont Medical Center works to restore systems after cyberattack

During the week of October 25, 2020, the UVM Health Network experienced a confirmed cyberattack affecting some systems. Despite standby procedures in place to continue providing safe care, the attack caused variable impacts on services at affiliate organizations. 

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CSUSB Cybersecurity Center to host virtual national cybersecurity symposium

Cal State San Bernardino’s Cybersecurity Center will host the annual Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cybersecurity Symposium this year to be held virtually Nov. 19-20.

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5 minutes with Heather Federman - The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)

On November 4, 2020, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) passed, with a decisive majority of Californians (56% according to the Secretary of State's web site) supporting the measure to strengthen consumer privacy rights. Here, we talk to Heather Federman, Vice President of Privacy & Policy at BigID, about this sweeping privacy law will set the bar for privacy rights for the rest of the nation.

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Beyond standard risk feeds: Adopting a more holistic API solution

Overlooked risks can cost companies millions in financial and reputational damage — but existing commercial threat intelligence solutions often lack data coverage, especially from these alternative web spaces. How does this impact corporate security operations, and how can data coverage gaps be addressed?

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Enclave technologies from silicon... to software... to the data center

Data must be protected. There’s no argument about that. Solutions to protect data at rest and data in motion have been around for decades. The problem is that for data to be useful, it has to be processed, and, until recently, processing left data wide open to theft or attack. 

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Security magazine announces the Top Cybersecurity Leaders contest

Security magazine and its partner for the Top Cybersecurity Leaders, (ISC)², is looking for enterprise information security executives, who have made and continue to make significant contributions in the cybersecurity space to their organizations and/or the enterprise-level information security profession.

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Rough waters ahead: A phisherman’s tale

A third wave – feels more like a third tsunami. Many haven’t returned to the office; some may end up back in work-from-home scenarios. While workers may feel safe at home, false senses of complacency can easily mask very real cyber threats. Cybercriminals don’t pause for pandemics. With the increase in remote work, an explosion in cybercriminal activity, like phishing, has followed. Not only is phishing still prevalent, but it’s rising much like that third wave.

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Maintaining an effective cybersecurity program during COVID-19

For most of this year, COVID-19 has dominated and disrupted our normal business routines, and as we relocated to avoid the first wave of the virus, the hackers and thieves weren’t far behind.  As people began working remotely in large numbers, the number of unsecured remote desktops soared, as did brute-force attacks against those desktops.

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Toy manufacturer Mattel suffers ransomware attack

In its quarterly report, toy maker Mattel discovered it was the victim of a ransomware attack on its information technology systems that caused data on a number of systems to be encrypted  in July 2020.

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Capcom suffers data breach

Japanese gaming giant Capcom has disclosed a data breach which led to unauthorized access of some files and systems. The developer claimed that the incident  impacted email and file servers, among other systems.

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Blackbaud sued after ransomware attack

Blackbaud, cloud software provider, has been sued in 23 proposed consumer class action cases in the U.S. and Canada related to the ransomware attack and data breach that the company suffered in May 2020.

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NOAA to enhance weather forecasting and research with artificial intelligence

NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service (NESDIS) has signed an agreement with Google to explore the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for enhancing NOAA’s use of satellite and environmental data.

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California voters approve California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)

California voters have passed the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), expanding data protection for consumers. 

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Director of CISA Chris Krebs says there's no evidence of foreign interference in the 2020 election

Chris Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said that after the final day of voting and with millions of votes cast, the federal government has "no evidence any foreign adversary was capable of preventing Americans from voting or changing vote tallies."

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5 minutes with Doug Matthews - Ransomware threats on political organizations

While the first thing that may come to mind is attacks on voter booths and polling data, hackers were expected to hit more vulnerable targets first, such as community-based organizations and systems supporting political campaigns. These networks are rarely designed to withstand the ransomware threats much larger, established political bodies face, and hackers know it. Here, we talk to Doug Matthews, Vice President of Product Management for Veritas, about the conditions impacting data protection during the election period.

