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The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework is one of the world's most important guidelines for securing networks. It can be applied to any number of applications, including SaaS.  One of the challenges facing those tasked with securing SaaS applications is the different settings found in each application. It makes it difficult to develop a configuration policy that will apply to an HR app that manages employees, a marketing app that manages content, and an R&D app that manages software versions, all while aligning with NIST compliance standards.  However, there are several settings that can be applied to nearly every app in the SaaS stack. In this article, we'll explore some universal configurations, explain why they are important, and guide you in setting them in a way that improves your SaaS apps' security posture.  Start with Admins Role-based access control (RBAC) is a key to NIST adherence and should be applied to every SaaS a

Discover all the ways MITRE ATT&CK can help you defend your organization. Build your security strategy and policies by making the most of this important framework. What is the MITRE ATT&CK Framework? MITRE ATT&CK (Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge) is a widely adopted framework and knowledge base that outlines and categorizes the  tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used in cyberattacks . Created by the nonprofit organization MITRE, this framework provides security professionals with insights and context that can help them comprehend, identify, and mitigate cyber threats effectively. The techniques and tactics in the framework are organized in a dynamic matrix. This makes navigation easy and also provides a holistic view of the entire spectrum of adversary behaviors. As a result, the framework is more actionable and usable than if it were a static list. The MITRE ATT&CK Framework can be found here:  https://attack.mitre.org/ Look Out: MI

The  ransomware industry surged in 2023  as it saw an alarming 55.5% increase in victims worldwide, reaching a staggering 5,070.  But 2024 is starting off showing a very different picture.  While the numbers skyrocketed in Q4 2023 with 1309 cases, in Q1 2024, the ransomware industry was down to 1,048 cases. This is a 22% decrease in ransomware attacks compared to Q4 2023. Figure 1: Victims per quarter There could be several reasons for this significant drop.  Reason 1: The Law Enforcement Intervention Firstly, law enforcement has upped the ante in 2024 with actions against both LockBit and ALPHV. The LockBit Arrests In February, an international operation named "Operation Cronos" culminated in the arrest of at least three associates of the infamous LockBit ransomware syndicate in Poland and Ukraine.  Law enforcement from multiple countries collaborated to take down LockBit's infrastructure. This included seizing their dark web domains and gaining access to their backend sys

If you're a cybersecurity professional, you're likely familiar with the sea of acronyms our industry is obsessed with. From CNAPP, to CWPP, to CIEM and all of the myriad others, there seems to be a new initialism born each day. In this article, we'll look at another trending acronym – CTEM, which stands for Continuous Threat Exposure Management – and the often-surprising challenges that come along with seeing a CTEM program through to maturity. While the concept of CTEM isn't brand spanking new, having made its in-print debut in July of 2022, we are now at the point where many organizations are starting to try to operationalize the programs that they've been setting into motion over the last few months. And as organizations start to execute their carefully designed plans, they may find themselves bumping up against some unexpected challenges which can lead to setbacks.  What is Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)? But first, to backtrack, let's just

Cobalt, Lazarus, MageCart, Evil, Revil — cybercrime syndicates spring up so fast it's hard to keep track. Until…they infiltrate  your  system. But you know what's even more overwhelming than rampant cybercrime? Building your organization's security framework.  CIS, NIST, PCI DSS, HIPAA, HITrust, and the list goes on. Even if you had the resources to implement every relevant industry standard and control to a tee, you still couldn't keep your company from getting caught up in the next SolarWinds. Because textbook security and check-the-box compliance won't cut it. You've got to be strategic ( especially when manpower is limited! ). And lean. Learn the ropes now.  3 Pro Tips for Building Your Lean Security Framework Without a framework in place, you're either navigating the cyber-risk universe with blinders on — or buried so deep in false positives you couldn't spot a complex attack until it's already laterally advancing. But why build your secu

When I want to know the most recently published best practices in cyber security, I visit The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). From the latest password requirements (NIST 800-63) to IoT security for manufacturers (NISTIR 8259), NIST is always the starting point. NIST plays a key role as a US standard-setter, due to the organization's professionalism and the external experts who help to create NIST documents. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) was initially released in 2014 and last updated in 2018. The framework enables organizations to improve the security and resilience of critical infrastructure with a well-planned and easy-to-use framework. The continuing growth in SaaS, and the major changes to the work environment due to COVID-19 bring new security challenges. Although the CSF was written and updated while SaaS was on the rise, it is still geared towards the classic legacy critical infrastructure security challenges. However, organizations can bet

