On the countdown to a new release, every second counts to snap up those limited-edition new kicks or sought-after concert tickets. Online attackers know that when deploying bots to gain a competitive advantage, without masking their activity it’s a matter of time before their activity is blocked by the target eCommerce platform. Industries are becoming more and more alert to bots and their ever-increasing sophistication.

Cybersecurity specialists have noticed several troubling trends over the past year, ransomware being one of the most concerning. While this is far from a new issue, it’s now more common than ever before. Every month in Q2 2021 set a new record for ransomware attempts, contributing to a 151% year-over-year increase compared to 2020. Cybercrime has risen in the past year, but ransomware attacks are outpacing other forms.

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is the latest buzz word in the security industry and garnering significant attention. Industry analysts each have their own definition. Meanwhile, security vendors are quickly jumping on the bandwagon, recasting their products as XDR solutions. And it’s safe to assume many more will unveil XDR products in the months ahead.

HSM stands for hardware security module. HSMs are hardware devices. They can be quite small and plugged into the main board of a computer, or they sit side by side in a server rack. They store sensitive data such as private keys. HSMs do not allow you to read that sensitive data back; instead, they expose only cryptographic operations like signing of certificates or encrypting data. This provides stronger protections for storing private keys compared to disks or databases.

According to FBI Director, Christopher Wray, when it comes to ransomware disruption and prevention, “...there’s a shared responsibility, not just across government agencies but across the private sector and even the average American.” At Elastic, we’re here to help state and local governments. Ransomware attacks cost the U.S. government more than $18.9 billion in 2020 alone.

Continuing on our exciting and informative webinar series, last week Appknox hosted a webinar on 'Building Org-Wide Software Security Practices'. Organized in association with Xoxoday, the leading technology platform helping businesses manage incentives, rewards, incentives and loyalty programs, I had an amazing discussion regarding various aspects of security when it comes to org-wide business initiatives and so much more with Mr Srivatsan Mohan (VP, Xoxoday).