Last time, I had the privilege of speaking with web security specialist Pam Armstrong. This time I got to chat with Alana Staszczyszyn, someone whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in person. She’s very active in Toronto’s cybersecurity scene. She’s currently a student, but she has so much to teach people in our industry about evolving cyber...

The first article in this series examined configuration hardening, essentially looking at ports, processes and services as the “doors, gates and windows” into a network where security configuration management (SCM) becomes the job of determining which of these gateways should be open, closed, or locked at any given time. Now it’s time to look at...

If you’re in your 40s or 50s, you probably remember a TV series called The Twilight Zone. (Millennials, think Netflix’s Black Mirror). Every show was its own stand-alone story that took viewers into an alternate reality where things got weird in a hurry followed by twists and turns culminating in a surprise ending. These types of winding plots aren...

Everyone responsible for securing organisations today recognises the significant growth in BEC (Business Email Compromise) attacks, also sometimes known as "Whaling" or "CEO fraud". BEC scammers trick accounting and finance departments into wiring considerable amounts of money into bank accounts under their control, posing as genuine suppliers...

The debate over the degree of regulation of broadband Internet providers in the U.S. has been going on almost as long as broadband Internet service has been available. In 2004, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) first described a set of non-discrimination principles to ensure that users had access to content on an equal basis. In 2008, the FCC...

Criminals are hijacking Instagram influencers' accounts and demanding that victims pay a ransom in bitcoin to regain access. Kevin Kreider, a Los Angeles-based Instagrammer who's known for his following around fitness-related topics, told Motherboard that extortionists first targeted him when someone named Lana reached out with a fake business...

Inspired by Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the State of California has set a new precedent with the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The major data incidents last year have driven citizens into a frenzy about securing their data, and states have rushed to developing and passing policies and legislation....

A malware outbreak was responsible for a network outage that affected a limited number of Recipe Unlimited restaurant locations. On 1 October, Recipe Unlimited announced a malware attack of which it learned at the end of September. The Canadian restaurant chain owner and food distributor said in a statement that it responded by taking certain...

The healthcare industry continues to be challenged with securing patient health information. According to the Verizon Protected Health Information Data Breach Report (PHIDBR), 58 percent of all security incidents involved insiders, ransomware accounts for 70 percent of all malicious code, and alarmingly, basic security hygiene is still lacking at...

Last time, I spoke with Sharka. She’s a pentester who knows how to hack a glucose meter. She also taught me a few things about physical security. Now I get to talk with Pam Armstrong. Web development eventually led her to healthcare security. Kim Crawley: Please tell me about what you do. Pam Armstrong: I work for a large healthcare system on the...

Researchers observed the distribution of the DanaBot banking trojan in a large attack campaign targeting U.S. organizations. On 26 September, Proofpoint detected a campaign consisting of hundreds of thousands of emails intended for U.S. recipients. Each of these attack messages masqueraded as an eFax and used a "Download Fax" link to download a...

I am extremely pleased today to announce Claroty’s integration into Tripwire's ICS security capabilities. The integration of our respective technologies, based on a shared vision of how the security landscape is evolving, addresses a fast-growing need within industrial enterprises for top-floor to shop-floor visibility across both business and...

Cybercrime is becoming more sophisticated by the day. Meanwhile, the price for a breach due to damage and disruption, ransom payments and regulatory fines, is increasing. No wonder there's more of a need than ever for companies to set up a dedicated SOC using SIEM to identify threats and raise the alarm. But is that enough to fight the hackers? ...

An Australian teenager who hacked into Apple's network on multiple occasions over several months and stole sensitive files has been told that he will not be imprisoned. As Bloomberg reports, the unnamed hacker - who was 16 years old when the security breaches began - exploited a VPN designed for the use of authorized parties to access Apple's...

Researchers have discovered a new botnet called "Torii" which differentiates itself from Mirai by its use of several sophisticated tactics. Infosec expert @VessOnSecurity is the first to have discovered the new botnet: https://twitter.com/VessOnSecurity/status/1042538889582444546 Named for its use of Tor exit nodes to launch telnet attacks, Torii...

As we have talked about in prior blogs, industrial cybersecurity is a journey. This is a journey that is never-ending, as control system technology advancements are adopting information technology (IT) and cloud-based solutions at a faster rate than ever before. At the same time, the threat landscape of malicious activity is constantly evolving. We...

DevOps is redefining the way organizations handle software development. But it’s also challenging security professionals in their efforts to manage digital risk. With that said, there are security teams need to be strategic about how they approach DevOps security. Here are some expert recommendations on what to do and what to avoid when implementing...

Tripwire's September 2018 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together the top vulnerabilities from Microsoft and Adobe. First on the patch priority list this month are patches for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Edge and Scripting Engine. These patches resolve 18 vulnerabilities, including fixes for Elevation of Privilege, Information Disclosure,...

Cloud security is not as simple as it may seem. Businesses have a shared security responsibility with cloud service providers, but some lack the knowledge to keep up their share of the bargain. Poor configuration and data leaks are common problems that many businesses encounter in the cloud. These issues can lead to malware infecting your cloud...

New updates and additions to compliance requirements are as regular as the rising and setting of the sun. Recently, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a companion publication to NIST 800-171 that provides guidance on how organizations can assess the CUI requirements in NIST 800-171, known as SP 800-171A. The purpose...