Resources

Blog

Foundational Controls that Assure Integrity

We want more of the CIA Triad. No, this has nothing to do with the US government agency. It stands for “confidentiality, integrity, and availability.” What it alludes to is the idea of protecting access to privileged information (confidentiality), asserting that the information hasn’t been tampered with (integrity), and that the information can be...
Blog

New "Triton" Attack Framework Targeting ICS Systems

A new attack framework known as "Triton" is targeting industrial control systems (ICS) in an attempt to cause operational disruption and/or physical consequences. FireEye recently detected an incident at a critical infrastructure organization in which an attacker gained access to a Distributed Control System (DCS) that allows human operators to...
Blog

5 Holiday Scams to Look Out For

The media has been filled with news of identity theft, hacks, and other security woes as of late. In recent months, Uber was hacked, people had their financial information stolen by credit card skimmers, and one woman lost $59,000 to a fake police website. Such incidents cause people’s stomachs to churn. They wonder how to keep their data secure and...
Blog

The Security Implications of Killing Net Neutrality

A first pass look at the issue of net neutrality might not immediately bring to mind concerns around cybersecurity, but we shouldn’t ignore the logical security implications of fundamentally reclassifying the Internet. Let’s level set a little bit, for net neutrality doesn’t appear to be a simple issue for most, but it’s actually not that...
Blog

New Ransom-Based Email Scam Urges Recipients to Pay Up or Die

A new ransom-based email scam campaign is demanding that all recipients either meet the sender's demands and pay up or die. On 11 December, Spiceworks user Dave Lass shared the campaign with other members of the professional IT industry network. The scam doesn't waste any time in attempting to frighten the recipient. It begins with the subject line ...
Blog

5 Key Updates to Version 1.1 Draft 2 of NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework

On 11 May 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that provides guidance on strengthening the United States' digital security. The directive makes clear that each head of a U.S. federal agency or government department is ultimately responsible for managing their organization's risk. It also emphasizes their use of a specific document...
Blog

Last Christmas, I Gave You… An Insecure Connected Device

No doubt, a plethora of connected devices have made it onto your holiday shopping list this year. Virtual personal assistants, smart home devices, and perhaps a TV streaming device for catching up on the latest season of Stranger Things? Streaming TV devices are certainly a popular option as the cord-cutting trend continues, but buyers should be aware of devices that look too good to be true....
Blog

VERT Threat Alert: December 2017 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses the Microsoft December 2017 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-756 on Wednesday, December 13th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs This month, no Microsoft vulnerabilities have been publicly disclosed or are being actively exploited. There are, however, a...
Blog

VERT Threat Alert: Return of Bleichenbacher’s Oracle Threat (ROBOT)

Vulnerability Description A team of researchers, including Tripwire VERT’s Craig Young has announced that TLS stacks from at least 8 different vendors are vulnerable to a well-known 19-year-old protocol flaw. The problem is that these implementations allow an attacker to identify whether or not a chosen ciphertext has proper PKCS#1 v1.5 padding...
Blog

Notice of Ransomware Attack Released by National Capital Poison Center

The National Capital Poison Center (NCPC) in Washington, DC has published notice of a ransomware attack it suffered back in 2017. According to the news release (PDF), the critical health resource detected a ransomware infection on its systems in October 2017. It then launched an investigation into the matter with the assistance of a third-party...
Blog

Women in Information Security: Jelena Milosevic

Last time, I had a chat with Kristen Kozinski. She's an expert on web development security, and she also has a pretty cool website for end user security education called Don't Click on That. This time, I have a very special interview with Jelena Milosevic. She's a nurse who has made it her mission to educate people about the cybersecurity problems...
Blog

Criminal Stole "a Significant Amount of Data" in Airport Hacking Attack

A criminal stole "a significant amount of data" in a hacking attack that targeted one of the busiest airports in Australia. According to The West Australian, the breach occurred in March 2016 when a Vietnamese man named Le Duc Hoang Hai abused a third-party contractor's credentials to access the systems at Perth Airport, the fourth busiest airport...
Blog

The Living Dead: Securing Legacy Industrial Systems

I’ve spent a lot of time in the depths of aging industrial power plants and the control houses of transmission substations. I’ve walked the aisles of countless steel cabinets taking inventory of the gear used to protect and control what’s been described as the most complex system on earth. Within these cabinets can be found a smattering of equipment...
Blog

10 of the Most Significant Ransomware Attacks of 2017

Ransomware had a good year in 2017. For the first time ever, we saw several "cryptoworm" variants self-propagate across vulnerable workstations around the world. We also witnessed more traditional ransomware families cause remarkable damage to victimized organizations as well as strains that embraced novel tools and techniques. Here are 10 of the...
Blog

Security Breach Exposed oBike Users' Personal Information

A security breach at bicycle-sharing operation oBike has exposed the personal information of users in Singapore and 13 other countries. A spokesperson for the company said the data leak "stemmed from a gap in our [application programming interface] that allowed users to refer a friend to our platform." With the oBike app, users can send invitation...
Blog

Securing the Entire Container Stack, Lifecycle, and Pipeline - Part 3

As part of a three-part series on incorporating security into the container environment, I've talked all about containers and how to inject security into the pipeline. Let's now discuss tips on how to secure the container stack. What Do I Mean by "Stack"? What I’m calling the stack, in this case, refers to all of the layers or components involved...
Blog

What Are the Benefits of Using Managed Security Services?

Today’s cybersecurity executives have a lot of choices in how they wish to purchase and consume products and services. The traditional approach of a large up-front capex investment in perpetual licenses works for some organizations, but many are looking towards managed services to reduce their up-front costs and move the overhead of managing the...
Blog

NiceHash Temporarily Ceases Operations Following Security Breach

NiceHash has temporarily ceased operations following a security breach in which a criminal gained unauthorized access to its Bitcoin wallet. The trouble started on 6 December when users of NiceHash, a service which enables people to exchange computing resources known as hashing power to mine for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, began reporting...