2020 was the year of the phish. Well, not officially. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2020 was the Year of the Rat. But if you look at it from a cyberattack trends perspective, plenty of third parties reported a huge uptick in phishing attacks during 2020. The SANS 2021 Top New Attacks and Threat Report points to both the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2020 and the 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report as key sources that validate phishing as the most common initial compromise vector.

This month marks the 18th year of Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CSAM) which focuses on helping provide individuals with resources they need to stay safer and more secure online. Now, more than ever, the overarching theme “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart” should resonate with everyone.

ThreatQuotient’s new survey on the State of Cybersecurity Automation Adoption is now available for download. Conducted by independent research organization, Opinion Matters, the survey includes responses from 250 senior cybersecurity professionals representing the following industries: central government, defense, critical national infrastructure (energy and utilities), retail and financial services.

The escalation of cyberattacks since early 2020 is requiring many companies to strengthen their security operations. Adversaries are taking advantage of new attack vectors – like IoT devices, insecure remote access mechanisms, and the multiple personal and work devices users now move between. They’re also leveraging human vulnerabilities, impersonating trusted colleagues and third parties to infiltrate organizations.

The SANS 2021 Automation and Integration Survey is now available for download, focusing on the question: First we walked, now we run – but should we? Let’s face it, we’ve talked about security automation for years. We’ve grappled with what, when and how to automate. We’ve debated the human vs machine topic.

Many CISOs I speak with across Europe tell me their cybersecurity teams rely on two, primary open-source platforms within their security operations (SecOps). The first is Malware Information Sharing Platform (MISP), that allows the storing and sharing of indicators of compromise (IoCs) with other MISP users. The second is TheHive, designed for security incident response (IR).

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.

In recent months, we’ve seen a sharp rise in software supply chain attacks that infect legitimate applications to distribute malware to users. SolarWinds, Codecov and Kesaya have all been victims of such attacks that went on to impact thousands of downstream businesses around the globe. Within minutes of these high-profile attacks making headline news, CEOs often ask: “Should we be concerned? How is it impacting us? What can we do to mitigate risk?” .

Every breach starts as a compromise that goes unnoticed and unactioned, often because existing security devices have too many events, too little context and cannot prioritize. Providing these systems with threat intelligence is the lowest cost and most effective way to improve contextualization and blocking of new attacks.