Cicada (also known as Cicada3301) is sophisticated ransomware written in Rust that has claimed more than 20 victims since its discovery in June 2024.

In today’s digital world, protecting sensitive data is more critical than ever. Organizations handle vast amounts оf information daily, much оf which includes sensitive data like Personally Identifiable Information (PII), financial details, and confidential business records. The exposure of this data can lead to severe consequences, including identity theft, financial loss, and reputational damage.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) refers to any data that can identify an individual. In today’s digital world, protecting PII is crucial. As data breaches become more common, businesses must protect their sensitive information. PII masking plays a vital role in data security. It involves altering or hiding specific data elements to prevent unauthorized access. This practice is essential for companies that handle large volumes of customer data.

Data is the backbone of all businesses as everything moves online. Effective data analysis helps businesses to predict future trends, identify any gaps, and understand customer behavior, bringing them ahead of their competitors. Other than being indispensable, data is also a sensitive asset because if found in the wrong hands, it can bring disastrous consequences for any organization.

Our world is more digitally connected than ever, including the critical infrastructure systems we rely on: power grids, water treatment plants, transportation networks, communication systems, emergency services, and hospitals. A successful attack on critical infrastructure can have dire consequences, ranging from widespread power outages and contaminated water supplies to economic downturns and societal disruption. Some of those consequences have come to fruition in recent years.

This past summer was the first time I watched the Olympics since moving to the U.S. Besides appreciating the sheer greatness of the American Olympic spirit, there was also another thing that could not go missed - AI! Filling up every commercial slot seemed to be AI. And mainly, the commercials focused on harnessing AI for business productivity and operations. No matter your take on the greatest Olympic moment or greatest AI commercial, one could not overlook this overwhelming trend.

External attack surface management (EASM) is the continuous exercise of managing cybersecurity risks associated with an organization’s external-facing digital assets. The process includes monitoring, identifying, reducing, and mitigating risks present across an organization’s external attack surface.

Security ratings are a data-driven, dynamic measurement of an organization's cyber security performance that can be used to understand and influence internal and third-party cyber risk. Sometimes referred to as cybersecurity ratings, these quantitative metrics give security teams a simple indicator of security performance across their own organization, as well as the security posture of the third-party organizations they rely on.

When workloads moved to the cloud, a huge burden was lifted from the enterprise in infrastructure and operational overhead. This transition also brought with it the “shared responsibility” model, where cloud providers took on much of the responsibility previously relegated to expensive engineering teams.