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VPNs: What Do They Do, and What Don’t They Do?

Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are not exactly a new technology. When I started my career in IT about 15 years ago, VPN tunnels were the standard way we connected remote offices by extending private networks over the public Internet. Recently, as workforces continue to decentralize due to the rise of Cloud Computing as well as the current...
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Conti Ransomware Deemed a Possible Successor of Ryuk

Security researchers found evidence that the Conti ransomware strain could be a possible successor to the Ryuk crypto-malware family. Vitali Kremez, strategic advisor for SentinelLabs, analyzed both Conti and Ryuk. He found that the former appeared to be based on the code of the latter's second version. He also observed Conti to be using the same...
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Joker Spyware Infiltrated Google Play, Abused Old Trick to Target Users

Security researchers detected a new variant of the Joker spyware family that had infiltrated Google Play and had begun abusing an old trick to target users. Check Point Research found that the authors of Joker, a dropper and premium dialer spyware, had once again modified their creation's code so that the malware would bypass the Play Store's...
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MITRE ATT&CK July 2020 Update: Sub-Techniques!

The highly anticipated structural update to the MITRE ATT&CK framework was released July 8th, 2020. After a quiet first half of the year, it appears the ATT&CK team has been putting in lots of work into some significant redesign of the framework’s structure. This update introduces a new layer of abstraction: sub-techniques. ATT&CK is a taxonomy of...
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I Have Antivirus; I’m Protected, Right? Mis-steps Customers Make with their Security and Vulnerability Tools

I’ve worked in the IT field for over 30 years. 20 of those years have been spent in the network security field, employed by some of the largest names in the industry. But to my family, I’m still just the guy who “works with computers”. Many of my family are not computer savvy, which is a nice way of saying I had to teach them where the power button...
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EDP Renewables Notifies Landowners of Ransomware Attack

Renewable energy company EDP Renewables notified its landowners of a ransomware attack that it suffered in the spring of 2020. In a sample notification letter received by the Attorney General's Office of Vermont, EDP Renewables informed its landowners that its information systems had suffered a...
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Using “Update.exe” as a Case Study for Robust OT Cybersecurity

In 2020, car manufacturer Honda fell victim to a ransomware attack. Using a payload called “update.exe,” the attack crippled Honda’s international customer service and Financial Services wing for days. Although it affected two customer facing branches of this global corporation, the ransomware was designed to target and breach Honda’s critical ICS...
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Design & Implementation of OEM ICS Cybersecurity Frameworks: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The cyber threat landscape today continues to pose a myriad of unique challenges. This is especially the case for industrial organizations due to factors such as aging equipment, poor design or implementation, skills gaps and a lack of visibility. These shortcomings are exacerbated by the mean time to breach detection, which continues to hover above...
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Trickbot Malware Using Screen Resolution Checks as Anti-VM Tactic

Security researchers spotted Trickbot malware checking the screen resolution as a means of evading analysis on a virtual machine (VM). Digital security firm MalwareLab came across a sample of the trojan that checked to see whether a computer's screen resolution was either 800x600 or 1024x768. It then terminated if it found that the screen resolution...
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A Checklist for Preparing for Your Organization's Next PCI Audit

Organizations cannot afford to neglect their PCI compliance obligations. According to its website, PCI could punish offending organizations with a monetary penalty ranging in value from $5,000 to $100,000 per month. These fines could spell the end for a small business. Acknowledging those consequences, organizations need to make sure they’re PCI...
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Understanding the Purpose of Security Controls and the Need for Compliance

What are the brakes on a car designed to do? I have asked this question many times when speaking to customers or organizations who were dipping their toes into the audit space. Invariably, their answer was, “To stop the car.” At this point, I would then ask, “Then how do you get where you want to go?” What Is the Purpose of Controls and a...
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New Mac Ransomware Leveraged Piracy as Means of Distribution

Security researchers detected a new ransomware strain that leveraged piracy as a means of distributing itself to Mac users. On June 29, a Twitter user reached out to Malwarebytes about a malicious Little Snitch installer that was available for download on a Russian forum known for sharing torrent links. A close look at the installer revealed that it...
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The CSA IoT Security Controls Framework

Building the Case for IoT Security Framework The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing in technical, social, and economic significance. ENISA defines the increasingly complex IoT systems as “cyber-physical ecosystem[s] of interconnected sensors and actuators, which enables intelligent decision making.” These technologies collect, exchange and process...
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Prioritizing Changes: File Integrity Monitoring Tools & Best Practices

What does file integrity mean? There’s not enough time in the day to investigate every system change, which means you need laser-sharp focus to quickly find the greatest risks to your business. However, the ever-evolving capabilities of cyber adversaries—coupled with the dynamic nature of corporate networks—makes security prioritization increasingly difficult. To combat enterprise cyberthreats...