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Sysadmins know what the risks are of running unpatched services. Given the choice, and unlimited resources, most hardworking administrators will ensure that all systems and services are patched consistently. But things are rarely that simple. Technical resources are limited, and patching can often be more complicated than it appears at first glance. Worse, some services are so hidden in the background, that they just don't make it onto the list of things to be patched. QEMU is one of those services that tend to create difficulties with patching. It works away in the background and is easy to take for granted. Plus, patching QEMU involves significant technical and practical challenges – while requiring enormous resources. In this article, we'll address some of the difficulties around patching QEMU, and point to a solution that takes the toughest bits out of QEMU patching. Ignoring QEMU patching is a big risk You'll probably know about it if you're using QEMU – shor...

It's no secret that keeping software up to date is one of the key best practices in cybersecurity. Software vulnerabilities are being discovered almost weekly these days. The longer it takes IT teams to apply updates issued by developers to patch these security flaws, the more time attackers have to exploit the underlying vulnerability. Once threat actors gain access to corporate IT ecosystems, they can steal or encrypt sensitive data, deploy ransomware, damage systems, and more. When there's a known exploit for a critical vulnerability, the need to deploy patches becomes critical. At the same time, while IT teams race to keep their operating systems, business applications, and web browsers up to date and fully patched, they have to exercise caution, since applying patches without proper testing can introduce more problems than it solves. The reality is, many organizations are struggling to maintain the upper hand against threats. According to Action1's  2021 Remote IT ...

Unpatched software is a computer code containing known security weaknesses. Unpatched vulnerabilities refer to weaknesses that allow attackers to leverage a known security bug that has not been patched by running malicious code. Software vendors write additions to the codes, known as "patches," when they come to know about these application vulnerabilities to secure these weaknesses. Adversaries often probe into your software, looking for unpatched systems and attacking them directly or indirectly. It is risky to run unpatched software. This is because attackers get the time to become aware of the  software's unpatched vulnerabilities  before a patch emerges. A  report  found that unpatched vulnerabilities are the most consistent and primary ransomware attack vectors. It was recorded that in 2021,  65  new vulnerabilities arose that were connected to ransomware. This was observed to be a twenty-nine percent growth compared to the number of vulnerabilitie...

"Shifting (security)" left approach in Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) means starting security earlier in the process. As organizations realized that software never comes out perfectly and are riddled with many exploitable holes, bugs, and business logic vulnerabilities that require going back to fix and patch, they understood that building secure software requires incorporating and consolidating numerous resources. This conclusion led DevOps and R&D leaders to become proactive, acquiring technology to find and close these gaps in advance, with the aim of reducing the cost and effort while improving the quality of their outcomes.  With emerging comprehensive  continuous security validation technology , the demonstrated benefits of 'shifting left' as a fundamental part of SDLC can now be applied to your cybersecurity program, with results far exceeding the purely technical aspects of security posture management.  At the development level, the conceptuali...

In this day and age, vulnerabilities in software and systems pose a considerable danger to businesses, which is why it is essential to have an efficient vulnerability management program in place. To stay one step ahead of possible breaches and reduce the damage they may cause, it is crucial to automate the process of finding and fixing vulnerabilities depending on the level of danger they pose. This post will discuss the fundamental approaches and tools to implement and automate risk-based vulnerability management. To make this process easier, consider using an  all-in-one cloud-based solution  right from the start. Implementing a risk-based vulnerability management program A risk-based vulnerability management program is a complex preventative approach used for swiftly detecting and ranking vulnerabilities based on their potential threat to a business. By implementing a risk-based vulnerability management approach, organizations can improve their security posture and reduc...

Software vulnerabilities are a major threat to organizations today. The cost of these threats is significant, both financially and in terms of reputation. Vulnerability management and patching can easily get out of hand when the number of vulnerabilities in your organization is in the hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities and tracked in inefficient ways, such as using Excel spreadsheets or multiple reports, especially when many teams are involved in the organization. Even when a process for patching is in place, organizations still struggle to effectively patch vulnerabilities in their assets. This is generally because teams look at the severity of vulnerabilities and tend to apply patches to vulnerabilities in the following severity order: critical > high > medium > low > info. The following sections explain why this approach is flawed and how it can be improved. Why is Patching Difficult? While it is well known that vulnerability patching is extremely important, it ...

