What are the limits of online privacy and law enforcement? Can we clearly define them, or is this a vague and blurred area of debate? The fact is that as technology advances, the real and the virtual worlds are increasingly converging. Actions (or inactions) in the cyberspace introduce risks and threats for people, especially the most vulnerable ones, i.e. children and elders.
Talk to cybersecurity experts about cybercrime on their network, and they will mention malicious activity like scans, attacks, events, and incidents. Probably at some point, they will slip into geek-speak with a vast array of confusing acronyms and jargon while explaining tactics and techniques by referencing infamous attacks, Internal protocols, and industry shorthand.
In a security advisory, Microsoft has warned that malicious hackers are exploiting an unpatched vulnerability in Windows to launch targeted attacks against organisations. The security hole, dubbed CVE-2021-40444, is a previously unknown remote code execution vulnerability in MSHTML, a core component of Windows which helps render web-based content. According to Microsoft, attacks exploiting the vulnerability have targeted companies via boobytrapped Microsoft Office documents.
For many years, there was a wide misunderstanding that encrypting some data is equivalent to protecting that data. If it’s encrypted, so the thinking goes, nobody else could access it, and it is therefore safe. While it is critical to encrypt data at rest as well as in transit, the job of protecting data goes much deeper.
The Internet of Things (IoT) includes items such as smart appliances, smartwatches, and medical sensors. For organizations to enjoy all of the benefits and convenience of IoT devices, enterprise customers must fully understand the potential risks and threats to their systems and the underlying data. IoT devices often lack built-in security controls, a situation which creates risks and threats for federal agencies and consumers.
To remain competitive in the digital age, organizations frequently introduce new hardware devices and software installations to their IT environments. The problem is that these assets might suffer from vulnerabilities that attackers could misuse, if unpatched, to change a device’s configuration or make unauthorized modifications to some of the organization’s important files.
Remember your first day on the job? You might groan just thinking about it, or maybe you are filled with the optimistic nostalgia of all the great things you set out to accomplish. It’s all a matter of your current perspective. One of the greatest apprehensions about that first day is meeting all of your new colleagues. Someone probably gave you a tour of the office, introducing you to all the new faces, as you wondered how you will remember all the names.
On May 13, Verizon released its Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) 2021. This annual publication serves many purposes. It yields context into what security analysts are seeing, for instance. But it also affects organizations’ security postures at an even higher level. Here’s Anthony Israel-Davis, research and development manager at Tripwire, with more: Of course, there are only so many initiatives that organizations can take on each year.
Data breaches are now part of doing business, with many companies having been affected. Data is very valuable to criminals because it is often used to commit fraudulent activities as well as to enhance the credibility of scams. Data that is stolen ranges from Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to other identification documents and payment details.
The FBI and CISA (the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) have jointly issued an advisory to organisations, warning about an increase in the number of attacks coinciding with weekends and holidays. With the Labor Day weekend rapidly approaching, the agencies have reminded businesses to be especially vigilant, remain diligent about their network defences, and “engage in preemptive threat hunting on their networks to search for signs of threat actors.”
