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APT Rogues’ Gallery: The World’s Most Dangerous Cyber Adversaries

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups are not a new scourge. These sophisticated, state-sponsored cyber adversaries, with deep pockets and highly advanced technical skills, conduct prolonged and targeted attacks to infiltrate networks, exfiltrate sensitive data, and disrupt critical infrastructure. The stakes have never been higher, so in this blog, we’ll look at some of the most notorious APT...
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Ransomware Reaches A Record High, But Payouts Are Dwindling

Shed a tear, if you can, for the poor, misunderstood cybercriminals hard at work trying to earn a dishonest crust by infecting organisations with ransomware.Newly released research has revealed that the riches to be made from encrypting a company's data and demanding a ransom are not proving so easy to come by as they once were.Because, although the number of ransomware attacks are reported to...
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Cyber Fraud: The Primary Culprit in UK Payment Fraud

Cyber fraud has skyrocketed from a growing concern to the leading driver of payment fraud in the UK, infiltrating most businesses in the country and exposing them to previously unimagined financial and operational risks. This was one of the findings of Trustpair’s 2025 Fraud Report, Fraud in the Cyber Era: 2025 UK Fraud Trends & Insights, which revealed that an eye-watering more than nine out of...
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April 2025 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s Patch Tuesday Alert addresses Microsoft’s April 2025 Security Updates. We are actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expect to ship ASPL-1151 as soon as coverage is completed.In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEsCVE-2025-29824A vulnerability in the Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) Driver could allow a malicious actor to elevate their privileges to SYSTEM. Microsoft has...
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Tripwire Patch Priority Index for March 2025

Tripwire's March 2025 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft and Google.Up first on the list are patches for Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) and Google Chromium that resolve spoofing, out of bounds read, use after free, and other vulnerabilities.Next on the list are patches for Microsoft Office, Excel, Word, and Access. These patches resolve 12 remote...
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HellCat Ransomware: What You Need To Know

What is HellCat?HellCat is the name of a relatively new ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) group that first came to prominence in the second half of 2024. Like many other ransomware operations, HellCat breaks into organisations, steals sensitive files, and encrypts computer systems - demanding a ransom payment for a decryption key and to prevent the leaking of stolen files.So it's your typical "double...
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VanHelsing Ransomware: What You Need To Know

What is the VanHelsing ransomware?First reported earlier in March 2025, VanHelsing is a new ransomware-as-a-service operation.Oh, so it's a relatively new player on the malware scene, then. Why the concern?At least three victims of VanHelsing have already been identitified, and a number of variants of the malware have been analysed by security researchers. The fact that VanHelsing runs as a RaaS...
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How to Build a Mature Vulnerability Management Program

The terms “patch management” and “vulnerability management“ are not the same. And that difference is a big difference.They may be confused because applying patches is one of the many ways to mitigate cyber risks. However, it is one piece of the entire vulnerability management puzzle and organizations that do not realize this are burdened with a false sense of security. A patch management program...
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The Role of Localization in Cybersecurity Threat Mitigation

If your website is targeting multiple states or countries, by default, you face a double-pronged challenge: adapting to regional regulatory demands while defending against sophisticated cyber threats. Tackling this requires localization. But what does the term actually entail?Localization isn’t just about tailoring products, services, and infrastructure to meet local market requirements; it has...
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March 2025 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s March 2025 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1147 as soon as coverage is completed.In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEsCVE-2025-26633According to Microsoft, improper neutralization in Microsoft Management Console could allow an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally. For...
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The Growing Importance of Penetration Testing in OT and ICS Security

A critical aspect of manufacturing, energy, and transportation is Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Operational Technologies (OT). The rapid pace of digital growth makes these systems susceptible to cyberattacks.OT and ICS system security is important, making penetration testing an essential activity. This tactic makes it possible to mitigate weaknesses so they are no longer vulnerabilities. It...
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Tripwire Patch Priority Index for February 2025

Tripwire's February 2025 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft.Up first on the list are patches for Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) that resolve 4 remote code execution and 2 spoofing vulnerabilities.Next on the list are patches for Microsoft Office and Excel. These patches resolve 8 issues such as remote code execution and information disclosure...
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ICS Environments and Patch Management: What to Do If You Can’t Patch

The evolution of the cyber threat landscape highlights the need for organizations to strengthen their ability to identify, analyze, and evaluate cyber risks before they evolve into security incidents. Criminals often exploit known unpatched vulnerabilities to penetrate Industrial Control Systems (ICS) environments and disrupt critical operations. Although patch management seems like the obvious...
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Are Your VM Scans Testing the Entirety of the Network?

Many organizations have a vulnerability management (VM) problem without knowing it. Vulnerability management is a crucial component of any organization’s cybersecurity program and is required by most major compliance standards because of its sink-or-swim impact on network security. One of the biggest issues in VM is that organizations aren’t testing the entirety of their networks. Could yours be...
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How to Achieve Compliance with NIS Directive

The original NIS Directive came into force in 2016 as the EU’s first comprehensive law governing cybersecurity in member states. As part of its key policy objective to make Europe “fit for the digital age,” the European Commission proposed in December 2020 that NIS be revised, and NIS2 entered into force in January of 2023. Member states were required to transpose it into law by October 17, 2024...
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Got a Microsoft Teams invite? Storm-2372 Gang Exploit Device Codes in Global Phishing Attacks

Security experts have warned that a cybercriminal group has been running a malicious and inventive phishing campaign since August 2024 to break into organizations across Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle East.The Russian group, known as Storm-2372, has targeted government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as firms working in IT, defence, telecoms, health, and the...
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VERT Threat Alert: February 2025 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s February 2025 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1143 as soon as coverage is completed. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEsCVE-2025-21391A vulnerability in Windows Storage could lead to elevation of privilege, however, it is important to note that this would not give complete access to the file...
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Building a Vulnerability Management Program from Scratch

Building a vulnerability management (VM) program from the ground up is no small feat. It requires technical expertise, organizational buy-in, and a clear roadmap. In recent months, I’ve been working with a client who had to discard their legacy approach and start afresh. We came to realize just how many components have to come together to get a decent start on a VM project while also showing value...
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Tripwire Patch Priority Index for January 2025

Tripwire's January 2025 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft.First on the list are patches for the Microsoft office platform, including Word, Access, Visio, Excel, OneNote, and Outlook. These patches resolve 13 issues such as remote code execution and security feature bypass vulnerabilities.Next are patches that affect components of the core Windows...
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Understanding Microsoft's CVSS v3.1 Ratings and Severity Scores

Recently, I looked at Microsoft’s assigned CVSS v3.1 scores for Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities alongside the Microsoft assigned severity ratings. I wanted to revisit these numbers and see just how closely CVSS aligns with Microsoft’s opinion of severity.Disclaimer: I’m aware that CVSS v4.0 exists. However, Microsoft has not yet adopted it, and I wanted an apples-to-apples comparison.What Is CVSS v3...