Who’s responsible for regulating technological change in a democracy?

Now more than ever, the specter of cyber threats looms large over organizations of all sizes and sectors. The consequences of a data breach stemming from just one vulnerability can be catastrophic, ranging from financial losses to irreparable reputational damage. As businesses strive to reinforce their defenses against these evolving threats, the need for a reliable and predictive cybersecurity risk assessment tool has never been greater.

I have been in the cybersecurity industry for over 35 years and I am the author of 14 books and over 1,400 articles on cybersecurity. I regularly speak with thousands of cybersecurity practitioners each year. Nearly every day, I see (good) cybersecurity advice, but some of it is just a bit shy of what is needed…such as “Use MFA!”. That is good advice, but is not specific enough. It does not give enough detail. There is a slight adjustment needed to get the most benefit.

In an era where data breaches and privacy concerns are increasingly shaping global discourse, India's proactive stance on data protection is noteworthy. Introducing the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023 marks a significant milestone in India's legislative landscape. This groundbreaking Act fortifies individual data privacy rights and aligns India with global cybersecurity and data protection standards, setting a new benchmark for regulatory compliance.

On March 29, 2024, a security researcher disclosed the discovery of malicious code in the most recent versions of XZ Utils data compression tools and libraries. The code contained a backdoor, which a remote threat actor can leverage to break sshd authentication (the service for SSH access) and gain unauthorized access to the system, potentially leading to Remote Code Execution (RCE).

In the world of data backup and recovery, you would have come across the terms crash-consistent backup and application-consistent backup very frequently. With these types of backup you can ensure the recover ability and availability of the backed up data. Understanding the difference between the two backup methods is crucial for organizations seeking to implement effective data protection strategies.

The Sysdig Threat Research Team (Sysdig TRT) recently discovered a long-running botnet operated by a Romanian threat actor group, which we are calling RUBYCARP. Evidence suggests that this threat actor has been active for at least 10 years. Its primary method of operation leverages a botnet deployed using a variety of public exploits and brute force attacks.

SecurityScorecard STRIKE threat researchers discovered 12 zero-days in customer environments in the last year. Attacks are increasingly targeting third-party software. The zero-day vulnerability that emerged in Progress Software’s MOVEit Transfer product last year was a stark reminder of the real-world impact of such vulnerabilities. It wreaked havoc on businesses and governments worldwide, with cyber criminals exploiting it since May of 2023.

Data exfiltration and ransomware attacks in cloud-native applications are evolving cyber threats that pose significant risks to organizations, leading to substantial financial losses, reputational damage, and operational disruptions. As Kubernetes adoption grows for running containerized applications, it becomes imperative to address the unique security challenges it presents.

In cybersecurity as in sports, teamwork makes the dream work. In a world where security analysts can feel constantly bombarded by threat actors, banding together to share information and strategies is increasingly important. Over the last few years, security operations center (SOC) analysts started sharing open source Sigma rules to create and share detections that help them level the playing field.