Elastic Security 8.16 is now available, advancing our mission to streamline security workflows with enhanced data accessibility and AI-driven analytics. Key updates include agentless onboarding for faster cloud security posture management (CSPM) and asset discovery; expanded integrations with Wiz, AWS Security Hub, and Falco for contextualized threat detection; custom knowledge sources for Elastic AI Assistant; and improved support for locally hosted large language models (LLMs).

Cyber threats are relentless, sophisticated, and growing. To stay ahead, you can no longer treat threat intelligence as an optional tool—it’s the backbone of a proactive, defense-ready strategy. Threat intelligence feeds bring crucial insights to security teams, from high-level trends to detailed indicators of compromise (IoCs). But no single feed can capture every potential threat. Threat landscapes evolve rapidly and adversaries employ diverse techniques and targets.

Cisco Umbrella is a platform for monitoring and maintaining the DNS-layer security across your network. It monitors network activity and detects behavior like DNS hijacking, spoofing, and other attacks. It can then reroute or block potentially malicious requests before they reach endpoints. However, while Umbrella’s DNS-layer security blocks malicious domains, the sheer volume of DNS and proxy logs it generates can overwhelm security teams.

Many organizations lack clear visibility into the efficiency of their security processes, making it difficult to accurately assess their security teams’ performance. Without insight into key factors like alert response speed, investigation thoroughness, and the accuracy of detection rules, teams risk operating without a clear view. This can lead to missed threats, inefficient use of resources, and an inability to improve security outcomes.

Everyone remembers that one required writing class they needed to take. If you’re like a lot of other security analysts, you assumed that your job would focus on using technology, not writing research papers. However, in today’s business environment, cyber incidents are critical business events, especially as governments and agencies create more reporting requirements.

“Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?” In this iconic Star Wars moment, Princess Leia lazily responds to Luke Skywalker, disguised as one of her Stormtrooper captors and using authentication information to open her cell. In other words, Star Wars acts as an analogy for a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack. In a CSRF attack, malicious actors use social engineering so that end-users will give them a way to “hide” in their authenticated session.

By collecting, analyzing, and leveraging data from security events, security analytics empowers teams to proactively detect anomalies and pinpoint vulnerabilities to mitigate targeted attacks, insider threats, and advanced persistent threats (APTs).

Cross-site scripting attacks are the digital version of the mystery trope where people inject IV lines with hazardous material. In the murder mystery genre, these crimes often focus on someone who looks legitimate, sneaking malicious material into someone’s medicine to harm the patient. Similarly, a cross-site scripting attack is when a threat actor sneaks malicious code into someone’s application to harm end users.

When security information and event management (SIEM) tools came to the market over a decade ago, many practitioners considered the combination of information management and event management groundbreaking. Since then, the technology has gone through iterations to improve and enhance its capabilities, including the incorporation of user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA), machine learning and AI capabilities, and “out-of-the-box” configurations for smaller organizations to rely on.

Feeling overwhelmed by alerts? You’re not alone. At SOC Analyst Appreciation Day (SAAD) 2024, we heard from countless analysts facing the same challenges of burnout, perfectionism, and the need for mentorship. With a fantastic line-up of speakers, including John Hammond, Ron Eddings, Peter Coroneos from Cybermindz, and other security leaders, this year’s event provided valuable insights and sparked engaging discussions.