Patience is one of those time-dependent, and often situational circumstances we experience. Few things define relativity better than patience. Think of the impatience of people who have to wait ten minutes in a line at a gas station, yet the thought of waiting ten minutes for a perfectly brewed cup of coffee seems entirely reasonable. It can’t be about the cost, since even the smallest cup of...

Fileless malware, true to its name, is malicious code that uses existing legitimate programs in a system for compromise. It operates directly in the Random Access Memory (RAM) without requiring any executable files in the hard drive. Differing from conventional malware, fileless attacks are stealthier in nature, falling under the category of low-observable characteristics (LOC) attacks. Since...

A firewall is a security device that controls the flow of traffic across a network. A firewall may be a hardware appliance, or it may be a piece of software that runs on a third-party operating system. Firewalls operate based on a set of pre-defined, as well as customizable security rules that inspect network traffic to block or permit access to a network. Oftentimes, a firewall is logically...

As technology advances, the battle between cyber criminals and organizations intensifies. Cyber threats have become more sophisticated, complex, and widespread, posing a significant risk to the security and integrity of sensitive data. In Q1 2023 alone, the number of global cyber attacks increased by 7% , with an average of 1,248 attacks reported per week. In a separate report by The Independent...

In cybersecurity, knowledge is everything. From APT intelligence to zero-day vulnerabilities, relevant and timely information can be the difference between a thwarted attack and a total disaster. With Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks at their zenith, there has never been a better time for a comprehensive BEC report. As such, Fortra has released its 2023 BEC Trends, Targets, and Changes in...

Most small and midsized businesses trust an IT services partner to help them secure their networks. A few years ago, high-profile cyberattacks targeting MSP vendors Kaseya and SolarWinds thrust the security risk of relying on a complex chain of vendors into the technology media and moved the Department of Homeland Security to issue a statement about the need for greater security in the IT services...

Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), or threat intelligence, is evidence-based knowledge established from current cyber threats, gathered from myriad sources to identify existing or potential attacks. Threat intelligence assists in identifying the motives, targets, and attack behaviors of a threat actor and implementing strong defenses from future attacks. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach 2022...

I recently spoke at a Fortra Webinar about CIS and MITRE . More specifically, I discussed the intersection between the CIS Critical Security Controls , CIS Benchmarks , and MITRE ATT&CK . In this post, I won't go into deep details about the core background, but there are plenty of excellent references available online, including our breakdown of the various CIS Controls . I do, however, want to...

If you’re busy securing the perimeter, mandating strong authentication practices, and restricting software downloads, you may be missing the mark. (Just to be clear: if you are doing those things, keep it up. You’re off to a good start, and none of what follows here replaces classic and vital cybersecurity measures.) Protecting your organization from outside threats is foundational to any...

Gabrielle is a security engineer. She deploys tools to scan for threats and vulnerabilities, read logs, and manage the security risks for her company, but is all that data really helping? Sometimes, it seems like she works in a noise factory instead of a SOC . The cacophony of all the log and event data and vulnerability scans are pouring into the SIEM, and it’s Gabrielle’s job to listen to the...

A Social engineering attack is the process of exploiting weaknesses in human psychology to manipulate and persuade others to perform in a way that is harmful. Prior to the digital age, criminals would carry out these attacks in person, in what was known as a confidence game. The perpetrators were referred to a “con men”, regardless of their gender. In the cybersecurity realm, these attacks are...

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a technique used to identify the underlying reasons for a problem, with the aim of trying to prevent it from recurring in the future. It is often used in change management processes to help identify the source of any issues that arise following any modifications to a system or process. RCA is something Tripwire Enterprise is often deeply tied into too. Before we talk...

This piece was originally published on Fortra’s AlertLogic.com Blog . Managed detection and response (MDR) would be nothing without a SOC (security operations center) . They’re on the frontline of our clients’ defenses — a living, breathing layer of intelligence and protection to complement our automated cybersecurity features. These are the people who make our MDR services best in class so...

CISA released in late February a cybersecurity advisory on the key findings from a recent Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) red team assessment to provide organizations recommendations for improving their cyber posture. According to the Agency, the necessary actions to harden their environments include monitoring network activity to spot abnormal behavior, conducting regular...