Every year, thousands of new vulnerabilities are discovered, requiring organizations to patch operating systems (OS) and applications and reconfigure security settings throughout the entirety of their network environment. To proactively address vulnerabilities before they are utilized for a cyberattack, organizations serious about the security of their environment perform vulnerability management to provide the highest levels of security posture possible.
AT&T’s Digital Forensic Incident Response (DFIR) team has been observing cybercriminal organizations steadily increase their ransomware capabilities over the last few years. We have seen ransomware grow in sophistication and capability at a rapid pace. So rapidly in fact, that each investigation shows a new tactic or change in the binary program responsible for encrypting clients’ data.
Cybersecurity penetration testing is a method of checking for security weaknesses in software and systems by simulating real-world cyber-attacks. Also known colloquially as 'pen tests,' penetration tests probe beyond the scope of automated vulnerability scans. Pen tests find gaps in protection that can arise when unique combinations of applications, systems, and security defenses work together in live environments.
WiFi signals can be put into two different categories, unencrypted and encrypted. Unencrypted WiFi, sometimes known as open WiFi, can be connected to without a password. Anyone with a phone, tablet, PC, video game system, or Internet of Things device within range of the open WiFi signal can use it as long as there aren’t more devices connected to the wireless access point than it can handle. But the data being sent to and from your device through the open WiFi signal is unencrypted.
The global cases of Novel Coronavirus are continually ticking upward in most parts of the world, and with every new case come further questions about the patients. Hospitals, governments and even general population is interested to know who the affected people are, what their health history is, which locations they visited, and who they interacted with prior to receiving positive test results.
Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) is a distributed networking approach that provides organizations a sustainable alternative to high latency hub-and-spoke network topologies.
Just as cybersecurity professionals are getting used to the possible implications of quantum computers, a new front opens in the quantum arms race: using quantum computers for encryption. Though quantum computers remain a largely theoretical threat, some researchers are already working on ways to protect systems against the exponential increase in computing power they represent.
Managed SOC, also known as SOC as a Service, is a subscription-based offering whereby organizations outsource threat detection and incident response. Based on the concept of turning an internal security operations center (SOC) into an external cloud-based service, a managed SOC offers IT organizations external cybersecurity experts that monitor your logs, devices, cloud environments, and network for known and evolving advanced threats.
The current pandemic that has upended our lives and wreaked havoc across the world have also humbled countries to a shocking degree. As borders closed, so did major sectors, industries, and businesses. Brick-and-mortar establishments had to cease operations and resume their business remotely to comply with quarantine measures. As conditions are getting better, the next challenge is for governments to restore both lives and livelihoods.
The initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic put cybersecurity programs to the test. While organizations quickly rolled out business continuity plans to transition workers from the office to the home and to migrate business online to keep customers and supply chains moving, cybersecurity leaders have worked to help keep the business protected from an onslaught of cyber threats designed to prey on the disruption and uncertainty caused by COVID-19.
