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2010-2019 decade will be remembered as the time in which cybersecurity became acknowledged as a critical concern for all organizations. With rapidly growing security needs and respective budgets, it is now more essential than ever for security decision-makers to zoom out of the 'products' mindset and assess their security stack in light of the overall breach protection value that their investments return. The 2020 State of Breach Protection Survey ( click here to participate ) attempts to map out for the first time how breach protection is practiced and maintained globally – what are the common products, services, concerns, and challenges that are most common amongst organizations. Any security professional filling the anonymous salary survey questionnaire , organised by The Hacker News in partnership with Cynet, will get a free copy of the survey report once it is released in January 2020. You can complete the questionnaire here . Why is that important? Because unli

It's Patch Tuesday—the day when Microsoft releases monthly security updates for its software. Microsoft has software updates to address a total of 79 CVE-listed vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems and other products, including a critical wormable flaw that can propagate malware from computer to computer without requiring users' interaction. Out of 79 vulnerabilities, 18 issues have been rated as critical and rest Important in severity. Two of the vulnerabilities addressed this month by the tech giant are listed as publicly known, of which one is listed as under active attack at the time of release. May 2019 security updates address flaws in Windows OS, Internet Explorer, Edge, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Office Services and Web Apps, ChakraCore, .NET Framework, and ASP.NET, Skype for Android, Azure DevOps Server, and the NuGet Package Manager. Critical Wormable RDP Vulnerability The wormable vulnerability ( CVE-2019-0708 ) resides in Remote Desktop

The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo

Microsoft today, on its year-end December Patch Tuesday, released security updates to patch a total 39 vulnerabilities its Windows operating systems and applications—10 of which are rated as critical and other important in severity. One of the security vulnerabilities patched by the tech giant this month is listed as publicly known at the time of release, and one is a zero-day reported as being actively exploited in the wild by multiple hacking groups, including FruityArmor and SandCat APTs. Discovered and reported by security researchers at Kaspersky, the zero-day attack exploits an elevation-of-privilege (EoP) bug in the Windows Kernel (ntoskrnl.exe) that could allow malicious programs to execute arbitrary code with higher privileges on the targeted systems. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2018-8611  and classified important in severity, resides in the Kernel Transaction Manager, which occurs due to improper processing of transacted file operations in kernel mode. The flaw

It's time to gear up for the latest June 2018 Microsoft security patch updates. Microsoft today released security patch updates for more than 50 vulnerabilities, affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, Edge, MS Office, MS Office Exchange Server, ChakraCore, and Adobe Flash Player—11 of which are rated critical and 39 as important in severity. Only one of these vulnerabilities, a remote code execution flaw ( CVE-2018-8267 ) in the scripting engine, is listed as being publicly known at the time of release. However, none of the flaws are listed as under active attack. Discovered by security researcher Dmitri Kaslov, the publicly known vulnerability is a remote memory-corruption issue affecting Microsoft Internet Explorer. The flaw exists within the IE rendering engine and triggers when it fails to properly handle the error objects, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the currently logged-in user. Microsoft has also addressed an important vulnera

Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux and Git, has his own law in software development, and it goes like this: " given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow ." This phrase puts the finger on the very principle of open source: the more, the merrier - if the code is easily available for anyone and everyone to fix bugs, it's pretty safe. But is it? Or is the saying "all bugs are shallow" only true for  shallow  bugs and not ones that lie deeper? It turns out that security flaws in open source can be harder to find than we thought. Emil Wåreus, Head of R&D at  Debricked , took it upon himself to look deeper into the community's performance. As the data scientist he is, he, of course, asked the data:  how good is the open source community at finding vulnerabilities in a timely manner ? The thrill of the (vulnerability) hunt Finding open source vulnerabilities is typically done by the maintainers of the open source project, users, auditors, or external secur

A 17-year-old programming error has been discovered in Microsoft's Windows kernel that could prevent some security software from detecting malware at runtime when loaded into system memory. The security issue, described by enSilo security researcher Omri Misgav, resides in the kernel routine "PsSetLoadImageNotifyRoutine," which apparently impacts all versions of Windows operating systems since Windows 2000. Windows has a built-in API, called PsSetLoadImageNotifyRoutine, that helps programs monitor if any new module has been loaded into memory. Once registered, the program receives notification each time a module is loaded into memory. This notification includes the path to the module on disk. However, Misgav found that due to "caching behaviour, along with the way the file-system driver maintains the file name and a severe coding error," the function doesn't always return the correct path of the loaded modules. What's bad? It seems like Micro

