Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

If you’ve been online recently, you may have read the news about hackers demanding a ransom from Dublin’s tram system. Visitors to the Luas website were greeted by the hackers’ message threatening to publish the stolen information unless they were paid one Bitcoin (approximately 3,300 Euros or US $3,800). While the message itself appeared to be harmless, the fact is that the hackers could just as easily have used the domain to spread malware or phishing attempts.

When he issued Executive Order 13800 (EO 13800) on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure, President Trump’s goal was to highlight that security and public accountability of government officials are foundational pillars while emphasizing the importance of reducing cybersecurity risks to the Nation.

The Internet of Things (IoT) broadly refers to devices and equipment that are readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable and/or controllable via the internet. This includes everything from edge computing devices to home appliances, from wearable technology to cars. IoT represents the melding of the physical world and the digital worked, as sensors are not costly and wireless access is now ubiquitous.

Amazon GovCloud is an isolated Amazon Web Service (AWS) designed to allow customers and the U.S government agencies to move their confidential data into the cloud to address their compliance and specific regulatory requirements. It runs under ITAR, the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

Every organization is led by people who are responsible for setting the overall direction, establishing priorities, maintaining influence over organizational functions and mitigating risks. Given the wide range of organizational types across industry sectors, the titles associated with these roles may vary greatly from CEO to Managing Director to Owner-Operator and beyond, but they share common traits.

With the majority of people using smartphones these days, texting is all but a given when trying to communicate with your friends or family. But what about your doctor? A recent study determined that 96 percent of physicians use text messaging for coordinating patient care. This can raise eyebrows and red flags.

This article covers the main techniques cybercriminals use at the initial stage of attacks against enterprise networks. There are several dangerous phases of cyberattacks targeting the corporate segment. The first one encountered by businesses boils down to getting initial access into their systems. The malefactor’s goal at this point is to deposit some malicious code onto the system and make sure it can be executed further on.

We in the infosec community have made enormous progress towards getting multi-factor authentication the recognition it deserves. All the respected folks in the community have been promoting multi-factor as the best protection against account hijacks.

Many organizations have DevOps on their mind going into 2019. This is a global movement. In fact, Puppet and Splunk received responses for their 2018 State of DevOps Report from organizations on every continent except Antarctica. Those organizations varied in their industry, size and level of DevOps maturity, but they were all interested in learning how they could advance their DevOps evolution going forward.

With 2018 in the rear-view mirror, the information security industry is now fully invested in 2019. The new year will no doubt present its fair share of challenging digital security threats. But so too will the year enable infosec professionals to discuss shared difficulties at conferences and summits.