The security industry is at a critical juncture. Capturing the state of affairs is a recent report released by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium, or ISC2. “A perfect storm” As they state in their Executive Summary, “Our study shows that a perfect storm of economic uncertainty, rapidly emerging technologies,...

Organizations looking to protect their sensitive data and assets against cyberattacks may lack the ability to build a cybersecurity strategy without any structured help. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a free, public framework to help any organization mature its IT security posture. Recently, the institute published an...

Winter is coming In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, ensuring robust security measures has never been more important. In the new ISO 27001:2022 standard, there is a new requirement for organisations to establish control of their Cloud services, which includes every flavor of cloud from Software as a Service (SaaS) to Platform as a...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s November 2023 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1082 on Wednesday, November 15th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-36033 A vulnerability in the Microsoft Desktop Window Manager (DWM) could allow an attacker to gain SYSTEM level...

The capabilities of cloud computing have changed the digital landscape significantly, and the popularity of cloud solutions only continues to increase. According to Gartner, the market for public cloud services is expected to surpass 700 billion USD by the end of 2024. The growth of cloud technologies presents a wealth of new opportunities for IT teams...

A recent report from RPC has revealed that cybersecurity breaches in UK pension schemes increased by 4,000% from 2021/22 to 2022/23. Understandably, the announcement has raised serious concerns about the efficacy of financial service organization’s cybersecurity programmes. Although the reasons for cyberattacks on financial services are fairly obvious –...

Footprinting, also known as fingerprinting, is a methodology used by penetration testers, cybersecurity professionals, and even threat actors to gather information about a target organization to identify potential vulnerabilities. Footprinting is the first step in penetration testing. It involves scanning open ports, mapping network topologies, and...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s October 2023 Security Updates, which includes a recently introduced release notes format. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1077 on Wednesday, October 11th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-41763 While this vulnerability is labeled as a Skype for...

On August 10th, the Pentagon introduced "Task Force Lima," a dedicated team working to bring Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the core of the U.S. defense system. The goal is to use AI to improve business operations, healthcare, military readiness, policy-making, and warfare. Earlier in August, the White House announced a large cash prize for...

The then-new 2014 NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) was designed to plug security gaps in operational technology. It’s still in use today and more relevant than ever. Fortra’s whitepaper provides a cohesive review of this security staple and how to glean the best out of it for your strategy. A Brief History of NIST CSF “The full maximum NIST...

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...

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...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s September 2023 Security Updates, which includes a recently introduced release notes format. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1073 on Wednesday, September 13th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-36761 Microsoft has indicated that a vulnerability...

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...

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...

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...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s August 2023 Security Updates, which includes a recently introduced release notes format. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1068 on Wednesday, August 9th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-38180 A vulnerability in Kestrel could allow for a denial of...

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...

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....

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...