Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

March 2021

What educational institutions need to do to protect themselves from cyber threats

Educational institutions are reaping the many benefits and new possibilities offered by online learning, but these new methods of educational instruction come with serious cyber security concerns. These institutions are also a prime focus for hackers because they often host a lot of sensitive data about teachers and students. Furthermore, schools and universities are an easy target because not every teacher or professor is technologically savvy.

Adaptive cybersecurity: 3 strategies that are needed in an evolving security landscape

Cybersecurity is no longer an outlandish concept to many business enterprise executives. What is still relatively unfamiliar to many organizations and their leadership, however, is the task of evaluating their cyber strategy and risk to determine how best to adapt and grow to stay secure while remaining competitive. Executives must initiate thorough evaluations of their existing cybersecurity strategies to figure out which types of new technologies and risk management strategies they need the most.

SD-WAN vs. MPLS: how do they compare from a security perspective?

SD-WAN and MPLS are two technologies that are often perceived as either-or solutions. For many organizations, however, SD-WAN and MPLS can complement each other. This article will define and compare the technologies, explaining how, in many cases, they work together. We’ll also explore SD-WAN’s popularity and its role in enabling modern security architectures like SASE.

Cybersecurity strategy.... To Plan or not to plan...That is the question

What is a strategy? As defined by Merriam Webster…. ‘a carefully developed plan or method for achieving a goal or the skill in developing and undertaking such a plan or method.’ A cybersecurity strategy is extremely important, but many organizations lack a strategy, or they have not kept their strategy and subsequent roadmap current. A strategy is especially important in this day of digital transformation and for key initiatives like Zero Trust.

Stories from the SOC - Propagating malware

While freeware does not have monetary cost, it may come at a price. There may be limitations to freeware such as infrequent updates, limited support and hidden malicious software. Some freeware programs may have added software packages that can include malicious software such as trojans, spyware, or adware. It’s important to have additional layers of defense to provide that your environment is protected.

Cybersecurity and accessibility for Ecommerce platforms: Is it possible?

Ecommerce store losses to online payment fraud are expected to reach $25 billion by 2024, a new Juniper report reveals — up from just $17 billion in 2020. Undoubtedly, cybersecurity should be a top priority for ecommerce owners. At the same time, accessibility is another pressing concern, with the need for websites to comply with the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0 AA).

Texas power failures highlight dangers of grid attacks

In mid-February, a winter storm left more than 4 million people in Texas without power. These outages lasted days, leading to substantial property damage and even death, and they paint a grim picture for the future. Should a cyberattack successfully infiltrate U.S. power grids, the results could be deadly. The Texas power failures did not result from a cyberattack, but they highlight how destructive grid outages can be.

What is a security operations center (SOC)? Explaining the SOC framework

If you’re responsible for stopping cyber threats within your organization, your job is more challenging than ever. The exposure to threats for any organization continues to escalate, and breaches are occurring every day. Consider: If your company doesn’t have a security operations center (SOC), it may be time to change that. In fact, a recent study indicates 86% of organizations rate the SOC as anywhere from important to essential to an organization's cybersecurity strategy.

Enterprise-Grade Mobility takes another step forward with new mobile security offers

Companies and organizations of all sizes need mobile technology built for the rigors of business—it’s a must for businesses seeking to stay competitive. Enterprise-grade mobility offers additional business options, features, and services, helping companies perform functions beyond just enabling employees to work remotely.

Security checklist for using cryptocurrency in online casino transactions

Cryptocurrency (crypto) transactions are solely reliant on the online space. Billions of people have access to online platforms. The autonomy provided by cryptosystems exposes users to more danger as there are no centralized authorities. Thus, expert fraudsters such as hackers may be able to access your transactions via their computer.

What is network segmentation? NS best practices, requirements explained

If you follow cybersecurity current events, you may know that the cost and frequency of a data breach continue to skyrocket. Organizations are constantly under attack, and the shift to remote work is only exacerbating the problem. According to IBM’s 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report, most respondents are concerned that identifying, containing, and paying for a data breach is more burdensome today than ever before.

Is automated vulnerability scanning the best way to secure smart vehicles?

To those who pay attention to such things, it seems like a new vulnerability in smart car systems is found every week. In 2020, the numbers beat all previous years. The inescapable conclusion is that smart cars are now among the favorite targets of hackers and APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) actors. One of the main reasons for this is the sheer number of different systems that the average connected car contains today.

Stories from the SOC - DNS recon + exfiltration

Our Managed Threat Detection and Response team responded to an Alarm indicating that suspicious reconnaissance activity was occurring internally from one of our customer's scanners. This activity was shortly followed by escalating activity involving brute force activity, remote code execution attempts, and exfiltration channel probing attempts all exploiting vulnerable DNS services on the domain controllers.

A plea to small businesses: Improve your security maturity

Never have I been so compelled to help educate small businesses on the need for cybersecurity. On Saturday morning, March 6, 2021, I awoke to the Wall Street Journal article describing the Hafnium attack. This attack on Microsoft Exchange Servers was shared publicly on March 2nd with a patch for the issue released on Wednesday, March 3rd. This patch appeared to spark action from the hacker who ramped up and automated their attack for maximum scale.

Deepfake cyberthreats - The next evolution

In 2019, we published an article about deepfakes and the technology behind them. At the time, the potential criminal applications of this technology were limited. Since then, research published in Crime Science has delved into the topic in-depth. The study identified several potential criminal applications for deepfakes. Among these categories, the following were deemed the highest risk: This list sparked the idea for this article.

Tips for minimizing security risks in your microservices

Organizations are increasingly turning to microservices to facilitate their ongoing digital transformations. According to ITProPortal, more than three quarters (77%) of software engineers, systems and technical architects, engineers and decision makers said in a 2020 report that their organizations had adopted microservices. Almost all (92%) of those respondents reported a high level of success.

Extended threat detection and response (XDR): Filling out cybersecurity gaps

Image source Business technology generally advances on a rapid basis, however, so do the cyberthreats that can endanger your security. According to BusinessWire, more than half of enterprises believe that their security cannot keep up, and according to IBM News Room, more than half of organizations with cybersecurity incident response plans fail to test them.

Stories from the SOC - Beaconing Activity

Beaconing analysis is one of the most effective methods for threat hunting on your network. In the world of malware, beaconing is the act of sending regular communications from an infected host to an attacker-controlled host to communicate that the infected host malware is alive and ready for instructions. It is often one of the first indications of a botnet malware infection, so it’s important to spot the beaconing behavior before the infected host can expose data or launch an attack.

5 Cybersecurity concerns surrounding the COVID vaccine

COVID-19 vaccines are starting to roll out after a year of grappling with the pandemic. While this certainly inspires hope for the future, there are still risks on the road ahead. As distribution ramps up, vaccine-related cybersecurity concerns are also rising. Cybercrime has been a prominent side effect of the pandemic throughout the past year. This wave of cyberattacks shows no signs of slowing as vaccines roll out, with some threat actors targeting distribution.