Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

August 2023

Working with a Reliable Partner for Cybersecurity Success

Technology companies are often seen as revolving doors of constantly shifting personnel. Whether they are seeking a better work environment or chasing a higher paycheck, these staff changes can hurt an organization’s progress. Worse yet, the customers are often negatively impacted by these changes in the continuity of established relationships.

Understanding Firewalls - Types, Configuration, and Best Practices for Effective Network Security

A firewall is a security device that controls the flow of traffic across a network. A firewall may be a hardware appliance, or it may be a piece of software that runs on a third-party operating system. Firewalls operate based on a set of pre-defined, as well as customizable security rules that inspect network traffic to block or permit access to a network.

Updated NCSC Report Highlights Key Threats for the UK Legal Sector

On June 22nd, 2023, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the UK's cybersecurity agency, released a Cyber Threat Report for the country's legal sector. Developed to update a previous iteration from 2018, the report reflects a dramatic change in the cybersecurity threat landscape, offering advice that considers the security issues inherent with remote working, new data revealing the UK legal sector's vulnerability to cybercrime, and the increasing prevalence of attacks on smaller organizations.

How To Hide Browsing History - Complete Guide

In years gone by, there was a stigma attached to hiding one's browsing history. Wiping browsing history was seen as suspicious; it suggested that someone had something to hide. It was – and still is- the butt of many jokes. However, individuals might want to hide their browsing history for many reasons. They range from the relatively trivial – like concealing a surprise gift – to the essential – like protecting personal data.

What is The Network and Information Security 2 Directive (NIS2)?

The Network and Information Security 2 (NIS2) Directive is the European Union's (EU) second attempt at an all-encompassing cybersecurity directive. The EU introduced the legislation to update the much-misinterpreted Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive (2016) and improve the cybersecurity of all member states. It signed NIS2 into law in January 2023, expecting all relevant organizations to comply by October 18th, 2024.

How Improved Visibility Helps Achieve Compliance

In the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape, businesses face an exhaustive battle to safeguard their valuable data while complying with industry regulations. To address these challenges, innovative solutions have emerged to enhance network security. Network visibility remains a crucial focus. The profound impact of heightened visibility cannot be ignored, as it plays a crucial role in fortifying network security and achieving compliance objectives.

North Korea ready to cash out more than $40 million in Bitcoin after summer of attacks, warns FBI

After a series of high-profile cryptocurrency heists, a state-sponsored North Korean malicious hacking group is poised to cash out millions of dollars. That's the opinion of the FBI, which this week has warned cryptocurrency companies about recent blockchain activity it has observed connected to the theft of hundreds of millions of cryptocurrency in recent months.

Cybersecurity's Crucial Role Amidst Escalating Financial Crime Risks

In an era of escalating financial crimes, the spotlight shines brightly on the rising concerns in the realm of cybersecurity. According to a recent survey, a staggering 68% of UK risk experts anticipate a surge in financial crime risks over the next year. These apprehensions echo globally, with 69% of executives and risk professionals worldwide foreseeing an upswing in financial crime risks, predominantly fueled by cybersecurity threats and data breaches.

Why No Business in 2023 Can Grow without APIs

Businesses of all sizes are increasingly relying on APIs to connect with their customers, partners, and other systems. APIs, or application programming interfaces, are the building blocks of the modern web, and they allow businesses to share data and functionality in a secure and efficient way. Without APIs, businesses are limited in their ability to innovate and grow. They lack the ability to integrate with other systems, create new products and services, or reach new markets.

What is Configuration Drift?

While the phrase sounds like the stuff of textbook jargon, the term "configuration drift" hides an extremely crucial caution. Configuration drift is important because it can lead to compliance drift. Compliance drift means that the state of compliance has changed as a result of a configuration that has been changed, which has caused your system to fall out of compliance.

The CIA Debate: Which is the Most Important?

The Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA) Triad is a crucial information security model that guides and assesses how an organization manages data during storage, transmission, and processing. Each component of the triad plays a vital role in maintaining information security: Although all components are equally essential, we were intrigued to ask cybersecurity professionals which attribute they consider the most important.

5-Step Guide on Securing Serverless Architectures in the Cloud with RASP

Serverless architecture has increased in recent years, and is anticipated to grow by nearly 25% over the next decade, According to one source, the serverless architecture market was worth over $9 billion in 2022, with its compound annual growth rate projected to increase. The market could be worth over $90 billion by 2032. This indicates the immense amount of potential that this industry carries, influenced by the increasing adoption of DevOps by organizations.

LinkedIn under attack, malicious hackers seize accounts

Security researchers have identified that a widespread LinkedIn malicious hacking campaign has seen many users locked out of their accounts worldwide. Some users who have had their access to their LinkedIn accounts blocked by the cybercriminals changing their passwords have been pressured into paying a ransom, according to a report from Cyberint, and threatened with permanent account deletion.

Q2 Privacy Update: AI Takes Center Stage, plus Six New US State Laws

The past three months witnessed several notable changes impacting privacy obligations for businesses. Coming into the second quarter of 2023, the privacy space was poised for action. In the US, state lawmakers worked to push through comprehensive privacy legislation on an unprecedented scale, we saw a major focus on children's data and health data as areas of concern, and AI regulation took center stage as we examined the intersection of data privacy and AI growth.

The CISO Report - The Culture Club

According to the Cyber Security Skills in the UK Labour Market 2023 report released by the UK government, 50% of UK businesses face a fundamental cyber security skills gap, while 33% grapple with an advanced skills gap. This is just one of the challenges that the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) must face. While these figures remain similar to 2022 and 2021, it's evident that there's still work to be done to bridge the expertise divide.