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Email security best practices for a remote human perimeter

Cybercriminals quickly weaved the pandemic into their email scams earlier this year, and more recently impersonated the IRS by pretending to share updates about COVID tax relief in an attempt to steal sensitive tax information. In mid-April, Google’s Threat Analysis Group reported that they detected 18 million COVID-19 themed malware and phishing emails per day. And that’s without including all the email impersonation, invoice fraud, and phishing attacks that have nothing to do with COVID, but are dangerous nonetheless. In this article, I will provide some tips to help individuals and organizations communicate more securely over email.

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Attackers targeting non-governmental organizations in Myanmar with new ‘KilllSomeOne’ backdoor

Sophos uncovered attackers using DLL side-loading to execute malicious code and install backdoors in the networks of targeted organizations. A report published, “A New APT uses DLL Side-loads to Killl Someone,” outlines the discovery of four different DLL side-loading scenarios, which all share the same program database path and some of which carry a file named “KilllSomeOne.”

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DHS awards $2M to University of Illinois-led consortium to create national network of cybersecurity institutes

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), in partnership with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), has awarded $2 million to the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI), a DHS Center of Excellence (COE) led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), to develop a plan that CISA can execute to build a national network of cybersecurity technical institutes.

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Russian cybercriminal sentenced to prison for $100 million botnet conspiracy

A Russian national was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in operating a sophisticated scheme to steal and traffic sensitive personal and financial information in the online criminal underground that resulted in an estimated loss of over $100 million.

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5 minutes with Ian Pratt - Designing enterprise-level security for the work from anywhere world, from the hardware up

 Ian Pratt, HP’s Global Head of Security for Personal Systems, believes hardware-embedded security paired with a robust cybersecurity education and cyber hygiene protocols for remote employees is core to any organization’s operational resiliency. Below, we speak with Pratt about the long-term security implications of the pandemic, what CISOs should be doing now to prepare for an increasingly uncertain future and where he believes cybersecurity is headed next.

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InfoSec teams fight dual battle: Limited visibility and board communication

Cybersecurity teams struggle with a lack of visibility into threats, endpoint devices, access privileges, and other essential security controls necessary for a robust cybersecurity posture. Without full visibility into their entire digital ecosystem, infosec teams cannot fully secure the assets on their networks or effectively prioritize the most serious threats. Below, I dive into how security professionals are still fighting the battle between effectively viewing serious threats and communicating cyber risk to company leadership.

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Employee education singled out as the biggest cybersecurity weakness during lockdown

Apricorn announced new findings from a Twitter poll exploring the data security and business preparedness for remote working during the pandemic. More than 30% of respondents singled out employee education as being the biggest area companies needed to make changes to improve cybersecurity.

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Global pandemic accelerates digital transformation according to latest study

Dell Technologies released results from a global study that shows organizations are shifting their digital transformation programs into high gear and are on the path to accomplish in a few months what would normally have taken them years. The findings, updated biennially in the Dell Technologies' Digital Transformation Index (DT Index), indicate organizations are accelerating transformational technology programs during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

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The future of connected devices

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has taken work out of the office and into the home for most people. This means workers are using their home networks and personal devices to connect to the office more than ever before. This shift in work patterns brings with it new network connectivity and security challenges for IT teams to tackle.

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Security risks surrounding the presidential election, and the importance of voter data protection

Potentially disruptive, and possibly violent, protests are likely in multiple U.S. cities amid the presidential election slated for today regardless of the outcome, according to WorldAware, a GardaWorld company. Due to the complexity of the electoral system and the consequences of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, it is highly likely that the winner of the election will not be legally recognized on election night and that major protests by activists supportive of both major parties will occur for an indeterminate period, with the possibility of clashes, arson, looting, and other violence, reaching unprecedented levels, says WorldAware. Besides civil unrest and other physical security threats, the 2020 election also faces significant digital threats that could wreck havoc on U.S. election infrastructure and the legitimacy of the results.

