It’s 7:30 AM when I check my inbox, and right at the top is an urgent email from Alex, our Chairman of the Board: “I need an update on how we’re stacking up against our competitors on security.” Not just a quick overview—he’s asking for specifics on how our cybersecurity posture compares to our peers, the improvements we’ve made, and a detailed look at our progress since our last board meeting.

Late last night, I received a notification from SecurityScorecard alerting me to a newly discovered vulnerability, Solarwinds, with potentially severe business implications for my organization. It’s now 6AM, and I’ve been up through the night, digging into the latest security research to fully assess the risk and scope of exposure. Thanks to SecurityScorecard’s real-time automated alert, I’m ahead of the situation and have already proactively briefed our CIO and executive team.

The Okta 52-character username vulnerability has brought to light a significant security issue within the popular identity and access management (IAM) platform used by many enterprises worldwide. This vulnerability allows attackers to exploit a username constraint to bypass certain authentication checks, which could have severe implications for businesses relying on Okta’s services for secure user verification and access control.

Third-party vendors are essential for many business operations, from cloud providers to SaaS applications. However, they add to the ever-growing scope of an organization’s risk management. Third-party risk management (TPRM) is the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating the security risks posed by vendors, contractors, and service providers that have access to your organization’s data or systems.

At UpGuard, we know that in cybersecurity, timing is everything. That’s why we’ve enhanced our news and incident scanning with 500% more coverage, bringing you faster insights from high-impact sources. Now, SOC analysts and security teams can catch incidents affecting their organization or supply chain sooner, allowing for quicker, proactive responses to mitigate threats before they escalate.

Obrela’s Nick Loumakis, Regional Managing Director MENA, describes the complex cyber attack landscape across the Middle East As the Middle East undergoes rapid economic growth and digital transformation across key sectors like finance, energy, and government, the region faces a surge in cybersecurity threats. The integration of cloud services, IoT devices, and digital financial systems has increased vulnerabilities, making it a focal point for sophisticated cyberattacks.

API calls are the backbone of modern software, enabling applications to communicate and share data seamlessly. However, with this integration comes the challenge of understanding and managing the identities used in API calls. These identities, often tied to authentication and authorization mechanisms, are crucial for determining what data is accessed and exchanged.

As organizations continue to embrace digital transformation, their infrastructure increasingly spans cloud environments, third-party integrations, and remote work setups. This shift enhances efficiency and productivity—but also broadens the digital attack surface, creating new points of exposure to the public internet.

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, managing cyber risk has become essential for sustaining corporate growth and resilience. Cyber risk management requires balancing corporate growth against the evolving tactics of threat actors and governmental regulations – a daunting task that requires continuous measurement and strategic reflection.