On 16 July 2019, UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) released the second annual report of the Active Cyber Defence (ACD) program. The report seeks to show the effects that the program has on the security of the UK public sector and the wider UK cyber ecosystem. The Active Cyber Defence Program NCSC was set up in 2016 to be the single...

As a vendor, Tripwire gets asked a lot of questions from customers and potential clients about how developments in the wider world might affect digital security. One of those forces that’s on everyone’s mind is Brexit. Representatives from some of our potential customers as well as our existing clients are asking us what to focus on and what to do....

A company responsible for providing electricity to the South African city of Johannesburg disclosed that it fell victim to a ransomware attack. On 25 July, City Power disclosed on Twitter how the attack had affected all of its databases and applications as well as its network. https://twitter.com/CityPowerJhb/status/1154277777950093313 In subsequent...

As we noted in August 2018, industrial control system (ICS) security has become more complicated since the introduction of the web. Organizations are now bringing together the logical and physical resources of both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT). This creates various ICS security challenges, including how each team must...

The subject of the cyber security talent shortage has been over-reported to the extent that no one wants to talk about it anymore. Even more than that, the only solution that really ever gets mentioned is developing more university cyber programs. But that solution is dead wrong—or at least it misses the crux of the issue completely. Before I go any...

Lancaster University has revealed that a successful phishing attack resulted in a data breach involving the data of its students and applicants. On 22 July, the public research university announced on Twitter that it had suffered a "sophisticated and malicious phishing attack." This tweet linked to a security update published on the school's website...

Cybersecurity is finally reaching the shop floor in earnest thanks to new technology that works with—not against—the legacy equipment that runs most industrial control systems (ICS). That being said, industrial companies and organizations in sectors like manufacturing, energy, utilities, transportation and water treatment can be slow to adapt to the...

Researchers detected three apps that leverage clever tactics to hide on Android devices so that they can display adware to users. The three adware distributors (com.colors.drawing.coloring, hd4k.wallpapers.backgrounds, and launcher.call.recorder) each had more than 10,000 downloads when Bitdefender Labs first came across them. Its researchers think...

Wouldn’t it be an easier life if we didn’t have to worry about the exploitation of vulnerabilities in solutions and software on which we have spent good time and resources? A world where correctly configured systems configured were left alone to perform their functions until they became redundant and/or needed replacing? It is a beautiful dream....

There’s a lot of conversation regarding FaceApp right now. I have friends talking about it on Facebook, politicians are tweeting about it, CNN and Forbes have reported on it, and my favorite YouTuber Philip DeFranco covered it. People around the world are torn on the privacy implications of this application, yet the person who started this dumpster...

Two years after the WannaCry ransomware outbreak shone a light on the computer security of the UK's National Health Service, and five years after Microsoft said it would no longer release patches for Windows XP, the NHS still has 2,300 PCs running the outdated operating system. The worrying statistic came to light in the response to a parliamentary...

A multi-cloud network is a cloud network that consists of more than one cloud services provider. A straightforward type of multi-cloud network involves multiple infrastructure as a service (IaaS) vendors. Can you use AWS and Azure together? For example, you could have some of your cloud network’s servers and physical network provided by Amazon Web...

Security professionals have many tools in their toolbox. Some are physical in nature. (WireShark, Mimikatz, endpoint detection and response systems and SIEMs come to mind.) Others not so much. (These assets include critical thinking faculties, the ability to analyze complex processes, a willingness—some call it a need—to dig in and find the root...

A crypto-ransomware attack has disrupted some services at all library locations across Onondaga County in New York State. On 16 July, the Onondaga County Public Library system published a tweet in which it explained that many of its public services were unavailable. https://twitter.com/OCPL_CNY/status/1151123985616244736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw WSYR-TV...

Too many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are under the belief that purchasing “This One Product” or “This One Managed Service” will provide all the security their network requires. If this were true, large corporations with huge IT budgets would never have data breaches! Before you start buying expensive new technology to protect your...

It may be possible to democratize security by making it more accessible to average companies through community resources. We have an idea or two but we would appreciate your thoughts. At the 2019 RSA conference, Matt Chiodi, Chief Security Officer of Palo Alto Networks stated: “… small organizations are using on average between 15 and 20 tools,...

Security researchers have released a free decryption utility which victims of Ims00rry ransomware can use to recover their files. On 12 July, anti-virus and anti-malware solutions provider Emsisoft made the decryptor available to the public. The firm published a follow-up post about is tool two days later. ...

As I discussed in the first blog in this series, the purpose of this series is to guide you on your journey up the Vulnerability Management Mountain (VMM). Like climbing a mountain, there is a lot of planning and work required, but when you get to the top, the view is amazing and well worth the journey. For the first phase, let's start by planning...

Have you ever seen the bridge of a commercial cargo shipping vessel? It is like a dream come true for every kid out there--a gigantic PlayStation. Unfortunately, maritime computer systems are also attractive to malicious cyber actors. Illustrating this interest by malicious individuals, the U.S. Coast Guard issued a safety alert warning all shipping...

Mayors in the United States have collectively declared that they'll no longer meet attackers' ransom demands in connection to a digital security event. At its 87th annual meeting, the U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a resolution entitled, "Opposing Payment To Ransomeware Attack Perpetrators." This decree makes clear that the Conference, the...