Threat actors have turned cybercrime into big business — a $1.5T USD industry where a ransomware attack occurs every 11 seconds. Each year, the cybersecurity industry works diligently to launch and refine tools, technologies, and solutions. The bad news? So do cybercriminals. Their nefarious innovations continue to leave organizations reeling from cyber attacks that steal data, damage reputations, and put serious dents in annual budgets.

Switching your telephone network to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has noticeable advantages. Users can experience stronger connectivity, significant cost reductions, and a centralized system. But what users also experience are new cybersecurity risks. The question becomes, then, are VoIP savings worth the costs to security?

The cloud is king. 94% of organizations rely on the public cloud in some capacity, and 84% have a “multi-cloud” strategy. The rise of hybrid and remote work, the proliferation of software-as-a-service (SaaS) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and the general digitization of once analog industries has turned the cloud into a “must-have,” especially with its pricing, space, and ability to be accessed from anywhere. But with new technologies comes new threats.

As cyber threats continue to evolve and the attack surface continues to expand, the risk of a breach becomes a matter of if not when. With migration to the cloud accelerating along with a shift to hybrid work and a surge of new IoT devices at play in every industry, it’s time for organizations to shift the way they view cybersecurity. It is no longer enough to play defense, hoping you can thwart an attack and contain the damage when it comes.

The continued increase in cybercrime and breach attempts is not a new trend. For years now, the percentages have ticked upwards, and though cybersecurity has evolved, so have hackers seeking data, money, or infamy. While the initial attack vectors can be myriad — vulnerability exploits, misconfigurations, and credential theft to name a few — there are two tactics that stand tall above the rest: Ransomware and business email compromise (BEC).

As the threat landscape continues to evolve and cybercriminals grow in sophistication, security teams are tasked with bolstering their cybersecurity controls, expertise, and solutions. However, doing all of that in-house has become more difficult due to the ongoing security skills shortage. There’s just not enough talent to go around — and that’s not expected to change anytime soon. The industry is trying to attract new talent.

On Thursday, April 20, 2023, VMware disclosed a critical deserialization vulnerability (CVE-2023-20864) in VMware Aria Operations for Logs—formerly known as vRealize Log Insight—that could result in unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) as root. The vulnerability was responsibly disclosed to VMware through the Zero Day Initiative and has not been actively exploited in campaigns. Furthermore, we have not identified a public proof of concept (PoC) exploit for CVE-2023-20864.

On April 19, 2023, PaperCut confirmed print management servers vulnerable to a critical remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2023-27350: CVSS 9.8) are being actively exploited by threat actors. CVE-2023-27350 could allow unauthenticated threat actors to bypass authentication and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM on a PaperCut Application Server. Zero Day Initiative responsibly disclosed the vulnerability to PaperCut on January 10, 2023; PaperCut released a patch on March 8, 2023.

The financial services industry is undergoing a sea change in how it does business. Today their customers expect 24×7 access, self-service convenience, apps that eliminate the need to visit brick-and-mortar locations, and always-available customer service accessed via phone, email, and the internet. Making things even more challenging, financial sector leaders are embracing cloud technologies to save costs, support real-time analysis, and offer more personalized customer experiences.

A lengthy, stressful test is what comes to mind when most people hear the acronym “SAT.” But the other “SAT” — a security awareness training, or SAT, program — can also embody those qualities if it’s not managed correctly, and cause just as many headaches for an organization fighting to mitigate phishing attacks and social engineering scams.