In an age where cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated and prevalent, organizations must prioritize integrating security into the very core of their technology. Security can no longer be an afterthought or a box to check; it needs to be part of the design and development process from the start.

As security leaders, you’re tasked with protecting the crown jewels of our organizations, your data, while balancing innovation, compliance, and ever-evolving threats. Yet, too often, data security strategies rely on isolated tools and reactive measures, leaving critical gaps.

DLL side-loading is a popular technique used by threat actors to execute malicious payloads under the umbrella of a benign, usually legitimate, executable. This allows the threat actor to exploit whitelists in security products that exclude trusted executables from detection. Among others, this technique has been leveraged by APT41 to deploy DUSTTRAP and Daggerfly to deliver Nightdoor backdoor.

I have spent many years, perhaps too many, working in the world of IT and information security. I can’t complain, I have to say, it has been rewarding. And I have noticed in recent years that there has been a considerable shift in how cybersecurity is perceived within organizations, with this function gaining greater importance and relevance. The personal influence of the CISO has been improving lately, both in terms of attitude and perception.