Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has found that compromise of valid accounts and spear phishing attacks were the two most common vectors of initial access in 2022, Decipher reports. Valid accounts were compromised in 54% of successful attacks. “Valid accounts can be former employee accounts that have not been removed from the active directory or default administrator accounts,” CISA said.

We've reported on several Amazon scams, but for once, there is positive news. Amazon sent an email Thursday morning highlighting the top scams your users should watch out for: Prime Membership Scams Per Amazon, "These are unexpected calls/texts/emails that refer to a costly membership fee or an issue with your membership and ask you to confirm or cancel the charge.

Maximus Federal Services is a significant government contractor that helps administrate many different US government programs. The company manages programs like local healthcare, student loan servicing, and many federal services. With more than 34,300 people employed by the company and a revenue that reaches more than $4.25 billion annually, the company manages a vast store of data that includes personal and health-related data for millions of Americans.

‍ This month's release rollup includes Egnyte's AI-driven document summarization, project dashboard for Android, and Smart Cache file download improvements. Below is an overview of these and other new releases. Visit the linked articles for more details.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced new regulations for public companies requiring them to disclose a “material cybersecurity incident” via formal report due four business days after a company determines that a cybersecurity incident is material. This is creating a lot of buzz, with companies worried if they will be prepared.

In today's digital landscape, where data breaches and security threats are a constant concern, ensuring least privilege access is of utmost importance for companies operating in the cloud. Granting the principle of least privilege to employees helps minimize the risk of unauthorized access, accidental misuse, and insider threats. However, achieving and maintaining least privilege access can be challenging, often resulting in manual processes, delays, and potential security gaps.

Voice authentication is a biometric security method that verifies individuals based on their unique vocal characteristics. It has become increasingly popular in various applications, ranging from phone banking to smart home devices. However, the rise of deepfake technology poses a significant threat to the integrity of voice authentication systems. Deepfakes are highly realistic artificial audio clips that can be used to impersonate someone else’s voice.

A phishing campaign carried out by the threat actor known as Storm-0978 has been detected by Microsoft. The campaign specifically targeted defense and government entities in Europe and North America. It exploited the CVE-2023-36884 vulnerability through Word documents, enabling a remote code execution vulnerability. Notably, the attackers used lures associated with the Ukrainian World Congress before the vulnerability was disclosed to Microsoft.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the Center for A.I. Safety have discovered a new prompt injection method to override the guardrails of large language models (LLMs). These guardrails are safety measures designed to prevent AI from generating harmful content. This discovery poses a significant risk to the deployment of LLMs in public-facing applications, as it could potentially allow these models to be used for malicious purposes.

Five worthy reads is a regular column on five noteworthy items we have discovered while researching trending and timeless topics. This week we are exploring the significant role of AI in the field of cybersecurity and why it’s the next biggest thing in cybersecurity.