Identity and Access Management | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Your team needs elevated privileges to perform tasks such as installing software, troubleshooting endpoints, running approved tools, and managing servers. But do they need those privileges all the time? The dilemma is that standing access makes work easy, but it leaves unnecessary privilege in place. Removing it entirely often creates delays and a flood of elevation requests. PEDM offers a different approach: just-in-time elevation for a specific action, for a limited time, under rules your security team sets. This article explains how such a model works and how you can reduce standing privileges without overloading your helpdesk. Why standing privileges create unnecessary exposure Standing privileges stay active whether or not users need them. Local admin rights on a Windows workstation are a common example, but the same issue appears with broad server access, shared administrative accounts, or elevated rights kept "just in case." The problem starts when access outlives it...

AI-powered coding assistants now play a central role in modern software development. Developers use them to speed up tasks, reduce boilerplate snippets, and automate routine code generation. But with that speed comes a dangerous trade-off. The tools designed to accelerate innovation are degrading application security by embedding subtle yet serious vulnerabilities in software. Nearly  half of the code snippets generated by five AI models contained bugs that attackers could exploit, a study showed. A second study confirmed the risk, with nearly one-third of Python snippets and a quarter of JavaScript  snippets produced by GitHub Copilot having security flaws . The problem goes beyond flawed output. AI tools instill a false sense of confidence. Developers using AI assistance not only  wrote significantly less secure code than those who worked unaided, but they also believed their insecure code was safe, a clear sign of automation bias. The Dangerous Simplicity of AI-...

For businesses, compliance with regulations can often appear to be restrictive, and costly and reduce the speed of business. It's still necessary to create an environment that protects not only internal data but also external constituents like partners and customers. Highly regulated industries, such as healthcare and finance, are often faced with a variety of regulations that vary by geography and can carry steep penalties and consequences for noncompliance. Most companies struggle to comply with regulations. In fact, Business Wire estimates that " 71% of companies could potentially fail a cyber audit , which often includes identity management aspects".   What are some key compliance challenges your business may face?  Errors and inconsistencies resulting from repetitive manual processes Complex, evolving regulations that make compliance challenging Siloed environments and processes, often involving incompatible tools, or processes that do not match execution Difficu...

Starting from ground 0 Active Directory is currently installed in over 90% of the Fortune 1000 companies . Because of its prevalence, and the value of the information it maintains, we know it's a primary target for threat actors.  To protect Active Directory and other valuable assets of similar sensitivity, Microsoft introduced the concept of the Red Forest, a security architecture designed to protect Active Directory forests from cyberattack. Red Forest worked to containerize a hardened forest, separate from other forests, using buffer zones and policies to restrict activity. This concept, also known as Enhanced Security Admin Environment ESAE) came about in 2014. The separation of high value, highly sensitive forests in Active Directory from other systems and assets is critically important to protect the content housed within. Using the most modern approach available at any given time will help to thwart threat actors who are continuously searching for a way to infiltrate yo...

Multi-factor authentication has long been touted to protect accounts. Organizations implement it, feel protected and move on. But today's attackers have evolved and so should defenses. Preventing access is ideal. But in the event a bad actor gets access, containment becomes a priority. Threat actors aren't always spending their time actively forcing their way into accounts. Instead, they're taking the easy route, logging in with stolen credentials and using MFA bypass techniques.  Account takeovers (ATO) lets attackers slip into organizational environments unnoticed , where they can move laterally, escalate privileges, and quietly steal valuable information and data. And now, they're increasingly logging in even with MFA in place. From social engineering to session hijacking, the tactics have become more sophisticated and more dangerous. The Reality: MFA Can Be Bypassed Authentication is still crucial for defense, but standard MFA is quickly being outmaneuvered by bad actors....

For many organizations, managing IT assets is like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle without all the pieces. Despite massive investments in security tools and controls, many companies still have critical gaps in their ecosystems that leave them vulnerable to breaches. Often, these gaps stem not from a lack of tools—if such a thing exists in security—but from incomplete visibility and integration across those tools. By aggregating and analyzing data from multiple systems, security leaders can gain a more robust picture of their IT inventory and subsequently, their security posture. The challenge with disparate security tools It's not unusual for enterprises to deploy a wide array of security tools. The average organization uses roughly 10 security tools, covering everything from endpoint management to identity and access control. These tools, however, often operate in silos, creating fragmented and occasionally contradictory reports. Let's look at a practical example. Conside...