Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The CISO of a major insurance company recently switched from Microsoft to CrowdStrike for endpoint and identity security following a ransomware incident that Microsoft Defender failed to block. The following Q&A explains what happened, the fallout with Microsoft and how CrowdStrike delivered the protection, consolidation and support the CISO needed. Describe your security posture before the incident. I joined the company as CISO a few years ago.

Although using Cash App is a convenient way to receive money from people you already know, Cash App is not safe when receiving money from strangers. Whenever you use a payment app like Cash App, it’s always better to receive money from people you trust to avoid being scammed by a stranger. Other payment apps besides Cash App include PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, Apple Pay and Chime, among others.

Some examples of social engineering attacks include phishing, pretexting, scareware, baiting, vishing, smishing and CEO fraud. If you are unsure what qualifies as social engineering, imagine how many ways someone can manipulate you to reveal private information. Threat actors use these psychological techniques, both in person and online, to gain access to your personal or organizational information. These bad actors can install malware on your device, steal your information and even take your identity.

Since its mainstream emergence in 2022, generative AI has triggered a seismic shift in data management and security. It is estimated that one in four employees now uses genAI apps daily, often unbeknownst to their employer and IT team. This raises concerns, as genAI is designed with a voracious appetite for consuming both mundane and sensitive data. Effectively securing your data as genAI becomes prevalent is a strategic imperative.

In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, safeguarding critical data from unauthorized access is paramount. Our recent webinar, “Shut the Front Door,” provided invaluable insights aimed at business leaders, operations executives, and IT managers within the government contracting community, emphasizing the necessity of robust access control measures and adherence to regulations like the FAR, DFARS, and NIST 800-171.

Innovation rarely starts with acknowledging the restrictions. It’s only after you’ve fleshed out the practical concepts that you begin to understand how they can align with the predefined boundaries, ensuring that your final product is both useful and compliant. This dynamic process encourages a more organic pathway to discovery, leading to solutions that are not only innovative but also viable within the given constraints.

In today’s escalating threat landscape, Security Operations Center (SOC) teams face a constant cat and mouse battle against adversaries as they try to stay one step ahead. This situation isn’t helped by the fragmented tools; multiple data feeds and data siloes they must contend with. Likewise, with so many security vendors out there with different approaches and solutions, how do they know what cybersecurity solutions they should be investing in?

In the last decade, outsourcing to third parties–especially in the gig economy–has taken over key functions that enterprises used to handle internally. Today’s companies are frequently virtual–using third-party services that span the likes of application development, back-office corporate functions, contract manufacturing and research, marketing, and core IT services.

Contrary to what one might expect, creating a File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) system is pretty easy. Practically anyone with a modicum of Python, Perl, or development skills can write an app or script to gather a file's checksum, compare it to a list or baseline, and tell you whether or not said file has changed. But creating a good FIM solution is hard. Many inadequate checkbox File Integrity Monitoring solutions are on the market because while detecting change is easy, reconciling it is not.

‍After unearthing evidence as early as May 2024, cloud computing–company Snowflake released an official statement on June 2, reporting that they were investigating a series of targeted cyber events. A week later, Google's Mandiant, who, alongside Crowdstrike, is aiding Snowflake in this investigation, concluded that clients had been attacked after malicious actors had gotten access to compromised credentials.