To allay dependence on oil revenue and expand the private sector, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has committed, in recent years, to establishing a knowledge-based economy. Consequently, they have become a formidable competitor in Information Communication Technology (ICT). As the ICT industry has grown, so have government agencies to regulate it, namely the Signals Intelligence Agency, formerly...

Misconfigurations (when cloud computing assets are set up incorrectly, leaving them vulnerable to unauthorized access, data breaches, and operational disruptions) and inadequate change control top the list of cloud security threats in 2024, rising from third place the year before. It's clear that the transition to cloud computing has amplified the challenges of configuration management, making it...

Phishing is a malicious attempt to deceive individuals into divulging sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, or other personal data. These attacks are typically carried out by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in electronic communications. Phishing can take many forms and has evolved to become more sophisticated, making it imperative for individuals and...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s September 2024 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1123 as soon as coverage is completed. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2024-38217Windows uses the Mark of the Web (MoTW) to identify files downloaded from the Internet. This is done by setting the NTFS Zone.Identifier alternate Data...

Achieving Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act compliance is becoming more difficult. While the Act is primarily a financial reporting regulation, it requires all publicly traded companies operating in the United States to maintain the integrity, accuracy, and reliability of financial reporting, which those organizations can only achieve through robust cybersecurity measures. As such, an effective...

Tripwire's August 2024 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft, Adobe and Google.First on the list are patches for Microsoft Edge and Google Chromium that resolve 12 vulnerabilities, including information disclosure, remote code execution, and memory corruption vulnerabilities.Up next are patches for Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio, Excel, Project,...

There is no doubt that we now live in an AI-driven, automation-powered world. Across industries and markets, leaders and professionals are achieving the utility of AI in their processes. The same applies to Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) management, but when one looks at the actual implementation, the data shows that there's still a long way to go.According to one recent report, only 21%...

Cyber insurance has a strange past: AIG first took cyber insurance to market in 1997 despite a total lack of actuarial data to inform premiums or policies. Essentially, the industry ran on guesswork. Even today, the cyber insurance market is remarkably unpredictable compared to long-established insurance policies such as those for housing or health.Typically, when cybercrime – or, more...

NIST SP 800-53 is a framework developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that provides guidelines and best practices for securing federal information systems and protecting the privacy of individuals whose information these systems handle.The Special Publication has gone by several different names. NIST initially released Special Publication 800-53 in 2005 under the...

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), published by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is a widely used set of guidelines for mitigating organizational cybersecurity risks. It contains recommendations and standards to help organizations identify and detect cyberattacks and advice on how to respond, prevent, and recover from cybersecurity incidents.Since Version 1.0’s...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s August 2024 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1119 as soon as coverage is completed.In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEsCVE-2024-38178CVE-2024-38178 describes a vulnerability in the Microsoft Edge scripting engine when run in Internet Explorer Mode. On top of requiring Edge be running in...

If you’ve been keeping up with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), you’ll know it has a new specification that revolves around network security controls. Let’s dig into the details.A Little Back StoryIt helps to level-set for anyone who might be coming into this from a non-technical role. We all know PCI DSS (v4.0) is the payment card industry’s compliance standard for...

Tripwire's July 2024 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft.First on the list are patches for Microsoft Office and Outlook that resolve remote code execution and spoofing vulnerabilities.Next are patches that affect components of the core Windows operating system. These patches resolve over 65 vulnerabilities, including elevation of privilege,...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was enacted to restore public confidence in the wake of major corporate and accounting scandals. The legislation aims to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws.One key aspect of SOX compliance is ensuring the integrity and security of financial data. In the digital age,...

Ransomware has evolved significantly since its inception. Initially, these attacks were relatively simple: malware would encrypt a victim's files, and the attacker would demand a ransom for the decryption key. However, as cybersecurity measures improved, so did ransomware gangs' tactics.Modern ransomware attacks often involve sophisticated techniques such as data exfiltration, where attackers...

The transition to PCI DSS 4.0 is here. The transition period from PCI DSS 3.2 ended on March 31, 2024, so businesses in all sectors must focus on aligning their practices with the new requirements.This blog will guide you through the key points discussed by PCI experts Steven Sletten and Jeff Hall in a recent webinar held by Fortra on "PCI 4.0 is Here: Your Guide to Navigating Compliance Success....

As our interactions with the digital world grow, connections will be established within seconds, leading to more online attacks. One type of attack we may be exposed to is known as a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) — a technique cyber attackers use to take over our online communications.The best way to stay safe online is with a better understanding of the problems caused by these digital attacks and...

Vulnerability management is a foundational cornerstone for reducing your organization’s cyber risk, but what are vulnerabilities and why is it important to create a strong vulnerability management program? The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) defines a vulnerability as, “Weakness in an information system, system security procedures, internal controls, or implementation that...

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) becoming more pervasive within different industries, its transformational power arrives with considerable security threats. AI is moving faster than policy, whereas the lightning-quick deployment of AI technologies has outpaced the creation of broad regulatory frameworks, raising questions about data privacy, ethical implications, and cybersecurity. This gap is...

It seems like such a short time ago that the Security Standards Council released the newest version of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). It has been a full year, and version 4.0 is now in effect. Industries that adhere to the Standard were given the year to implement the new changes. The Standard includes limited exceptions for specific requirements, classifying them as...