Security is a critical, if somewhat overwhelming, task for any organization. As products grow and teams expand, the challenge of maintaining a security posture at scale increases as well. This is where automation comes in. The ability to automate security tasks offers obvious benefits such as increased speed, while also driving deeper shifts in a company’s culture and processes.

As delivered from the manufacturer, your network systems’ default configurations are often function-oriented rather than security-oriented. Changing the system’s default configuration to a more secure form is what we refer to as system hardening.

Have you ever dined in a restaurant with a police officer? When choosing a table, or seating location, law enforcement professionals will often choose the seat that positions them with their back to the wall. This plays out quite humorously when a group of law enforcement professionals dine together, all racing toward that coveted “protected” chair. It’s obvious why this occurs.

We are excited to share that NC Protect for Microsoft 365 is now available in both Microsoft Azure Marketplace and Azure Government Marketplace! archTIS customers can now take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform, with streamlined procurement, deployment and management of NC Protect for M365 from the Marketplaces.

Dark Reading is a great site to follow if you want to keep up with the latest IT security news and trends. You’ll find plenty of articles on topics like ransomware, supply chain security and insider threats. But one type of security challenge that wasn’t previously covered in a lot of detail on Dark Reading – or on most IT media sites, for that matter – was the risk associated with “citizen development,” an increasingly popular practice within enterprises.

Today, for enterprises and even SMB companies, IT is a sprawling but interconnected universe of applications, devices, and services all running in tandem to maintain the lifeblood of these organizations—data. Navigating the complexities of this arrangement is not just a challenge for security teams (something which Nightfall customers have attested to, before adopting our platform), it’s a genuine challenge for anyone who must manage and use information.

The standard shipping container is the unsung hero of the modern world! More on that later…

A selection of this week’s more interesting vulnerability disclosures and cyber security news. For a daily selection see our twitter feed at #ionCube24. Quite a weird bunch this week. First is a sub domain of a well known brand being taken over to host a scam. Luckily didn’t get away with a huge amount, but even so something to watch for with other brands.