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Billions of dollars are spent in securing business operations, and yet attackers still find ways to breach a network. With the ever increasing growth in security attacks across all threat vectors, you should consider these New Year's resolutions to help solve your security challenges in 2016: Take stock of what you have Segment your Network Setup controls with ACLs Secure protocols, network ports, & services Monitor account activity Monitor servers & databases Make sure that your applications are secured Ensure security policies are in place Measure effectiveness and ensure your security products are doing their job Add threat intelligence into your security operations As you prepare for 2016 and reflect on all the security news stories from this year, these ten resolutions need to be on your " to-do " list: 1. Take stock of what you have Knowing the genetic makeup of your environment is the key to securing your IT systems. It is critical to have an updated invento

Simply put, threat intelligence is knowledge that helps you identify security threats and make informed decisions. Threat intelligence can help you solve the following problems: How do I keep up to date on the overwhelming amount of information on security threats…including bad actors, methods, vulnerabilities, targets, etc.? How do I get more proactive about future security threats? How do I inform my leaders about the dangers and repercussions of specific security threats? Threat Intelligence: What is it? Threat intelligence has received a lot of attention lately. While there are many different definitions, here are a few that get quoted often: Threat intelligence is evidence-based knowledge, including context, mechanisms, indicators, implications and actionable advice, about an existing or emerging menace or hazard to assets that can be used to inform decisions regarding the subject's response to that menace or hazard. – Gartner   The set of data collected, assessed and app

Over the past two years, a shocking  51% of organizations surveyed in a leading industry report have been compromised by a cyberattack.  Yes, over half.  And this, in a world where enterprises deploy  an average of 53 different security solutions  to safeguard their digital domain.  Alarming? Absolutely. A recent survey of CISOs and CIOs, commissioned by Pentera and conducted by Global Surveyz Research, offers a quantifiable glimpse into this evolving battlefield, revealing a stark contrast between the growing risks and the tightening budget constraints under which cybersecurity professionals operate. With this report, Pentera has once again taken a magnifying glass to the state of pentesting to release its annual report about today's pentesting practices. Engaging with 450 security executives from North America, LATAM, APAC, and EMEA—all in VP or C-level positions at organizations with over 1,000 employees—the report paints a current picture of modern security validation prac

It's inevitable. Most security threats eventually target privileged accounts. In every organization each user has different permissions, and some users hold the metaphorical keys to your IT kingdom. If the privileged accounts get compromised, it can lead to theft or sabotage. Because these accounts control delicate parts of your IT operations, and it is important to know who has privileges, what privileges they have, when they received access, and what activity they've done. This is where Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) software comes in handy. SIEM Monitors and Alerts on Privileged Account Activity Comprehensive monitoring of privileged accounts can be challenging because you need to monitor users who are administrators, users with root access, and users with access to firewalls, databases, services, automated processes, etc. With every additional user, group, and policy monitoring account activity gets increasingly difficult. On top of mo

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) , which is widely used by many businesses and organisations to provide secure access to their workers, are being abused to pilfer corporate user credentials. Researchers from security firm Volexity discovered a new attack campaign that targets a widely used VPN product by Cisco Systems to install backdoors that collect employees' usernames and passwords used to login to corporate networks. The product in question is Cisco Systems' Web-based VPN – Clientless SSL VPN . Once an employee is authenticated, Clientless SSL VPNs allows him/her to access internal web resources, browse internal file shares, and launch plug-ins, which let them access internal web resources through telnet, SSH, or similar network protocols. The backdoor contains malicious JavaScript code that attackers used to inject into the login pages. Once injected, the backdoor is hard to detect because the malicious JavaScript is hosted on an external compromised

Hackers, Government Agencies and sophisticated malware, are collecting every piece of Digital data that we transmit through our Computers, Smartphones or Internet-enabled Gadgets. No matter how secure you think you might be, something malicious can always happen. Because, " With the right tools and Talent, a Computer is an open book. " Many people ask, How to stay safe and secure online? And, Answer is... ...Knowledge of Cyber threats, little Smartness and a Secure Operating System. Which Operating System is the Most Secure? Nearly every Operating System is designed with Security as a requirement, but believe me… there can't be a truly Secure Operating System. If you are Interested in Security and Hacking, you have probably already heard of various security-focused Operating Systems like Tails , Whonix and Kali Linux . All these operating systems, including Windows, Linux, BSD, even OSX, are all based on a Monolithic Kernels, and it requir

If you think that the patches delivered through Windows update can not be laced with malware, think again. Security researchers have shown that Hackers could intercept Windows Update to deliver and inject malware in organizations. Security researchers from UK-based security firm ' Context ' have discovered a way to exploit insecurely configured implementations of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) for an enterprise. What is WSUS in Windows? Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) allows an administrator to deploy the Windows software update to servers and desktops throughout the organization. These updates come from the WSUS server and not Windows server. Once the updates are with the administrator on the server, he can limit the privilege for the clients in a corporate environment to download and install these updates. As the admin is the owner of the distribution of these updates. Intercepting WSUS to Inject Malware into Corporate Networks By def