End-user passwords are one of the weakest components of your overall security protocols. Most users tend to reuse passwords across work and personal accounts. They may also choose relatively weak passwords that satisfy company password policies but can be easily guessed or brute-forced. Your users may also inadvertently use  breached passwords  for their corporate account password. The  National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)  has a cybersecurity framework that helps organizations address common cybersecurity pitfalls in their environment, including weak, reused, and breached passwords. This post will take a closer look at the NIST password guidelines and see how you can effectively audit your password policies to ensure these meet the standards recommended by NIST. NIST Password Guidelines and Best Practices Specific guidance around passwords is addressed within the chapter titled  Memorized Secret Verifiers . NIST has several recommendations in regards to passwords

Microsoft, in collaboration with MITRE, IBM, NVIDIA, and Bosch, has released a  new open framework  that aims to help security analysts detect, respond to, and remediate adversarial attacks against machine learning (ML) systems. Called the  Adversarial ML Threat Matrix , the initiative is an attempt to organize the different techniques employed by malicious adversaries in subverting ML systems. Just as artificial intelligence (AI) and ML are being deployed in a wide variety of novel applications, threat actors can not only  abuse the technology  to power their malware but can also leverage it to  fool machine learning models  with poisoned datasets, thereby causing beneficial systems to make incorrect decisions, and pose a threat to stability and safety of AI applications. Indeed, ESET researchers last year found  Emotet  — a notorious  email-based malware  behind several botnet-driven spam campaigns and ransomware attacks — to be using ML to improve its targeting. Then earlier t

Organizations around the world are wondering how to become immune from cyber attacks which are evolving every day with more sophisticated attack vectors. IT teams are always on the lookout for new ransomware and exploit spreading in the wild, but can all these unforeseen cyber attacks be prevented proactively? That's definitely a 'NO,' which is why there's a reactive approach in place to save organisations from the aftermath of take downs, and with proper cybersecurity practices, one can reduce the chances of becoming a victim. To do that, organizations should follow specific cybersecurity frameworks that will assist them in redefining and reinforcing their IT security and staying vigilant against cyber attacks. In this article, we'll understand what is cybersecurity framework, why they are mandatory for organizations, and what are their types, strategies, benefits, and implementation in detail. What is a Cybersecurity Framework? Cybersecurity framew

High-quality cybersecurity posture is typically regarded as the exclusive domain of the large and heavy resourced enterprises – those who can afford a multi-product security stack and a skilled security team to operate it. This implies a grave risk to all organizations who are not part of this group, since the modern threat landscape applies to all, regardless of size and vertical. What is less commonly known is that by following basic and well-defined practices and wise security product choices, any organization can level up its defenses to a much higher standard. "At the end of the day it comes down to strategic planning," says Eyal Gruner, CEO and co-founder of Cynet, "rather than thinking in term of specific product or need, zoom out and breakdown the challenge to its logical parts – what do you need to do proactively on an on-going basis, while you're under attack and when you manage a recovery process." From the various frameworks of security b

Visibility into an environment attack surface is the fundamental cornerstone to sound security decision making. However, the standard process of 3rd party threat assessment as practiced today is both time consuming and expensive. Cynet changes the rules of the game with a free threat assessment offering based on more than 72 hours of data collection and enabling organizations to benchmark their security posture against their industry vertical peers and take actions accordingly. Cynet Free Threat Assessment (available for organizations with 300 endpoints and above) spotlights critical, exposed attack surfaces and provides actionable knowledge of attacks that are currently alive and active in the environment: ➤ Indication of live attacks: active malware, connection to C&C, data exfiltration, access to phishing links, user credential theft attempts and others: ➤ Host and app attack surfaces: unpatched vulnerabilities rated per criticality: ➤ Benchmark comparing

In 1999, Bruce Schneier wrote, "Complexity is the worst enemy of security." That was 19 years ago (!) and since then, cyber security has only become more complex. Today, controls dramatically outnumber staff available to support them. The Bank of America has a $400-million cyber budget to hire security staff and implement a broad array of products. But what if your budget and sophistication is just a tiny fraction of the Bank of America's? The remaining 99% of organizations understand that they don't have sufficient protection for their internal network, but they also realize that to be sufficiently secured they need to buy multiple solutions and hire a large team to maintain it – which isn't an option. So they either stay with just an AV or buy a point solution to defend a specific part of their internal environment from particular types of attacks – only to later find out it doesn't meet what they really need. Cynet wants to change all that.