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Proactive vs. Reactive Compliance Management

Much of my time spent working is focused on performing technology assessments against some kind of baseline. Most of the time, these are specific government or industry standards like HIPAA, NIST, ISO and PCI. But when some of my clients reach out to me about evaluating their environment in light of these standards, it’s often done out of a feeling...
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VERT Threat Alert: Cisco WebEx Browser Extension Remote Code Execution

Vulnerability Description A vulnerability in the Cisco WebEx Browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer could be used to execute code on a victim system. It is trivial to exploit the vulnerability and sample exploit code has been released publicly. The vulnerability leverages command execution in the launch_meeting message via a...
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SpyNote RAT Masquerades as Netflix App to Infect Android Devices

A new variant of the SpyNote remote access trojan (RAT) is infecting Android devices by masquerading as a mobile Netflix app. The malware, which is based off the SpyNote RAT builder leaked in 2016, displays the same icon used by the official Netflix app that's found on Google Play. But it's a fake. Clicking on the app causes the icon to disappear...
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Charger Android Ransomware Spread via the Official Google Play App Store

We all know that ransomware is a growing problem for businesses and home users alike, and that most of it is targeted against Windows users. And we're also familiar with warnings to avoid downloading Android apps from third-party marketplaces rather than officially-sanctioned ones such as the Google Play marketplace. But infosecurity is not a world...
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Digging for Security Bugs in Python Code

Python is a great development language for so many reasons. Its developers enjoy huge library support. Do you want to deploy a simple web server or implement a RESTful API? There are modules for that. Capture, analyze, and visualize network traffic flow? There are simple and free modules for all of that, too. Developers using Python can create a...
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Breaking Out of the Checkbox with PCI 3.2 Compliance

Since 2004, merchant companies that handle branded credit cards have worked to maintain compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). These regulations, which consist of six fundamental control objectives and 12 core requirements, aim to protect payment card data for customers. They also help card issuers and banks...
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DNS Evil Lurking Around Every Corner

Today, I came across a blog post that once again showcases the importance of properly managing DNS through its entire lifecycle. The article entitled “Respect My Authority – Hijacking Broken Nameservers to Compromise Your Target” (sic) was written by Matthew Bryant (@IAmMandatory). It can be found here. It’s a bit of long read but serves as a great...
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Heartbleed Still a Heartache 1,000 Days In

A recent report released by Shodan found that as of January 22, 2017, nearly 200,000 publicly accessible internet devices were vulnerable to Heartbleed. The detailed report gives some insight into those who continue to be exposed to this vulnerability. It's no surprise that the majority of these systems are HTTPS pages hosted by Apache and running...
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Consumer Carelessness Leaves Sensitive Data in Returned Devices

My boyfriend works a demanding day job at a major Canadian big box furniture and appliance retailing chain. Knowing that I write about information security for a living, he had an interesting story to tell me: "An LG Smart TV was returned to us by the customer, and it had their credit card credentials in it! Why didn't they do a factory reset first...
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76% of Organizations Report Being Victims of Phishing Attacks

According to new research, three in four (76 percent) organizations report being victims of phishing attacks. The findings indicate a 10 percent decrease from 2015. The third annual State of Phish report by Wombat Security analyzed data from tens of millions of simulated phishing emails over 12 months, in addition to 500 survey responses from...
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Supercell Urges Users to Reset Passwords Following Forum Breach

Supercell, a mobile game development company, has urged users to reset their passwords following a breach that affected its forum. An administrator for the firm, which has produced popular multiplayer games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, announced the incident on 17 January: "We're currently looking into report that a vulnerability allowed...
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Adobe Acrobat auto-installed a vulnerable Chrome extension on Windows PCs

Adobe is no stranger to finding itself in the security headlines for all the wrong reasons, and it seems that things may not be changing as we enter 2017. There was controversy earlier this month when news broke about how Adobe took the opportunity on Patch Tuesday of using its regular security updates to force Adobe Acrobat DC users into silently...
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Assessing Cyber Security Risk: You Can't Secure It If...

In the course of working with our clients to improve their security posture, I have come across several common factors that often limit a business's ability to assess and mitigate cyber security risk. Last month, we looked at a few of these themes and some real-world examples of how they apply. Let's now take a look at a few more. You can't secure...
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BSidesSF Preview: DNS Attacks, A History and Overview

In modern times, it is possible for an attacker to persistently and repeatedly hijack a victim's bank account at most major US banks through the victim visiting a web page. This is done without browser exploits or any visible warning. For a criminal, these attacks are cheap and highly successful. The attack that I am talking about is DNS hijacking....
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Fired IT Employee Demands $200K in Exchange for Unlocking Data

A fired IT employee demanded his former employer pay him 200,000 USD in exchange for the return of its sensitive information. Triano Williams hired attorney Calvita J. Frederick to represent him in a dispute involving the American College of Education, an Indianapolis-based online provider of Master's and Doctorate degrees in teaching at which he...