Networks form a critical core for our modern-day society and businesses. These networks are comprised of many types of components that make up the networks’ infrastructure. Network infrastructure devices can be physical or virtual and include things such as routers, switches, firewalls, and wireless access points.

According to our most recent cloud security report, most cloud security incidents are the result of compromised credentials for either human or non-human identities. Once an attacker successfully controls an identity, such as a highly privileged user account, they can quickly move to other areas of an environment, including prevalent targets like sensitive data stores. This pattern of behavior is similar across all cloud platforms and services.

In today’s cyber attack scene, data often takes a detour – straight through hackers’ systems. Unlike phishing or ransomware, which aim to trick users into handing over credentials or stealing data directly from systems, a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack involves an unseen intermediary trying to fool each of two parties into thinking he’s the other one, capturing and/or altering information communicated between the parties, etc.

An authentication bypass in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software enables an unauthenticated attacker with network access to the management web interface to gain PAN-OS administrator privileges and perform administrative actions, tamper with the configuration, or exploit other authenticated privilege escalation vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-9474.

A new and concerning cybersecurity trend has emerged. According to the latest Q3 2024 Cato CTRL SASE Threat Report from Cato Networks, ransomware gangs are now actively recruiting penetration testers to enhance the effectiveness of their attacks. This development signals a significant shift in the tactics employed by cybercriminals and underscores the need for organizations to remain vigilant in their defense strategies.

While most security teams now have systematic processes in place for identifying vulnerabilities and responding to targeted threats, large-scale security incidents that affect many organizations globally are now an increasingly common occurrence. The Crowdstrike outage in July, while not specifically a security incident, demonstrated how targeted breaches or failures in our security infrastructure can have a ripple effect across entire industries and disrupt critical aspects of everyday life.

The newly released single largest analysis of cyber attacks across all of 2023 show a strong tie between the use of phishing and techniques designed to gain credentialed access. I’ve stood on the “phishing is a problem” soapbox for many years, attempting to focus the attention of cybersecurity teams on the single largest problem within the organization: the employees that fall for social engineering tactics time and time again.

2024 was a thrilling year for Graylog Capture The Flag (CTF) events! Across major cybersecurity conferences, Graylog invited participants to test their skills in a range of challenging scenarios designed to simulate real-world cyber threats. From North America to Europe and beyond, we saw cybersecurity professionals and enthusiasts go head-to-head in Graylog CTFs, flexing their skills, deepening their knowledge, and having fun along the way.