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Cyber Workforce: Gender Diversity Challenges

Over the years, there have been many news headlines, policy reports, white papers, and corporate newsletters that have highlighted cybersecurity workforce challenges; namely, the global shortage of cybersecurity professionals. Some of the challenges involved in achieving a more desirable cyber workforce include addressing the barriers to entry for...
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On the Importance of Protecting U.S. Pipeline Owners and Operators

In the beginning of May, a U.S. pipeline company suffered a ransomware attack. The company decided to respond by halting operations while it investigated the incident. This delayed tens of millions of gallons of fuel from reaching their destination all along the East Coast. Less than a week later, Bloomberg reported that the company had paid...
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Analyzing SonicWall’s Unsuccessful Fix for CVE-2020-5135

Back in September 2020, I configured a SonicWall network security appliance to act as a VPN gateway between physical devices in my home lab and cloud resources on my Azure account. As I usually do with new devices on my network, I did some cursory security analysis of the product and it didn’t take long before I had identified what looked like a...
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Voice-Activated Device Privacy: What You Need to Know

When it comes to evaluating technology in the home, there seems to be no shortage of new devices and shiny gadgets, mainly part of the Internet of Things (IoT), to discuss. Unfortunately, there seems to be no shortage of security issues to consider regarding these same devices, either.It's not uncommon to hear of "virtual break-ins" caused by a...
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The Evolution of Securing Critical Infrastructure

Everything evolves. Simply stated, the gradual development of something from a simple to a more complex form is what evolution is all about. When something ceases to evolve, yet still exists, it becomes classified as a living fossil. One example is the Ginkgo Biloba tree. It took millions of years for this evolution to cease. This all happened...
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Protecting the New Most Vulnerable Population – Subscription Scams

In a previous article, we introduced the fact that one of our largest growing populations is that of the “Baby Boomer” generation (those born between 1946 to 1964). As the Boomers get older, they become susceptible to many of the emerging dirty tricks that exist on the Internet. Phone scams, lottery scams, tech support scams, and a host of other...
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CLOP ransomware suspects charged by police in Ukraine

Six people alleged to be part of the notorious CLOP ransomware gang have been detained and charged by Ukrainian police, following nearly two dozen raids across the country. According to a statement released by the Ukraine's cyber police, the hacking group is thought to have inflicted $500 million worth of damage on universities and organisations it...
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What Is a Security Operations Center (SOC)?

Data breaches are costing organizations millions of dollars on average. In its 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report, IBM found that a data breach cost the average organization $3.86 million. This price tag was even greater for organizations located in the United States and operating in the healthcare industry at $8.64 million and $7.13 million,...
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What’s New in v8 of the CIS Controls

Back in 2018, the State of Security spent a lot of time going over v7 of the Center for Internet Security’s Critical Security Controls (CIS Controls). We noted at the time how the Center for Internet Security shuffled the order of requirements for many of the existing controls in that version. It also cleaned up the language of the CIS Controls,...
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Ransomware is the biggest threat, says GCHQ cybersecurity chief

The head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre has warned that ransomware has become the biggest threat to British people and businesses. In a speech being given today by Lindy Cameron, chief executive of the NCSC, to the RUSI think tank, she highlights the need for ransomware problem to be taken seriously, and warns of the "cumulative...
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Why a CISO Needs To Speak The Language Of Business

Dr. Eric Cole, former CISO and founder of Secure Anchor Consulting, explains how learning to communicate with business language can create a more compelling case for executive buy-in. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7fFPZyFkP4eB1DoMdPcdOv?si=6f16ad3361f24256 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5UDKiGLlzxhiGnd6FtvEnm Stitcher: https://www...
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Protecting the New Most Vulnerable Population – The Grandparent Scam

In Part 1 of this series, we introduced the concept that the most vulnerable people on the internet are our senior population. According to the FBI, elder fraud impacts millions of American seniors every year. Figures from the United Kingdom show similar levels of criminal activity targeting seniors. Most of the elder fraud schemes are financially...
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A Look at a Zero Trust Strategy for the Remote Workforce

If you are new to the security world, it is fair to ask yourself, “Isn’t access to data and systems always conditional? Isn’t it always granted to someone who has access to the credentials (ID and password)?” True enough, but in totality, the approach to managing access encompasses a broader spectrum of privacy policies. These policies include a mix...
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5 Tips and Tricks for Cloud Native Security

Cloud-native applications that are based on new types of infrastructure such as containers and serverless platforms are being rapidly adopted by organizations worldwide. While cloud-native applications deliver compelling benefits such as elastic scalability, unmatched resilience and rapid development velocity, they also raise challenges. Cloud...
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Open Source: The Positives, the Risks and the Future

In a world that is constantly evaluating costs, it is little wonder that there is an increasing demand for cost-effective solutions to business problems. In the real world, this means 'free,' and in the digital marketplace, it means 'open source.' Open Source aka "Freeware" Since the early days of the internet, open source software (OSS) has been...
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VERT Threat Alert: June 2021 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s June 2021 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-947 on Wednesday, June 9th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2021-31955 This is one of two vulnerabilities fixed in today’s patch drop which were reported by Kaspersky Lab after detecting...