ISPA to launch cyber security code of practice in SA South Africa's Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) has teamed with Australia's Internet Industry Association to develop a new voluntary industry code of practice to improve cybersecurity for end users. Known as the ' icode ', and developed in conjunction with Australia's Internet Industry Association, the code will provide a consistent approach for South African ISPs to help inform, educate and protect their customers in relation to cyber security. " The increasing threat of zombied computers - computers which have been essentially hijacked and are under the control of criminals or other third parties - presents a real risk to users. Identity theft, fraud, and increases in spam are all possible consequences of compromised computers. " By following the code, ISPs will contribute to reducing the number of compromised computers in South Africa and enhance the overall security of the South African and internation

The federal government's list of emergency network security personnel has not been updated in 15 years, putting national security at high risk if a shutdown takes place on March 4. The possible government shutdown scheduled for March 4, 2011 could trigger a cyberwar emergency. If non-essential government employees end up being furloughed in early March, the federal government's computer systems will be run by a shortlist of critical-need employees. One major problem: The federal government's list of critical-need computer security employees has not been updated in over 15 years. According to the influential Nextgov website, the government's emergency call-up IT security list was last updated in 1995, ahead of the last federal government shutdown. "In 1995, we already had that decided," said Hord Tipton, a former Interior Department chief information officer who was Bureau of Land Management assistant director for resource use and protection during the

Building a security team is a necessity for organizations of all industries and sizes. It makes selecting the right person for the job a critical task in which testing candidates' domain knowledge is a core component of the hiring process. A common practice is for each organization to put together a dedicated set of questions for each role. Today, Cynet launches the Cybersecurity Skill Tests website to optimize the hiring process with an automated online questionnaire form for each such position. Cynet has assembled a vast question pool with hundreds of dedicated questions for the 6 leading cybersecurity positions (see below), covering all aspects of each selected role. A selection algorithm is used to generate a set of 25 questions in increasing difficulty level, which touches all the important knowledge areas of each candidate's position. No two questionnaires are the same to ensure the answers' reliability. How does this work in practice? Following the

After TrueCrypt mysteriously discontinued itself, VeraCrypt became the most popular open source disk encryption software used by activists, journalists, and privacy conscious people. Due to the huge popularity of VeraCrypt, security researchers from the OSTIF ( The Open Source Technology Improvement Fund ) announced at the beginning of this month that it had agreed to audit VeraCrypt independently. Using funds donated by DuckDuckGo and VikingVPN, the OSTIC hired vulnerability researchers from QuarksLab to lead the audit, which would look for zero-day vulnerabilities and other security holes in VeraCrypt's code. Now, the most troubling part comes here: The OSTIF announced Saturday that its confidential PGP-encrypted communications with QuarkLabs about the security audit of VeraCrypt were mysteriously intercepted. "We have now had a total of four email messages disappear without a trace, stemming from multiple independent senders." the OSTIF said . "Not

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) has become ubiquitous across various industries. This wave of innovation promises improved efficiency and performance, but lurking beneath the surface are complex vulnerabilities and unforeseen risks that demand immediate attention from cybersecurity professionals. As the average small and medium-sized business leader or end-user is often unaware of these growing threats, it falls upon cybersecurity service providers – MSPs, MSSPs, consultants and especially vCISOs - to take a proactive stance in protecting their clients. At Cynomi, we experience the risks associated with generative AI daily, as we use these technologies internally and work with MSP and MSSP partners to enhance the services they provide to small and medium businesses. Being committed to staying ahead of the curve and empowering virtual vCISOs to swiftly implement cutting-edge secur

Facebook User: Who Can Find Me...? Hacker: Yes, I CAN!! A Security Researcher claimed " digi-crims could easily scan the population of an entire country to find targets ". Reza Moaiandin , technical director at Salt Agency, has figured out a way to exploit an important Facebook feature to gather personal data belonging to the users. Facebook Privacy Setting That Makes Your Identity Vulnerable If you pay attention to the security settings in your Facebook profile, you will find a privacy setting that says ' Who can look me up? ', or " Who can look you up using the phone number you provided? " which has been set to ' Everyone ' by default. This configuration allows you to search anyone just by entering his or her phone number; as a result, the search box in Facebook will display the profile of that person. But, Can you imagine, How Cybercriminals can take advantage of this crucial privacy blunder? By exploiting this default feature with a sim

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday  unveiled draft proposals  detailing its plans to tackle data security events in the country using a color-coded system. The effort is designed to "improve the comprehensive response capacity for data security incidents, to ensure timely and effective control, mitigation and elimination of hazards and losses caused by data security incidents, to protect the lawful rights and interests of individuals and organizations, and to safeguard national security and public interests," the department said. The 25-page document encompasses all incidents in which data has been illegally accessed, leaked, destroyed, or tampered with, categorizing them into four hierarchical tiers based on the scope and the degree of harm caused -  Red:  Level I ("especially significant"), which applies to widespread shutdowns, substantial loss of business processing capability, interruptions arising due to serious a

