This blog contains a discussion about stress, trauma, and domestic violence. This may be difficult for some readers, and given the alarming figures around Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), trauma, and early life experiences (ACEs), this will likely concern at least a small population of readers. Please take care of yourself when reading this...

Protecting our critical infrastructure against the threat of ransomware remains a top priority for both the private sector and the federal government. In fact, a recent survey from Tripwire found that security professionals in both sectors still identify ransomware as a top security concern. More than half (53%) of respondents in that study said...

Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, recently published the 2021 Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) report. The report, which is Europol’s flagship strategic product that provides a law enforcement focused assessment of evolving threats and key developments in the area of cybercrime, highlights the expansion of the...

The CISO’s role is never static. Over the last two decades, it has evolved beyond technical IT security. CISOs are now central to their organization when it comes to risk, compliance and governance. And this comes at a time when businesses are undergoing rapid change in the face of changing threats. In the past, the CISO or head of IT security has...

In a previous blog post, I discussed the different applications of integrity for Zero Trust and provided four use cases highlighting integrity in action. The reality is that many organizations can’t realize any of this on their own. But they don’t need to. They can work with a company like Tripwire as a partner on their Zero Trust journey. Let’s...

It's that time of year that the usual happens. Christmas crackers with bad jokes. Holiday specials on TV (constantly). And cyber specialists like me make predictions about the year to come. With the help of insights from Gartner and my own views on what we are likely to see in 2022, I think I can help you with a couple of these. Firstly, it's worth...

Which Flavor of the Purdue Model Should You Follow? If you enter the term "Purdue Model" into your favorite search engine, the resulting images will vary considerably. There's almost no better way to stir up an Operational Technology (OT) security conversation than to begin debating what belongs on Level 1 or Level 3 of the model. You might even...

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) views securing the supply chain and the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) as one critical pillar in protecting national security. Dedicated security requirements exist for the protection of federal information systems as well as classified information based on the NIST 800-53 standard. However, several years...

The role of the modern CISO is more than understanding the technical side of the business. In fact, the role consists of even more than understanding the business side of the business. When I spoke with Ian Thornton-Trump, he was able to shed light on how important effective communication and team-building are to the overall success of a modern CISO...

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recently released its fifth annual review of the state of cybersecurity in the United Kingdom. The report is presented under five headings including an analysis of and response "The Threat," advice for resilience, advances in threat detection and prevention technology, improving the cybersecurity ecosystem,...

When it comes to cybersecurity governance and management, there is no “one size fits all” approach. Today’s CISOs have a far wider range of responsibilities than their predecessors as heads of IT security. The CISO role is no longer purely technical, focused on hardware and endpoint protection and on operations within the organisational perimeter....

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is inviting security researchers to uncover vulnerabilities and hack into its systems, in an attempt to better protect itself from malicious attacks. The DHS says that it is launching the "Hack DHS" bug bounty program to "identify potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities within certain DHS...

In September 2021, Tripwire released its annual report to examine the actions taken by the U.S. federal government to improve cybersecurity. The report also looks at non-government organizations so that we may catch a glimpse of the differing views and approaches of each, which makes for interesting (and revealing) insights. The results of such...

On December 9th 2021, Apache published a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) for Apache Log4j being referred to as “Log4Shell.” This vulnerability has been classified as “Critical” with a CVSS score of 10, allowing for Remote Code Execution with system-level privileges. If you are currently working to identify instances of this vulnerability,...

It seems that the most popular topics in cybersecurity for the last year have been zero trust as well as the convergence of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT). These developments are good, as they signal some positive motion towards better overall security. Some of the current risks are worth noting, with a forward glance to...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s December 2021 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-978 on Wednesday, December 15th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2021-43890 Up first this month is a vulnerability in the Windows AppX Installer that could allow spoofing. This...

Cybersecurity is such a broad subject that many times, an organization can become stifled when trying to develop a full cybersecurity program. Some organizations that have already put a cybersecurity program in place can also unpleasantly discover gaps in their efforts, making the entire venture seem moot. One way to effectively get started, as well...

Phishing attempts over text messages are becoming more prevalent. I received an SMS text message that contained a phishing attempt for a Canadian Bank. The message implied that I have received a new notification with this bank and I should visit the provided link. I usually do not click on any links, but I decided to see what would happen when I...

Tripwire recently conducted a series of surveys and interviews to understand IT professionals who manage security for their company. The cybersecurity landscape is constantly changing, new challenges are rapidly emerging, and new threats have surfaced, especially throughout the pandemic. We were curious to know some of the struggles that security...

The Australian government is looking to pass the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020, an overhaul which is aimed to help Australian businesses fend off cyberattacks. The Bill expands the business sectors that were previously defined as critical infrastructure by adding, amongst others, Food and Grocery, Finance and...