Cyber security assessment initiatives and frameworks abound in the US government, the most important being the Federal Information Systems Management Act (FISMA) passed in 2002. The law’s broad scope included a mandate to the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), charging it to create methods and standards to assess and optimize...

Last week I spoke with Trica Howard about social engineering attacks and user education. Considering how social engineering and poorly trained users are two of the most significant cybersecurity problems ever, it was a great conversation. This week I spoke with another security communications specialist, tech writer Stacey Holleran. We both write...

MITRE has released an April 2019 update to its ATT&CK framework. It’s been a year since the last major update featuring a new tactic. There are a number of changes for this year: the most major being the addition of a 12th Tactic, Impact, which contains 14 new Techniques. There are also seven new Techniques under existing Tactics, as well as a...

For the second time in a year, Baltimore city government computers have been infected by ransomware. Malicious hackers are demanding that a ransom is paid for the safe recovery of encrypted files on affected computers and servers. On Tuesday, Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young tweeted how the city had "shut down the majority of its servers" out of "an...

Verizon Enterprise has once again released its annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). The publication doesn’t disappoint in providing crucial insight into today’s digital threats. On the one hand, Verizon’s 2019 report captures how many forces in the threat landscape have remained the same since its previous report. The study observed how...

Every year, the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report comes out, and there’s a mad scramble to inspect and interpret the data. The report is data-rich, as always, and already contains a bunch of analysis, so there are really only a few options for adding value to the conversation. Industry commentators can choose to disagree with the analysis,...

Modern digital and cloud technology underpins the shift that enables businesses to implement new processes, scale quickly and serve customers in a whole new way. Historically, organisations would invest in their own IT infrastructure to support their business objectives, and the IT department's role would be focused on keeping the "lights on." To...

An online tutoring program has revealed that it suffered a data breach in which an unauthorized individual might have compromised customers' information. The Hacker News received a copy of a notice sent out by Wyzant to its customers informing them about the data breach. According to this letter, the...

By now, many organizations have turned to DevOps as part of their ongoing digital transformations. This process has not been the same for any two companies. Indeed, organizations have embraced DevOps at their own place, and they’ve invested varying levels of time and budget into their nascent deployments. Such variety has helped shape organizations’...

Last time, I got to speak with social engineering expert Jenny Radcliffe. This time, I got to speak with cybersecurity-minded client manager Tricia Howard. I got to learn even more about social engineering from her plus quite a bit about the importance of user education. Kim Crawley: Please tell me a bit about yourself and what you do. Tricia...

Fraudsters are targeting consumers with one-ring phone scams that exploit people's curiosity so as to trick them into paying exorbitant fees. According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), this scam oftentimes begins when a fraudster contacts an unsuspecting consumer using a one-ring...

I'm sure you have all seen the Rickie Fowler commercial where the interviewer rants about all of the confusing financial terms involved with getting a mortgage. If not, you can find it below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1YqNTWOldY Confusion in Cyber Security Throughout my career, I have worked with hundreds of organizations. Regardless of the...

An unprotected database made it possible for anyone on the web to view the personal and employment information of 13.7 million users. Security researcher and GDI Foundation member Sanyam Jain discovered the database and determined that it belonged to Ladders, a New York-based job recruitment site which specializes in high-end jobs. Jain then shared...

Passwords may not be the favourite piece of your workday, however, I have a theory – if I could share with you the value of a password and the reality of how simple they can be to create; then passwords may not be the monster you avoid. When you get the "your password expires in 5 days" notice, instead of feeling anxious or aggravated, let’s...

Companies are moving to incorporate the cloud into their computing infrastructure at a phenomenal rate. This is, without question, a very positive move. It permits companies to scale processing resources up and down in response to changing demands, giving companies the operational equivalent of unlimited resources while paying only for the resources...

Few would dispute the idea that an effective cybersecurity profile requires candid assessments of potential vulnerabilities. Here’s a closer look at the challenges facing the federal cybersecurity mission and the efforts of state-level agencies. Federal Though the federal government demonstrates an ongoing commitment to ramping up its...

A Washington federal court has received a $9.8 million settlement that would resolve a data breach class-action lawsuit filed against Eddie Bauer. Filed on 26 April, the proposed settlement is the product of two years of litigation between Eddie Bauer and Veridian Credit Union, a process which...

Tripwire's April 2019 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities from Microsoft, Adobe, and Oracle. First on the patch priority list this month are patches for Microsoft's Browser and Scripting Engine. These patches resolve 13 vulnerabilities, including fixes for Memory Corruption, Browser Tampering, and Information...

Last week, I spoke with bug bounty triager and Ubuntu fan Sophia Sanles-Luksetich. This week, I had the honor of speaking with social engineering specialist Jenny Radcliffe. Contrary to what a lot of Nigerian Princes would tell you, in my opinion social engineering is one of the most misunderstood areas of cybersecurity. Kim Crawley: Please tell...

A digital fraudster posed as English actor and film producer Jason Statham to prey upon and steal money from star-struck users. A woman who asked not to be named said the scam began when someone posing as Statham contacted her while she was on a Facebook page dedicated to the actor. She thought it was nice that the actor had seemingly embraced ...