Hackers are getting smarter in fooling us all , and now they are using sophisticated hacking schemes to get into your Gmail. Yes, Iranian hackers have now discovered a new way to fool Gmail's tight security system by bypassing its two-step verification – a security process that requires a security code (generally sent via SMS) along with the password in order to log into Gmail account. Researchers at Citizen Lab released a report on Thursday which shows how the hackers are using text messages and phone-based phishing attacks to circumvent Gmail's security and take over the Gmail accounts of their targets, specifically political dissidents. The report detailed and elaborated three types of phishing attacks aimed at Iranian activists. Researchers also found one such attack targeting Jillian York , the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation . Here's How the Attack Works Via Text Messages: In some case

Nework security is on just about everyone's mind as 2010 ends. Nework security expert Adam Powers, CTO of Atlanta-based Lancope suggests the following trends as insight into what to expect in 2011. 1.        IT Consumerization and the Internal Threat  – the arrival of consumer devices in the corporate network environment is changing the way we think about security the corporate backbone. Perimeter-based defenses such as firewalls and inline intrusion prevention (IPS) aren't enough anymore. Corporations must think about how they will deal with smartphones, MiFi devices, and other consumer-oriented mobile devices. 2.        Rise of Social Media  – It's probably obvious by now but the emergence of social media applications, such as Facebook, have introduced an entirely new attack surface on which attackers can focus their energies. 3.        Utilities Finally Being Targeted  – The arrival of Stuxnet has come as a major wake-up call to utilities, especially those dealing with the NERC-CIP

If you are a user of the American On-Line (AOL) mail service then you are advised to change your password as soon as possible. AOL Inc. on Monday confirmed the company suffered a massive data breach that may have affected a "significant number" of email accounts. The company has issued a warning to users that their personal information including email addresses, postal addresses, address books, encrypted passwords and the encrypted answers to security question-answers, has been stolen by attackers, the New York-based company said Monday. " The ongoing investigation of this serious criminal activity is our top priority, " AOL said in a blog post . " We are working closely with federal authorities to pursue this investigation to its resolution. Our security team has put enhanced protective measures in place, and we urge our users to take proactive steps to help ensure the security of their accounts ." AOL said it began investigating the

Cyber security is a major challenge in today's world, as cyber attacks have become more automated and difficult to detect, where traditional cyber security practices and systems are no longer sufficient to protect businesses, governments, and other organizations. In past few years, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning had made a name for itself in the field of cyber security, helping IT and security professionals more efficiently and quickly identify risks and anticipate problems before they occur. The good news is that if you are a Windows 10 user, Microsoft will now offer you a machine learning based threat intelligence feature via its inbuilt Windows security service, which will improve the security capabilities available on Windows 10 devices. But, the bad news is that it is not free. The company is offering this "differentiated intelligence" feature on its newly added service to Windows 10, dubbed Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (WDAT

Facebook has introduced a new feature in its platform that has been designed to make it easier for bug bounty hunters to find security flaws in Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram Android applications. Since almost all Facebook-owned apps by default use security mechanisms such as Certificate Pinning to ensure integrity and confidentiality of the traffic, it makes it harder for white hat hackers and security researchers to intercept and analyze network traffic to find server-side security vulnerabilities. For those unaware, Certificate Pinning is a security mechanism designed to prevent users of an application from being a victim of network-based attacks by automatically rejecting the whole connection from sites that offer bogus SSL certificates. Dubbed " Whitehat Settings ," the new option now lets researchers easily bypass Certificate Pinning on the Facebook-owned mobile apps by: Disabling Facebook's TLS 1.3 support Enabling proxy for Platform API requests

Adobe released an out-of-band security update earlier today to address two critical remote code execution vulnerabilities impacting Adobe Photoshop CC for Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS machines. According to the security advisory published Wednesday by Adobe, its Photoshop CC software is vulnerable to two critical memory corruption vulnerabilities, which could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the targeted user. The vulnerabilities, identified as CVE-2018-12810 and CVE-2018-12811, impact Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 version 19.1.5 and earlier 19.x versions, as well as Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 version 18.1.5 and earlier 18.x versions. The critical security flaws were discovered and reported by Kushal Arvind Shah of Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs, and have now been addressed by Adobe with the release of Photoshop CC versions 19.1.6 and 18.1.6. Also Read: Teen Arrested for Hacking into Apple's Network It should be noted that these RCE vu

Singapore will setup National Cyber Security Centre Singapore has said it will boost its national capability to counter cyber security threats through the setting up of a ' National Cyber Security Centre ' in the coming months. The Centre, which will be headed by the Singapore Infocomm Technology Security Authority, will help the government deal more effectively with cyber security threats and vulnerabilities by enhancing capabilities in early detection and prevention, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said. In his address at the Second Singapore Global Dialogue here yesterday, Teo, who is also coordinating minister for national security and home affairs minister, said a safe and functioning cyberspace was critical to " our society, economy and national security. "