While I was teaching, one of my students asked if I had seen Cybergeddon, a film distributed by Yahoo! in 2012. I had not, so I decided it would be fun for VERT to watch the film and review it, since my hobby is writing film reviews for RotundReviews.Cybergeddon is not talked about as much as it should be given some of the background around it. It...

In the modern digital landscape, cybersecurity is paramount, making the differentiation between vulnerability scanning and penetration testing essential for safeguarding organizational assets. Vulnerability scanning offers a broad sweep for potential security weaknesses, serving as an early warning system. Penetration testing takes a more targeted...

The past few weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of my free time preparing for the OSCP exam, which means refreshing a lot of skills that I haven’t used in years. A large part of that is rebuilding muscle memory around buffer overflows, so that’s how I spent my four-day weekend. I logged about 70 hours compiling small programs, writing buffer overflows,...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s November 2021 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-972 on Wednesday, November 10th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2021-42292 Up first this month, we have a 0-day in Microsoft Excel that allows an attacker to bypass security features....

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s September 2020 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-903 on Wednesday, September 9th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs There were no in-the-wild or disclosed CVEs included in this month’s security guidance. CVE Breakdown by Tag While...

As we wind down 2019, it is a great time to think about your vulnerability management plans for the coming year. The five W’s can help guide our efforts as we resolve to improve our digital security for the coming new year.What Is Vulnerability Management?Vulnerability assessments are useful for detecting security issues within your environment. By...

As I discussed in the first blog in this series, the purpose of this series is to guide you on your journey up the Vulnerability Management Mountain (VMM). Like climbing a mountain, there is a lot of planning and work required, but when you get to the top, the view is amazing and well worth the journey. For the first phase, let's start by planning...

With the evolution of technology comes new approaches to solving problems. Sometimes a new approach fixes the problem; sometimes it creates new ones. The good thing is as folks who work in fast-paced, high-tech environment, we information security professionals are great at quickly analyzing the new technologies and applying them to our daily lives. ....

Technology has expanded the avenues bad actors use to steal identities and sensitive data. However, digital tools are also giving users innovative countermeasures to protect themselves. Here are seven tactics anyone can use to help prevent identity theft. 1. Leverage Multifactor Authentication Strong passwords have always been an identity...

The healthcare industry has been a favored target for cybercriminals for many years. In the first half of 2022 alone, 324 attacks against healthcare organizations have been reported. Attackers have primarily focused on large hospitals in years past, but there has been a sudden switch to smaller healthcare companies and specialty clinics. There...

Cybersecurity, like broader technological disciplines, is an ever-changing landscape that industry professionals must adapt to. The zero-trust model of cybersecurity has grown recently as organizations update their security practices to keep pace with, and stay ahead of evolving threats. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) increased by 230% from 2019...

Safeguarding sensitive data is a huge concern for organizations. One of the biggest challenges they face is the threat posed by insiders who work for the organization. In fact, a report found that 74% of organizations are at least moderately vulnerable to threats from insiders. This has increased spending towards protecting against insider threats...

The Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA) Triad is a crucial information security model that guides and assesses how an organization manages data during storage, transmission, and processing. Each component of the triad plays a vital role in maintaining information security: Confidentiality means that data should not be accessed...

The Importance of APIs Businesses of all sizes are increasingly relying on APIs to connect with their customers, partners, and other systems. APIs, or application programming interfaces, are the building blocks of the modern web, and they allow businesses to share data and functionality in a secure and efficient way. Without APIs, businesses are...

Tripwire's August 2023 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft. First on the patch priority list this month are patches for Microsoft Office, Excel, Visio, Teams, and Outlook. The patches resolve 10 issues including remote code execution, information disclosure, security feature bypass, and spoofing...

Do you remember where you were on 25th May 2018? Perhaps you were enjoying a Friday night drink with friends. Perhaps you were with family, relaxing after a busy week at work. I was actually having a GDPR Birthday party with friends and colleagues because 25th May 2018 was a landmark day for the world of Data Protection (yes, seriously, we had a...