Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Threat hunting is proactively identifying and thwarting unusual network activity that could indicate an attempted security breach. It’s a historically manual activity, making it time-intensive and arduous. It’s no wonder, then, why most organizations don’t have the time, budget, or resources to undertake it effectively…if at all.

Welcome back to the final part of my blog series on taking Power Platform security and governance to the next level. In Part 2 (which you can read here), I dove into essential strategies for securing and governing Power Platform environments. Today, I’ll encourage everyone to push the envelope further by exploring advanced techniques to establish good hygiene for citizen development, maintain audit logs, implement automation playbooks, and provide ongoing education for builders and makers.

Many threat actors tend to gravitate towards using some type of remote access trojan (RAT) in their campaigns. RATs are a type of malware that is designed to allow the attacker to have control over an infected device. RATs are a popular choice for hackers to use due to their many capabilities from reconnaissance and data exfiltration to long-term persistence. Throughout the last couple of months, a new Android banking trojan has been making headlines.

Read also: Ukraine and Germany hunt for DoppelPaymer ransomware actors, a Nigerian scammer faces up to 20 years in prison, and more.

Penn State University is in hot water again for legal and compliance violations. This time, the activities in question are related to the university’s claim to be compliant under NIST SP 800-171, as required by Executive Order 13556 (2019). As a contractor and partner of the U.S. Government, Penn State is required to implement a minimum set of security controls around Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) it collects, creates, or handles as part of its partnership with the government.

When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton, one of the first fugitives named to the U.S. FBI’s most wanted list, reportedly replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” As any infosec professional working for a financial institution can tell you, loads of cybercriminals will likely agree with that sentiment. Banks and similar organizations are no stranger to cyber threats.

Cybercriminals are not holding back on LastPass users as a new phishing campaign has recently launched with the intent to steal your data. The first portion of the campaign is a phishing email that asks you to verify your personal information by clicking on a link. The messages launch in waves with several attempts to impersonate LastPass.

Researchers at NSFOCUS are tracking a phishing campaign by a new threat actor called “AtlasCross” that’s impersonating the Red Cross in order to deliver malware. “NSFOCUS Security Labs validated the high-level threat attributes of AtlasCross in terms of development technology and attack strategy through an in-depth analysis of its attack metrics,” the researchers write.

The latest cyber claims report from Coalition, a digital risk insurance provider, finds a 12% increase in cyber insurance claims in the first half of 2023 over the second half of 2022, due to surging attack frequency and severity. No industry or company size is immune as the increase was seen across all organizations, however companies with $100 million in revenue saw the largest increase in number of claims (+20%), as well as staggering losses resulting from attacks (+72%).

In this era shaped by digital innovation, the concept of Secure by Design is a critical safeguard against cyber threats. Read on to delve into the essence of Secure by Design and its profound relevance in today's technology landscape. As cyberattacks grow more sophisticated, comprehending the proactive principles behind secure design is paramount to ensuring a resilient and protected digital future.