Resources

Blog

VERT Threat Alert: March 2021 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s March 2021 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-933 on Wednesday, March 10th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2021-26855 CVE-2021-26857 CVE-2021-26858 CVE-2021-27065 These CVEs are part of the bundle of Exchange vulnerabilities that...
Blog

Ghidra 101: Loading Windows Symbols (PDB files)

In this blog series, I will be putting the spotlight on useful Ghidra features you may have missed. Each post will look at a different feature and show how it helps you save time and be more effective in your reverse engineering workflows. Ghidra is an incredibly powerful tool, but much of this power comes from knowing how to use it effectively. ...
Blog

Compliance – The Invisible Hand of Cybersecurity

Have you ever worked with a company that operates as “close to broken” as reasonably possible? Companies that follow that mindset usually do not have the most robust security practice, and they certainly will walk very close to the edge of compliance. Even if you don’t work in such a dysfunctional enterprise as described above, many companies still...
Blog

The Humanity and Evolution of Cyber

We see the word "cyber" everywhere today. It's included in all the hashtags, events names and even in hand sanitizer available for purchase at Toys ‘R Us: Cyber Clean (72% ethanol alcohol, with aloe.) With the market booming and the buzzword exploding, many of us still don’t understand what this vague word means. We’re simply toeing the line,...
Blog

Wall Street targeted by new Capital Call investment email scammers

Business Email Compromise (BEC) scammers, who have made rich returns in recent years tricking organisations into transferring funds into their accounts, have found a new tactic which attempts to swindle Wall Street firms out of significantly larger amounts of money. According to a newly published-report by Agari, scammers are seeking to defraud...
Blog

PCI DSS 4.0 Is Coming – Are You Ready?

Ransomware today is a billion-dollar industry. It’s crippled industries like healthcare. In 2017, for instance, WannaCry brought much of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service to its knees using the EternalBlue exploit. It was just a few weeks later when the NotPetya ransomware strain leveraged that same vulnerability to attack lots of...
Blog

MalwareTech, WannaCry and Kronos – Understanding the Connections

As Marcus Hutchins was on his way home to the UK after attending Def Con and Black Hat in Las Vegas, NV, the FBI arrested him. This event sparked immediate internet outcry, especially among the cybersecurity community, as Hutchins was better known as MalwareTech and had just made cybersecurity fame by stopping the WannaCry ransomware outbreak a few...
Blog

Tripwire Patch Priority Index for February 2021

Tripwire's February 2021 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities from Apache, VMware and Microsoft. First on the patch priority list this month is a patch for Apache Tomcat. The Apache Tomcat "Ghostcat" vulnerability, identified as CVE-2020-1938, has been recently added to the Metasploit Exploit Framework. Next on the...
Blog

The Security Wisdom of the All-Knowing CISO

Have you ever noticed how closely your role as the CISO of your organisation resembles that of the Wizard from “The Wizard of Oz?” As the Wizard, you are expected to be all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful. Your role is to keep everyone safe from the evils of the world while frantically pulling levers, pressing buttons and turning dials behind...
Blog

Fixing the “Human Error” Problem

Last year, Verizon's data breaches report showed that “human error” was the only factor with year-over-year increases in reported incidents. The average cost of data breaches from human error stands at $3.33 million, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2020. Even big companies and government entities have fallen victim to data breaches...
Blog

Achieve CIS Compliance in Cloud, Container and DevOps Environments

If you are embracing DevOps, cloud and containers, you may be at risk if you’re not keeping your security methodologies up to date with these new technologies. New security techniques are required in order to keep up with current technology trends, and the Center for Internet Security (CIS) provides free cybersecurity best practices for many newer...
Blog

4 Key Cybersecurity Trends Confronting Canada’s Electric Sector

Digital attackers are increasingly targeting energy organizations including those that support national electric grids. As reported by Morning Consult, security researchers found that utilities worldwide had suffered a recorded 1,780 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks between June 15 and August 21, 2020. That’s a 595% year-over-year...
Blog

Industrial Cybersecurity and the Florida Water Supply Attack with Dale Peterson

Through the lens of the Florida water supply hack, Dale Peterson teaches how events like these remind us to take the necessary steps to maintain our cybersecurity. Founder and chair of S4 Events, Dale has been helping security professionals effectively and efficiently manage risk to their critical assets for over 15 years. https://open.spotify.com...
Blog

US charges North Koreans in relation to global cyber attacks

The United States Department of Justice has charged three North Korean computer programmers with a range of cyber attacks that made headlines around the world. The men - 31-year-old Jon Chang Hyok, Kim Il, 27, and 36-year-old Park Jin Hyok - are alleged to have been part of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), known commonly as the ...
Blog

Industrial Remote Access: Why It’s Not Something to Fear

Increased uptime? Check. Better access to outside expertise? Check. Improved first-time-fix rate? Check. These are just some of the benefits of industrial remote access. Yet many customers are reluctant to embrace remote access. Not only that, but incidents such as the breach at the Oldsmar water utility might increase organizations’ reluctance to...
Blog

Hacking Tech Gifts: Brushing with Bluetooth

If high-tech gadgets were on your holiday shopping list, it is worth taking a moment to think about the particular risks they may bring. Under the wrong circumstances, even an innocuous gift may introduce unexpected vulnerabilities. In this blog series, VERT will be looking at some of the Internet’s best-selling holiday gifts with an eye toward...