2023 Business Email Compromise Statistics

In cybersecurity, knowledge is everything. From APT intelligence to zero-day vulnerabilities, relevant and timely information can be the difference between a thwarted attack and a total disaster. With Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks at their zenith, there has never been a better time for a comprehensive BEC report. As such, Fortra has released its 2023 BEC Trends, Targets, and Changes in Techniques Report.

The Use of Natural Language Processing for Identifying and Mitigating Threats

As technology advances, the battle between cyber criminals and organizations intensifies. Cyber threats have become more sophisticated, complex, and widespread, posing a significant risk to the security and integrity of sensitive data. In Q1 2023 alone, the number of global cyber attacks increased by 7%, with an average of 1,248 attacks reported per week.

The Five Stages of Vulnerability Management

A strong vulnerability management program underpins a successful security strategy overall. After all, you can’t defend weak points you don’t know are there. It is predicted that 2023 will see an average of 1,900 critical Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) a month, up 13% from last year. This is due to increased interconnectedness, the addition of more tools, IoT devices and SaaS services, and the increased risk of human error.

Security Immutability: The Importance of Change

A few years ago, I wrote about the importance of security immutability. More specifically, I discussed how important it is that your environment be unchangeable in order to ensure that it remains secure. As I looked back on the article, I found it rather amusing that the article was published 4 years ago, but that feels like a lifetime ago. In the last few years, we really have seen just how volatile the world can be.

Tripwire Enterprise: Five 'Other' Things You Should Know

Network engineers and security analysts have a lot in common. Both require the ability to not only understand the problems at hand but to ascertain the moments leading to them. A typical scenario would include a request to help with a problem a customer has been experiencing. The person you are trying to assist is probably a member of the IT team in the organisation. During these situations, we must engage our highest analytical skills.

Cybersecurity: Creating a Foundation to build on

The cybersecurity landscape has become more complex for many reasons. For one, it is the constantly changing risk environment where businesses are compelled to confront evolving threats and actors that leverage emerging technologies and advanced tactics. Cybersecurity has become a top priority for boards since they realize that being cyber resilient is a strategic choice and a competitive advantage.

The Top 5 Vendor-Neutral Cloud Security Certifications of 2023

All segments of the cloud market are predicted to see growth in 2023, according to research by Gartner. In an April Press Release, the firm forecasts that global spending on public cloud services will exceed 21% this year, totaling $597.3 billion overall in 2023. This is up over $100 billion from last year’s (mere) $491 billion.

Protecting Sensitive Data from Insider Threats in PCI DSS 4.0

Safeguarding sensitive data is a huge concern for organizations. One of the biggest challenges they face is the threat posed by insiders who work for the organization. In fact, a report found that 74% of organizations are at least moderately vulnerable to threats from insiders. This has increased spending towards protecting against insider threats by more than 76% between 2018 to 2022, according to a global report by the Ponemon Institute.

Web 3.0: The Future of the Internet and its Cybersecurity Features and Challenges

The World Wide Web, now simply referred to as the Internet, is by far the most significant technological revolution in tech history. The current generation of the internet is Web 2.0, which allows users to browse and write content powered by centralized data centers. Today the cyber world is rapidly progressing towards Web 3.0.

Ransomware attacks cost manufacturing sector $46 billion in downtime since 2018, report claims

Newly-released research reveals the eye-watering costs that the manufacturing sector has suffered in recent years at the hands of ransomware. The analysis, by Comparitech, looked at 478 confirmed ransomware attacks on manufacturing companies between 2018 and July 2023, in an attempt to determine their true cost.

Is secure-by-default an achievable reality?

We have come a long way in the cybersecurity sector in a relatively short period of time, but there remain many challenges in day-to-day operations that create security gaps in many organizations. One of the most common is tied to how we build our solutions, making sure they are secure out-of-the-box instead of only being evaluated during a pen test or annual review, and finding out then that there is much more that needs to be done to achieve data security.

Understanding India's Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB)

Despite being the second-largest internet market in the world, India has yet to pass a comprehensive data privacy bill. It is important to have policies and regulations in place to protect them and their right to data privacy—a right that India’s Supreme Court recognized in 2017. Since then, the country’s government has been working towards passing a bill that codifies the rights of individuals to data privacy and protection.

An Introduction to Cyber Threat Intelligence: Key Concepts and Principles

Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), or threat intelligence, is evidence-based knowledge established from current cyber threats, gathered from myriad sources to identify existing or potential attacks. Threat intelligence assists in identifying the motives, targets, and attack behaviors of a threat actor and implementing strong defenses from future attacks. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach 2022 report, the average data breach costs its victims $4.35 million.

Is Your MSP Taking Its Own Security Seriously?

Most small and midsized businesses trust an IT services partner to help them secure their networks. A few years ago, high-profile cyberattacks targeting MSP vendors Kaseya and SolarWinds thrust the security risk of relying on a complex chain of vendors into the technology media and moved the Department of Homeland Security to issue a statement about the need for greater security in the IT services industry.

Social Media Security Awareness: What you Should Know

The latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations report indicates that over 70% of data breaches involved the human element. Cybercriminals exploit people to trick them into clicking unsafe links, opening malicious attachments, entering their credentials into bogus login pages, sharing sensitive data, and authorizing fraudulent fund transfers. One area where many exploits take place is on social media platforms.

What is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a set of privacy and security standards put into effect by the European Union (EU). Widely accepted as the world's strictest security and privacy law, GDPR imposes regulations on organizations that target or collect data relating to people in the EU. European Parliament signed GDPR into law in 2016, requiring all organizations to comply by May 2018.