Ask healthcare IT professionals where the sensitive data resides, and most will inevitably direct your attention to a hardened server or database with large amounts of protected health information (PHI). Fortunately, there is likely nothing wrong with the data at that point in its lifetime. But how did those bits and bytes of healthcare data get to...

In today’s rapid technological evolution, information from particular sources can be easily accessed, copied and shared out to a larger audience. If an organization fails to complete its basic role of being a guardian of the confidential business information within the company, it could convey unfavorable effects for business’ stability and...

While false detections should be eliminated as much as possible, these are an inherent part of any vulnerability assessment tool. Possible reasons for false detections include rapid changes in vendor-specific patches/updates, zero-day vulnerabilities, access restrictions, and network glitches. The goal is to have the fewest vulnerabilities detected in...

Researchers have discovered that certain versions of the popular CCleaner app were modified by hackers to deliver malware to millions of unsuspecting users. Created by Piriform and recently acquired by security firm Avast, the application allows users to perform routine maintenance on their systems, including the cleaning of temporary files and...

A new scam is capitalizing on reports of 'Celebgate 2.0' by making off with users' personal information and posting spam on Twitter. According to several media outlets, hackers have published the private photos of multiple female actresses including Emma Watson, Amanda Seyfried, Dylan Penn, and others. Some are calling these leaks "Celegate 2.0," a...

A Gmail phishing campaign is clever enough to have almost tricked or successfully fooled multiple technical users. The attack, which other contributors to The State of Security have spotted, begins when a Gmail user receives an email. Oftentimes, the message comes from someone they know whose account has already been compromised. The email appears...

When hard disk drives contain super sensitive data, cybersecurity professionals like myself will usually recommend that they shouldn't be placed in any computers that have an operational TCP/IP stack. There are various ways that internet-connected computers can secure themselves against attack, such as firewalls, IPS devices, antivirus software, and...

Payment solutions provider Verifone is reportedly investigating a breach of its internal computer networks dating back to mid-2016 that may have affected a number of businesses running its point-of-sale (POS) terminals. According to a report by investigative journalist Brian Krebs, the payments giant said the extent of the breach is limited to its...

Everyone agrees that RSA Conference is a mainstay of information security. Every year, the event attracts tens of thousands of security professionals from around the world. As such, it's the perfect place for companies to gain a snapshot of the digital security landscape. That’s why Tripwire has made a tradition of capturing attendees’ thoughts on key...

A new report reveals that 68 percent of oil and gas organizations have experienced at least one digital attack. In the Siemens-sponsored The State of Cybersecurity in the Oil & Gas Industry: United States (PDF), Ponemeon Institute surveyed 377 individuals based in the United States who are responsible for overseeing digital risk to their organization...

Nearly one million user accounts for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival website have been found for sale on the underground marketplace. According to a recent report by Motherboard, the data available for purchase includes email addresses, usernames and hashed passwords. The data trader, who identifies as ‘Berkut,’ wrote on the Tochka...

Police have charged Gordon Ramsay's father-in-law and three of his family members with hacking the celebrity chef's emails. On 21 February, the Metropolitan Police announced charges against Chris Hutcherson, 68, along with Adam Hutcheson, Orlanda Butland, and Chris Hutcheson, 37. The four individuals are accused of having violated the Criminal Law...

Large hacks and cyber-attacks aimed at exploiting information, affecting everyone from major company databases to politician’s email accounts, have now become a common occurrence in our ever-connected world. This hacked information – and the act of accessing it – has rapidly become a sought-after product and service on dark web marketplaces. Coupled...

A new proof-of-concept ransomware is capable of targeting the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that help manage critical infrastructure. Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology designed a cross-vendor ransomware worm known as LogicLocker to specifically seek out vulnerable PLC computers that are exposed online. At they write in their...

The year of 2017 isn’t shaping up to be a game changer in combatting ransomware so far. On the contrary, crypto infections are becoming increasingly toxic in terms of their impact and attack surface. Online extortionists keep hitting police departments, healthcare organizations, public libraries, schools, hotels, and unprotected servers around the...

Every year, the RSA Conference attracts the industry's most respected thought leaders, seasoned security experts and aficionados from around the globe. In 2016, it saw a record of over 40,000 attendees – all hungry to discuss and debate pressing cybersecurity issues. As one of Tripwire's top information security conferences for 2017, we have no...

New media, it would appear, now outpaces the old. More data is consumed and processed than at any time before in human history. But as we hasten into a world where the immediate is often favoured over the verified, the attention-grabbing over the considered, and the assumed over the researched in terms of how we both receive and disseminate...

Social networking websites strive to make members' lives better by bringing people together. Who among us hasn't taken delight in reconnecting with our best friend from back in grammar school? And who hasn't enjoyed meeting new people whom they might not have otherwise? To be sure, social media can enhance a life. But it can certainly destroy one,...

A county located in Ohio has suspended its IT system after a ransomware attack affected computers inside its government center. Licking County officials first discovered there was a problem when they couldn't open files saved to some government computers. When they rebooted those machines, they saw a ransom note and contacted the IT department. IT...

During the second week of February, information security professionals will head over to San Francisco to attend RSA, one of The State of Security's top 13 conferences for 2017. The conference is primarily focused on information security-related topics and typically draws over 45,000 attendees per year, making it one of the largest information...