One of the only things that is constant in life is change. It’s the same with cybersecurity. There are different types of changes to consider. A lot of changes in our everyday life are out of our control. It can be hard to discover, monitor and even react to change. However, when it comes to change in the world of cybersecurity, it’s possible we can manage that change in a way that can have a positive impact on our business.

An investigation claims that the UK’s National Health Service, which was hit hard by the notorious WannaCry worm in 2017, has seen a marked fall in ransomware attacks since. A report published by Comparitech, based upon Freedom of Information requests, reveals the somewhat surprising news that since WannaCry there have only been six recorded ransomware attacks against the NHS.

There are dozens of implementations of authorization mechanisms. When there are complex requirements dictated by business processes, authorization mechanisms may often be implemented incorrectly or, at least, not optimally. The reason for that, in my opinion, is the low attention of both the customer and developers to this aspect in the initial stages of the project and, at the same time, insufficient assessment of the impact of necessary requirements.

Each year on January 28, the United States, Canada, Israel and 47 European countries observe Data Privacy Day. The purpose of Data Privacy Day is to inspire dialogue on the importance of online privacy. These discussions also seek to inspire individuals and businesses to take action in an effort to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust. In observance of Data Privacy Day this year, here are five recommendations through which organizations can bolster their data security efforts.

Trust, respect, understanding. These are all two-way relationships that must be earned over time. Whilst someone being hired in a senior position will likely already have a certain level of each, part of your job is to continuously cultivate all three of these elements with colleagues no matter your grade. When working within a cybersecurity practice, it is critically important to have this level of understanding across large swaths of the workforce, from the senior level to operations teams.

In a previous article, we discussed what the NIS Directive is. The European Union developed the Directive in response to the emerging cyber threats to critical infrastructure and the impact cyber-attacks have on society and the European digital market. The NIS Directive sets three primary objectives: The “actors of particular importance” are the operators providing essential services (OES) and digital service providers (DSP) in the EU.

A new report into the state of ransomware at the tail end of 2019 has revealed that things aren’t getting any better. In Q4 of 2019, according to the new study published by security firm Coveware, the average ransom payment more than doubled – reaching $84,116, up from $41,198 in Q3 of 2019.

Digital attacks are a top concern for Industrial Control System (ICS) security professionals. In a survey conducted by Dimensional Research, 88 percent of these personnel told Tripwire that they were concerned about the threat of a digital attack. An even greater percentage (93 percent) attributed their concerns to the possibility of an attack producing a shutdown or downtime.

Requesting that a SaaS company answer a Vendor Security request has become a regular thing for companies who work in the cloud. But have you thought about how the reverse works, that is, when your customer has a VSA process focusing on you?

As a security consultant, I’m not going into an environment to design and build an organization’s network from the ground up in most situations. For the majority of the time, I’m working with legacy environments where some old technologies might be phasing out and newer ones joining the mix of solutions.

The NIS Directive is the first EU horizontal legislation addressing cybersecurity challenges and a true game-changer for cybersecurity resilience and cooperation in Europe. The Directive has three main objectives. The NIS Directive is the cornerstone of the EU’s response to the growing cyber threats and challenges which are accompanying the digitalization of our economic and societal life.

Many years ago when I first started my career in network security as a support engineer, I received a phone call from a customer. (Let’s call him “Frank.”) He used our vulnerability scanner as a consultant for his own customers, and he was concerned that the scanner came back with 0 results. After reviewing his set-up, I easily discovered the answer.

Canadian online pharmacy PlanetDrugsDirect.com has contacted customers warning them that their data might have been exposed in what they euphemistically describe as a “data security incident”. In an email seen by Bleeping Computer, the website warned that exposed personal data could include the following: The email is, unfortunately, somewhat lacking in detail – meaning that concerned customers may have to contact PlanetDrugsDirect via email or telephone to ask questions.

The ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards, developed by the ISA99 committee and adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission, provides a flexible framework to address and mitigate current and future security vulnerabilities in industrial automation and control systems. These standards not only address configuration weaknesses to harden systems against vulnerabilities, but they also help address design considerations for the infrastructure used to run industrial equipment.

The cloud has changed how we use and consume IT services. Where data resides along with how it is transferred, stored and processed has fundamentally changed and with-it new risk management challenges. Let’s talk about some of those challenges. First and foremost, the cat is out of the bag. We’re not going back to the data center, and any resistance to that is going to be seen as a business inhibitor and will therefore not get much airtime.

One sunny morning, my breakfast was interrupted by a phone call from a friend who is an entrepreneur engaged in the transportation of various goods. He said that $11,000 disappeared from his bank account during the night. The bank support service could not help. They advised my friend to report this incident to the police. The money transfers were made using the mobile application and confirmed via SMS. Everything looked like completely legal financial transactions.

In a previous post, I wrote about my key take-aways from Verizon’s 2019 Payment Security Report. While it’s no surprise it was full of interesting and useful data, (Verizon’s yearly Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR) has become required reading.) I was delighted to find an excellent guide on the the 9-5-4 model, a means by which an organization can measure and improve its data protection program. It also details ways in which a company can measure the maturity of the program.

On January 7th, MITRE released ATT&CK for Industrial Control Systems, a taxonomy of real-world cyber adversarial behavior targeting ICS or industrial control systems. These systems operate critical infrastructure in manufacturing and utility industries, and they are popular targets in financial and espionage motivated attacks.

Following the recent U.S. operation in Iraq which resulted in the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, Iran warned that it will retaliate. Although the international community and both involved countries have taken steps to deescalate the crisis, it is always prudent to stay alert and continually update your cybersecurity programs regardless of whether the opponent is a state actor or just a common cybercriminal.

Just before the holidays, Citrix announced that their Citrix Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and Citrix Gateway are prone to a vulnerability which can allow remote unauthenticated attackers to execute code on vulnerable gateways. This led to a wave of alarming headlines about “80,000 firms” being exposed to hacking due to this flaw.

Most industrial organizations are behind the curve when it comes to cybersecurity, facing mounting complexities like the IIoT, the skills gap and the IT/OT divide. But what about industrial organizations that are already taking steps in the right direction and need to know what awaits them on the horizon? What practical next steps can your organization take to optimize your current ICS cybersecurity program?

In some ways, the cloud has made security management easier, as many cloud providers have taken the responsibilities traditionally associated with local server management out of your hands. But in other ways, the security management conversation has become more confusing for decision makers, as “cloud” is a very broadly defined term and could speak to a variety of different technology ecosystems with their own security considerations.

Since the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on 25 May 2018, organizations and even private citizens have globally begun to re-assess what it means to ‘take security seriously’ and to better understand the massive difference between security and privacy.

Standard CIP-003 exists as part of a suite of Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Standards related to cybersecurity that require the initial identification and categorization of BES Cyber Systems and require organizational, operational, and procedural controls to mitigate risk to BES Cyber Systems.

ML:3 is base camp, and getting here means you have reached a level that others have only dreamed about. At this level, the VM program is very good, and your visibility into threats to the environment is much better than it has ever been.

Zero Trust is a new concept to many but one I believe will be of increasing importance over the coming years. With this post, I wanted to introduce newcomers to the concept, talk about why it’s an exciting approach to improving security, and explore how you can leverage File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) and Security Configuration Management (SCM) tools like Tripwire Enterprise (TE) to assist you on your Zero Trust (ZT) journey.

Network and information systems (NIS) and the essential functions they support play a vital role in society from ensuring the supply of electricity, water, oil and gas to the provisioning of healthcare and the safety of passenger and freight transport. In addition, computerized systems are performing vital safety-related functions designed to protect human lives.