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ICO Fines Marriott International for failing to keep customers’ personal data secure

The ICO has fined Marriott International Inc for failing to keep millions of customers’ personal data secure.

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CISOs face mounting pressure: Here’s how to help

A CEO will last 8.4 years in the position, while a CFO clocks in at 6.2 years in average length of tenure. But a look around the boardroom will tell you that longevity isn’t in the cards for overworked, overwhelmed CISOs, with most only spending an average of two years in the role before calling it quits. This trend is no coincidence - CISOs are at the top of the list for burnt out, especially this year, as organizations accelerated digital transformation nearly overnight and employees continue to work remotely. In fact, a recent Nominet study found that 88% of CISOs remain moderately or tremendously stressed. Even if Cybersecurity Awareness Month is done, we should still tip our hats to CISOs and together as an industry, adopt a few best practices that will help alleviate the burden of our valuable security leaders.

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Election 2020: The devastating social impact of bad bots

As we head into the final day before the 2020 election, disinformation on social media continues to make headlines as a means to sway public opinion and to discourage people from voting. For example, swing states have been targeted with evolving disinformation tactics in an attempt to influence what happens in the voting booth, while Black and Latino voters have been flooded with messages aimed to depress turnout by fueling cynicism and distrust in the political process.

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Be careful before you open your Prime Day package

Consumers flocked to Amazon to indulge in Prime Day deals and start their holiday shopping early this year – specifically, home office gadgets and home connected devices like smart assistants, tablets, doorbells and more. And overall, retail sales continue to grow to near pre-pandemic levels with electronics a big part of it as consumers stock their home office and arm their kids with devices now needed for virtual school. But are consumers thinking about their “home cybersecurity?”

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Google VPN and privacy and data implications

Google has announced it will be releasing a new Virtual Private Network (VPN), which will be directly embedded in Google One services. Cybersecurity experts, however, think the service leaves much to be desired. 

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The 2020 Security 500 Report

Welcome to the 2020 Security 500 report, which includes the 2020 Security 500 rankings and sector reports.

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Data breach reports were down 51% in the first three quarters of 2020

Risk Based Security released their 2020 Q3 Data Breach QuickView Report, revealing that the number of records exposed has increased to a staggering 36 billion. There were 2,935 publicly reported breaches in the first three quarters of 2020, with the three months of Q3 adding an additional 8.3 billion records to what was already the “worst year on record.”

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Schools, here’s how to stay cyber-safe in the age of remote learning

Cybercriminals are taking notice of the seemingly endless vulnerabilities schools face. Take the explosive ransomware attack on the University of Utah from earlier this summer, or the malware attack on the Rialto school district in California, for example. Even with a rapidly increasing attack surface, schools aren’t exactly able to drain their already-limited funding on transforming their IT infrastructure in the midst of a global pandemic. However, it is possible for schools to reduce risk by understanding where they are most vulnerable, taking the time to educate teachers, parents and students, and adopting certain tools and strategies to prevent targeted attacks on remote learning networks.

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Dr. Ross King to speak at the Legal, Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Forum during Government Blockchain Week

The Government Blockchain Association, (GBA), is pleased to announce that the European Commission’s TITANIUM former Project Lead, Dr. Ross King, will be speaking at the Legal, Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Forum during Government Blockchain Week in May 2021. This weeklong blockchain event will bring together policy makers in government, finance, and law enforcement from around the world to the US Capitol in Washington DC.

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UWF awarded $6 million grant to lead national cybersecurity workforce development program

The University of West Florida will lead a coalition of 10 institutions designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity in establishing a program to address the critical national shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals in the U.S. The National Security Agency selected UWF to oversee the program, which will launch in the spring and be funded by a two-year, $6 million grant.

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