Microsoft has released a new feature called "Controlled Folder Access" that helps Windows users protect their data against ransomware. First announced in June 2017, Controlled Folder Access is an option in Windows Defender Security Center that went live in mid-October. Its purpose is to protect files contained in designated folders against...

Words have meaning. Cybersecurity and IT professionals routinely abuse the terms “policy” and “standard” as if they are synonymous. The same holds true for compliance terms since these terms tend to get thrown in the same bucket even though there are significant differences that should be kept in mind. Why Should You Care? Beyond just using...

At the U.S. Republican National Convention in Cleveland last year, more than 1,200 people connected to free WiFi networks with names like “I Vote Trump! Free Internet,” “I Vote Hillary! Free Internet,” and “Xfinitywifi.” They transferred gigabytes of data, doing things like checking e-mails and chatting. Some even shopped on Amazon or logged into...

Google has announced a bug bounty program covering other developers' popular Android apps available for download in its Play Store. On 19 October, the American multinational technology company launched its Google Play Security Rewards Program. Here's a high-level description of the new framework: "Google Play is working with the independent bug...

Industrial control system (ICS) cybersecurity has come a long way over the last decade. Today, we have well-established guidance for securing industrial plants and SCADA systems, including IEC-62443, NERC CIP and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Industry and governmental efforts to build awareness of cyber risks have also been successful. Most...

In 2014, the FBI warned that healthcare systems, including medical devices, were at an increased risk of cyber-attacks due to the unfortunate coupling of poor cybersecurity practices in the healthcare industry with patient health information (PHI) that commands high value on the dark web. This warning has largely been realized. The cost and...

A new, “highly prevalent” strain of Android malware was found infecting several Minecraft-related apps on the Google Play store, adding compromised devices into a botnet. According to security researchers at Symantec, at least eight mobile apps – with an install base ranging from 600,000 to 2.6 million devices – were infected with Sockbot. “The...

419 scammers are tempting unsuspecting users with a fake offer of $60 million in exchange for adopting their teenage son. The scam begins when a user receives a Twitter DM from the account of someone who appears to serve in the armed forces. Such unexpected correspondence could (and should) strike the recipient as odd. But the United States, the...

OPSEC (Operational Security) is a term derived from the U.S. military and is an analytical process used to deny an adversary information that could compromise the secrecy and/or the operational security of a mission. The very process of performing OPSEC or protecting yourself from an adversary not only plays a very important role in both offensive...

Nobody welcomes the prospect of having our online accounts hacked. It's a pain in the neck resetting passwords, warning your contacts, and worrying about the prospect that your identity may be stolen. But for some of us, the consequences of having our Gmail account compromised by state-sponsored hackers could be even more catastrophic and even life...

Microsoft’s Office 365 suite of cloud applications is now the most popular cloud service in the world by user count. While this has fast-tracked Microsoft’s path to becoming a cloud-first enterprise software company, it has also put a bulls-eye on Office 365, making it a target of choice for hackers. Given the fact that enterprises store a...

Continuing the discussion around the skills gap our industry is facing, I’m excited to share our final set of results from the Tripwire skills gap survey. My previous post highlighted the need for technical skills. But as this next set of findings indicates, soft skills in cybersecurity are not be overlooked. Every single participant in our survey...

In my last interview, I spoke with Tarah Wheeler, who is a technology and cybersecurity executive, entrepreneur, hacker, keynote speaker, scientist, and author. She's also the author of Women in Tech: Take Your Career to the Next Level with Practical Advice and Inspiring Stories. This time, I spoke to Katherine Teitler. She's the director of content...

On 16 October, news first emerged of what's known as "KRACKs." These malicious techniques exploit vulnerabilities that affect a protocol used for securing Wi-Fi networks. Bad actors could therefore leverage KRAcks to potentially expose encrypted information exchanged over otherwise secure wireless connections. As of this writing, the computer...

American restaurant chain Pizza Hut has notified customers of a data breach that might have exposed some of their personal and financial information. On October 14, the Italian-American cuisine franchise wrote to a portion of its customer base about an "unauthorized third party intrusion" involving its website. Pizza Hut thinks that the incident...

When designing systems today, everyone is aware that security is an essential feature, even in systems that you don’t think are critical. The recent Equifax breach brought home to me one of the most important factors of designing secure systems (software or not): delivering systems with secure defaults. In today’s threat-rich environment, the...

As part of this ongoing series (previous parts, in order, here, here, here and here), I have been trying to make the case that differing interests make cooperation on cybersecurity issues virtually impossible. This is not criticism. It’s just reality. And while it would be easy to look at Brexit or Eastern European and American politics as a push...

Tech support scams are no laughing matter. They're capable of infecting unsuspecting users' computers with malware and robbing innocent people of their hard-earned money. It's therefore not surprising that we've witnessed the emergence of numerous initiatives designed to counter tech support scammers over the past few years. Many of these offensives...

Australian government officials reported on Wednesday that a hacker stole approximately 30GB of data from a Department of Defense contractor. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the compromised data included sensitive information on Australia’s next-generation spy planes, naval warships and its $14 billion Joint Strike Fighter program. A...

The TrickBot trojan evolved in the third quarter of 2017 by adding new variations to its code and to its delivery vectors. According to IBM X-Force Research, TrickBot was the busiest financial trojan during the summer of 2017. That activity, which included an expansion into Argentina, Chile, Columbia, and Peru, partly resulted from the banking...