Internet of Things (IoT) with the purpose of providing convenience to the users enabled every object in the universe to be as smart as a whip. By assigning IP address to all sorts of devices, ranging from household appliances, machines, medical devices and sensors to other day-to-day objects, and putting them all together on a standardised network is a common Internet of Things (IoT) practice. Is Internet of Things Secure? In my previous articles, I gave you a glance of the most vulnerable smart cities that are increasingly adopting devices connected to the Internet in an attempt to add convenience and ease to daily activities. By 2020, there will be more than 45 Billion Internet-connected devices that will transform the way we live and work. The bottom line: As the number of IoT enabled systems increases, the complexity of handling them increases; leading to an introduction of new risk and vulnerabilities associated with them. Security of Internet of

Just one day after Microsoft released its new operating system, over 14 Million Windows users  upgraded their PCs to Windows 10 . Of course, if you are one of the Millions, you should aware of Windows 10's Wi-Fi Sense feature that lets your friends automatically connects to your wireless network without providing the Wi-Fi password. Smells like a horrible Security Risk! It even triggered a firestorm among some security experts, who warned that Wi-Fi Sense is a terrible and dangerous feature and that you should disable it right away. Even some researchers advised Windows 10 users to rename their Wi-Fi access points. Before discussing the risks of Wi-Fi Sense, let's first know how it works. Also Read:  How to Fix 35+ Windows 10 Privacy Issues With Just One Click . How Windows 10 Wi-Fi Sense works? Windows 10 Wi-Fi Sense feature allows you to share your Wi-Fi password with your friends or contacts, as well as lets you automatically connect to networ

A group of China-backed hackers believed to be responsible for high-profile data breaches, including the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the insurance giant Anthem , has now hit another high-profile target –  United Airlines . United detected a cyber attack into its computer systems in May or early June; Bloomberg reported , citing some unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The same sources say that the hackers responsible for the data breach in United's systems are the same group of China-backed hackers that successfully carried out several other large heists, including the United States' Office of Personnel Management and the health insurer Anthem Inc. Dangerous Intentions: United Airlines Data Breach The stolen data includes manifests, which contain information on flights' passengers and their origins and destinations, meaning that the hackers have " data on the movements of Millions of Americans ." Since United Airlines

I think you'll agree with me when I say: It's quite hard to maintain anonymity on the Internet using the slow Tor network. Or is it? Well, it turns out, you may soon boost your online anonymity dramatically with the help of a new high-speed anonymity network. A group of six academics have developed a Tor network alternative for users that allows high-speed anonymous web surfing, reinforcing the privacy of Internet users worldwide. The network is dubbed: HORNET: High-speed Onion Routing at the Network Layer Many anonymising networks, including The Onion Router (or TOR) network, are often slow because the data passing through the networks is encrypted a many numbers of times. However, the high-speed onion routing network HORNET is capable of handling anonymous traffic at speeds of more than 93 Gbps  while maintaining privacy. The new anonymous network is built by researcher Chen Chen of Carnegie Mellon University , along with Daniele Enri

Just after a new security vulnerability surfaced Wednesday, many tech outlets started comparing it with HeartBleed, the serious security glitch uncovered last year that rendered communications with many well-known web services insecure, potentially exposing Millions of plain-text passwords. But don't panic. Though the recent vulnerability has a more terrific name than HeartBleed , it is not going to cause as much danger as HeartBleed did. Dubbed VENOM , stands for Virtualized Environment Neglected Operations Manipulation , is a virtual machine security flaw uncovered by security firm CrowdStrike that could expose most of the data centers to malware attacks, but in theory. Yes, the risk of Venom vulnerability is theoretical as there is no real-time exploitation seen yet, while, on the other hand, last year's HeartBleed bug was practically exploited by hackers unknown number of times, leading to the theft of critical personal information. Now let's know more about Ven

The bad news is that internal data breaches are on the rise. And one of the biggest culprits? USB devices. In the past few years, there has been many organizations tracking down the loss of sensitive/confidential information due to the usage of USB drives and other mass storage media. Cyber-security breaches and data theft are making more and more IT leaders paranoid about security than ever before. Why are USB devices dangerous? USB devices can hold a lot of information. For example, a 128 GB USB flash drive can store 60,000 photos, 20,000 songs, 100+ videos, and more. Just imagine how many protected corporate files could fit on one drive. Also, the storage capacity of USB devices is only going to increase. USB devices are super portable. Some USB storage devices are the size of a small coin. This makes them very difficult to visually detect when plugged into an open port. USB devices are cheap and easy to find. If you're in the market for a USB storage device, there