Cybersecurity researchers at ESET have unveiled what they claim to be the first-ever UEFI rootkit being used in the wild, allowing hackers to implant persistent malware on the targeted computers that could survive a complete hard-drive wipe. Dubbed LoJax , the UEFI rootkit is part of a malware campaign conducted by the infamous Sednit group, also known as APT28, Fancy Bear , Strontium , and Sofacy , to target several government organizations in the Balkans as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. Operating since at least 2007, Sednit group is a state-sponsored hacking group believed to be a unit of GRU (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate), a Russian secret military intelligence agency. The hacking group has been associated with a number of high profile attacks, including the DNC hack just before the U.S. 2016 presidential election . UEFI, or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, a replacement for the traditional BIOS, is a core and critical firmware component of a...

Application programming interfaces (APIs) are the connective tissue behind digital modernization, helping applications and databases exchange data more effectively.  The State of API Security in 2024 Report  from Imperva, a Thales company, found that the majority of internet traffic (71%) in 2023 was API calls. What's more, a typical enterprise site saw an average of 1.5 billion API calls in 2023. The expansive volume of internet traffic that passes through APIs should be concerning for every security professional. Despite best efforts to adopt shift-left frameworks and SDLC processes, APIs are often still pushed into production before they're cataloged, authenticated, or audited. On average, organizations have 613 API endpoints in production, but that number is rapidly expanding as pressure grows to deliver digital services to customers more quickly and efficiently. Over time, these APIs can become risky, vulnerable endpoints.  In their report, Imperva concludes that ...

A Brazilian threat actor known as  Prilex  has resurfaced after a year-long operational hiatus with an advanced and complex malware to steal money by means of fraudulent transactions. "The Prilex group has shown a high level of knowledge about credit and debit card transactions, and how software used for payment processing works," Kaspersky researchers  said . "This enables the attackers to keep updating their tools in order to find a way to circumvent the authorization policies, allowing them to perform their attacks." The cybercrime group emerged on the scene with ATM-focused malware attacks in the South American nation, providing it the ability to break into ATM machines to perform jackpotting – a type of attack aiming to dispense cash illegitimately – and clone thousands of credit cards to steal funds from the targeted bank's customers. Prilex's modus operandi over the years has since evolved to take advantage of processes relating to point-of-sale ...

You've got to ask yourself one question. How much hassle does patching cause you? Is the second Tuesday of each month something you dread, or is it just another day for you? If you spend days and days testing and deploying patches; if you stay up until the wee hours of the morning one weekend each month; if you have a current profile on every single server in your environment; then patching is likely to be a heavy burden. But there is another way. Patching is not something that should be a major pain each month. It should be a simple and straightforward administrative task. Admins who patch by hand or are worried about some patch crashing critical systems each month should consider automated patch management. This strategy will boost efficiency and give you back your weekends, and ensure that your systems can be patched quickly, efficiently and safely. Automated patch management helps IT admins patch their servers and workstations in the most efficient way possible, by removi...

Software is rarely a one-and-done proposition. In fact, any application available today will likely need to be updated – or patched – to fix bugs,  address vulnerabilities , and update key features at multiple points in the future. With the typical enterprise relying on a multitude of applications, servers, and end-point devices in their day-to-day operations, the acquisition of a robust  patch management platform  to identify, test, deploy, install, and document all appropriate patches are critical for ensuring systems remain stable and secure.  As with most tech tools, not all patch management solutions are created equal, and what's seen as robust by one organization may prove inadequate for another. However, an evaluation that begins with a focus on specific key criteria – essential attributes and functionality likely to be offered by many vendors but not all – will allow IT teams to narrow down their options as they work to identify the best solution for thei...

9 Top Patch Management Practices for Businesses Security I've spent most of the past decade in information security, with a pretty big focus on incident response. It never ceases to amaze me how many security incidents (pronounced hacks) customers suffer as a result of unpatched systems. Patch management is not an art form; it's an underappreciated and often ignored part of what should be daily care and feeding of your infrastructure. Here are the nine best patch management practices I've learned over the years: 1. Automate your patching If your patch management strategy depends upon manual effort, you're doing it wrong. Only the smallest businesses can handle patching by hand. You need a system that can deploy patches to all your systems; workstations and servers. 2. In-depth reporting Automating doesn't mean ignoring. You should be able to see the state of your patch management at any point in time and know exactly which systems are in need of attention. 3. Tes...