Information security should be at the heart of every system launched. In accordance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), an information technology system is granted an Authority to Operate (ATO) after passing a risk-based cybersecurity assessment.The ATO ProblemHowever, the ATO process can pose several challenges to the modern...

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned that phishing emails are redirecting recipients to spoofed COVID-19 loan relief pages. On August 12, CISA announced its discovery of the attack campaign in Alert (AA20-225A): The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is currently tracking an unknown malicious cyber...

It would be heartening to think that cybersecurity has advanced since the 1990s, but some things never change. Vulnerabilities that some of us first saw in 1996 are still with us. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the news. Last month, Virginia-based cybersecurity firm GRIMM announced that they had found a vulnerability that affects many...

A phishing campaign abused both the Google App Engine and the Azure App Service to steal victims' Microsoft Outlook credentials. Netskope observed that the attack campaign started with a shortened link "https://bitly[.]com/33nMLkZ" distributed by a phishing email. This link redirected a recipient of the email to a Google App Engine domain "https:/...

Imagine a workplace in which all of the staff support the function of information security. Employees report suspicious events, are committed to data privacy and see the value in completing the regularly scheduled compliance trainings. How much easier life would be for security professionals! Naturally, it’s hard for people to get behind something...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s August 2020 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-899 on Wednesday, August 12th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2020-1464 A vulnerability exists in the way that Windows validates file signatures. An attacker could load improperly signed...

Some new variants of the Agent Tesla infostealer family are capable of stealing data from multiple VPN clients and web browsers. SentinelOne observed that attackers continue to deploy Agent Tesla across various stages of their operations, as this malware enables criminals with even low levels of technical expertise to manipulate and manage their...

Have you ever stood in the airport security line when the agents bring the dog out to inspect everyone’s luggage? I’m always so fascinated watching the dog go down the line and do her work. Wow she’s so smart! How does she know what to look for? My own dog has talents of her own, but she would not get hired for this job. She has a good functioning...

Fraudsters launched a new phishing attack in which they sent out a fake cPanel advisory warning recipients about fabricated security vulnerabilities. On August 5, cPanel and WebHost Manager (WHM) users began reporting of having received a fake advisory that appeared to have originated from the company. The fake advisory informed recipients that...

Technology and cyber systems have become essential components of modern society. Despite the benefit of cyber technologies, insecurities arise. These could affect all systems and infrastructures. More than that, the threat of a cyberattack could very well have a transnational component and effect as worldwide systems become increasingly...

The Emotet botnet earned the title of "most wanted" malware family for the month of July 2020 following a period of inactivity. Check Point revealed that Emotet threat activity had affected 5% of organizations worldwide in July 2020, thereby earning the malware the top spot in the security firm's Global Threat Index for that month. Emotet launched...

Vince Lombardi, the famous football coach, used to start his training camp each season with a talk about doing the basics. He’d tell the players that they start with the basics, then he’d take a football and hold it up and tell them, “This is a football.” In football, as in life and IT Security, starting with the basics is the most important step...

A phishing campaign tricked users into visiting a website that masqueraded as an email scanner in an effort to steal their account credentials. Kaspersky Lab found that the campaign began with a scam email containing a fake virus alert. This email claimed to originate from an organization's "Email Security Team," but it actually originated from a...

In its Vision 2030 development plan, Saudi Arabia included a National Transformation Program whose purpose is to diversify the Kingdom’s income away from the oil industry. One of the core tenets of that program is to enable the growth of the private sector by developing the digital economy. Specifically, Saudi Arabia set out its intention to...

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) warned of the security risks that organizations face if they continue to use the Windows 7 operating system despite its end of life (EOL) status. In a private industry notification published on August 3, the FBI explained that it had witnessed computer criminals exploiting operating systems that had...

The mechanical lock is perhaps the most fundamental, tangible, and familiar layer of security in our daily lives. People lock their doors with the expectation that these locks will keep the bad people out, but there’s a common adage in the security industry that locks are only good at keeping honest people honest. This is perhaps truer than ever in...

COVID-19 forced organizations all over the world to transition their employees to a work-from-home policy. That change came at a time when organizations’ connected infrastructure is more complex than ever. Such complexity doesn’t just extend across IT environments, either. Indeed, machines and production processes are also becoming increasingly...

Jen Burns, lead cybersecurity engineer at MITRE, walks us through the MITRE ATT&CK© Framework and discusses some important changes brought by a July 2020 update. She then highlights what the security community can expect to see in a couple of upcoming updates before sharing how individuals can get involved with the MITRE ATT&CKFramework going...

Government officials in Belarus announced they had arrested an individual on charges of having helped to distribute GandCrab ransomware. On July 30, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Republic of Belarus revealed that it had arrested a 31-year-old resident of Gomel in cooperation with the...