In January 2022, Microsoft announced that Excel 4.0 macros would be restricted by default, to protect users from malicious macros. In February 2022, Microsoft announced that VBA macros would also be blocked for files downloaded from the internet. Cybersecurity professionals and enthusiasts rejoiced at the news! Malicious Office documents were running rampant. Attackers abused Microsoft Office macros to deliver BazarLoader and Trickbot, and remote access trojans like AveMaria and AgentTesla.

This is the third part of a four-part blog series covering each of the four phases of the merger & acquisition (M&A) process and how you can build security into each phase. In case you missed it, Part 1 covered the why it’s important to integrate security into the due diligence process in the first phase of M&A and Part 2 covered integration planning and public announcement.

Elaine Feeney is a member of the Netskope Network Visionaries advisory group. For any business, speed matters a lot. Speed of service is key to happy customers because any delays that users experience directly impact the success of the organization. Security processing that causes delays for the customers or employees has negative business impacts. Now more than ever, security controls have become a board-level priority due to elevating risks.

In 2018, as followers of Formula One (F1) will know, the fastest racing cars in the world got a controversial redesign. A new device was added to the cars; a curved bar or Halo, which was designed to protect the drivers’ heads in the event of a crash.

This is the second part of a four-part blog series covering each of the four phases of the merger & acquisition (M&A) process and how you can build security into each phase. In case you missed it, Part 1 covered why it’s important to integrate security into the due diligence process in the first phase of M&A.

Every year Verizon releases the Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), covering some of the biggest trends in data breaches across industries, highlighting the common causes for breaches as well as trendy attack vectors. And every year, when it is released, my inbox is immediately hit with questions from colleagues and customers asking how Netskope can mitigate each of the issues raised. So this year I thought I would share my analysis more widely.

Today, Netskope announced it has been awarded, through SEWP Prime Anacapa Micro and distributor Merlin Cyber, the industry’s first Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) U.S. Federal Civilian Government contract in history, led by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This is a significant industry milestone as traditional, perimeter-based approaches to security will no longer work in a mandated cloud-first environment where data can be accessed from anywhere.

In April 2022, Netskope Threat Labs analyzed an Emotet campaign that was using LNK files instead of Microsoft Office documents, likely as a response to the protections launched by Microsoft in 2022 to mitigate attacks via Excel 4.0 (XLM) and VBA macros.

If you read the news, you already know that we’re seeing a huge uptick in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Global M&A volumes hit a record high in 2021—increasing by 64% over the previous year and topping $5 trillion for the first time ever. This activity continues to surge in 2022 as companies use M&A to manage the still-unpredictable economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and find their strategic footing.

Many technology professionals have experienced the sense of frustration that occurs when multiple tools in their environment do not play nicely with each other. When technology leaders are making decisions about bringing new tools into their environment, they should be thinking about more than whether the platform is just a shiny new object that adds a new capability to their team.