With DDoS attacks on the rise—surpassing 4.25 billion in 2023—the right protection is crucial. Costly downtime—$6,130/minute—underscores the urgency. These attacks are getting more sophisticated, especially those that target the application layer. They’re hard to spot because they look like normal traffic and can seriously mess up a company’s operations and finances.

Achieving an effective bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program has been aspirational for many IT organizations. There are explicit security and privacy concerns, which have led many admins to sour on the concept, despite its benefits. Admins have even reluctantly accepted the risk of personal PCs being left unmanaged, which leaves gaps in management and visibility.

Welcome to the 17th edition of Cloudflare’s DDoS threat report. This edition covers the DDoS threat landscape along with key findings as observed from the Cloudflare network during the first quarter of 2024.

Microsoft and Google were the most frequently impersonated brands in phishing attacks during the first quarter of 2024, according to a report from Check Point. Microsoft-themed phishing attempts accounted for 38% of attacks in Q1 2024, while Google came in at a distant second with 11%. Notably, phishing attacks impersonating vacation rental company Airbnb have spiked over the past few weeks.

Netskope Threat Labs recently analyzed a new ransomware strain named Evil Ant. Evil Ant ransomware is a Python-based malware compiled using PyInstaller that looks to encrypt all files stored on the victim’s personal folders and external drives. This ransomware strain requires process continuity from encryption until file recovery. Rebooting, shutting down, or ending the ransomware process will make affected files unrecoverable.

Group Policy is a feature of Microsoft Windows operating systems that helps administrators manage and secure users and computers in Active Directory environments. Group Policy settings are grouped into Group Policy objects (GPOs) and applied to computer and user objects within the scope of the GPO. For example, Group Policy objects can be used to manage: This guide explains the key elements of Group Policy management.

Juggling different file formats can become a real headache. If you’ve ever received an incompatible file and are unsure how to access it or what format you need, the best solution is a file converter. However, not all file converters can solve your problem. Many have limits on the number of conversions you can make. For some file converters, you can only convert up to 5 files, leaving you to wait up to an hour until you can use the service again unless you pay for unlimited conversions.

Every day, more people get online - most do it for leisure, but organizations are increasingly moving into the digital environment. The increasing number of these new end-point users makes it clear that the cyber world must evolve. No longer can experts argue for unique platform passwords when password fatigue is prominent, nor can cybersecurity defenders protect all the various attack junctures across multiple platforms and tools.

While Palo Alto Networks has not released patches for all affected versions, CyCognito has conducted active tests across all customer realms and 97.5% of CyCognito customers’ affected devices are no longer exploitable.

The ransomware landscape is evolving with increased competition among threat groups and the emergence of new ransomware operations. However, victim organizations and potential targets are strengthening their security measures and procedures to prepare for potential ransomware attacks. Our latest quarterly report for Q1 2024 shows a significant decrease in ransomware incidents, down to 1,048 cases, representing a 22% decline compared to Q4 2023.