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Former contractor accused of remotely accessing town's water treatment facility

Image A federal grand jury has indicted a former employee of a contractor operating a California town's wastewater treatment facility, alleging that he remotely turned off critical systems and could have endangered public health and safety. 53-year-old Rambler Gallor of Tracy, California, held a full-time position at a Massachusetts...
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VERT Threat Alert: July 2023 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Image Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s July 2023 Security Updates, which include a new release notes format. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1064 on Wednesday, July 12th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-32046 A vulnerability in MSHTML could allow an attacker to...
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What (Still) Needs to be Done to Secure the U.S. Power Grid in 2023?

Image It’s no secret that the U.S. power grid is one of the main foundations of the nation’s economy, infrastructure, and daily way of life. Now that almost everything is digitized, it is hinging on it even more. We wouldn’t be able to use even most vending machines (not to mention cell towers or the internet) without a working...
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A Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) IT Compliance Primer

Image At the turn of the most recent century, the financial world was in a moment of unregulated growth, which lead to some serious corporate misdeeds in the United States. This presented the opportunity for two senators to enact a new law to ensure accurate and reliable financial reporting for public companies in the US. The result...
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VERT Threat Alert: June 2023 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Image Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s June 2023 Security Updates, which include a new release notes format. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1060 on Wednesday, June 14th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs There were no in-the-wild or disclosed CVEs in the June Patch Tuesday...
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The Future of Driverless Cars: Technology, Security and AI

Image Back in 2015, we published an article about the apparent perils of driverless cars. At that time, the newness and novelty of sitting back and allowing a car to drive you to your destination created a source of criminal fascination for some, and a nightmare for others. It has been eight years since the original article was...
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Security Journeys: From Change Management to Compliance

Image Zero Trust seems to no longer command the volume of articles that once set it up as a trend that promised a bright new future for security. This is in part because security is a journey. Rushed implementations and low returns often result in burnout with new technology, and generally the real work happens in the quiet stages...
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VERT Threat Alert: May 2023 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Image Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s May 2023 Security Updates, which include a new release notes format. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1055 on Wednesday, May 10th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-29336 Up first this month is a vulnerability reported by Avast...
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Allowlisting and Blocklisting: What you need to know

Image The phone rings, displaying "Potential Spam," warning of the possible downfall of accepting the call. We also have the option to set specific ringtones for the special people in our lives, so we audibly know immediately who’s calling. For other callers, like the once-a-year important call from our insurance or investment rep, we...
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What Is Microsegmentation and 5 Compelling Security Use Cases

Image What Is Microsegmentation? Microsegmentation is a security technique that partitions a network into small, isolated sections to reduce the attack surface and reduce an organizations risk. Each microsegment is typically defined by specific security policies, accessible only to authorized users and devices. Microsegmentation is...
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VERT Threat Alert: April 2023 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Image   Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s April 2023 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1050 on Wednesday, April 12th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-28252 A vulnerability in the Common Log File System (CLFS) Driver has been exploited in-the-wild....
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Distributed Energy Resources and Grid Security

Image As the United States government, the energy industry, and individual consumers work toward cleaner and more sustainable energy solutions, it is crucial to consider how new and advancing technologies affect, and are affected by, cybersecurity concerns. ­­­­Increasing use of smart energy devices can be useful for consumers to have...
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A Look at The 2023 Global Automotive Cybersecurity Report

Image From its inception, the automotive industry has been shaped by innovation and disruption. In recent years, these transformations have taken shape in rapid digitization, ever-growing Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure, and advanced connectivity. These shifts have redirected the automotive industry, meeting and surpassing...
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How Retiring Gas and Coal Plants Affects Grid Stability

Image Legacy gas and coal plants are being aged out – and no one wants to pay enough to keep them going. With increased pressure from green energy laws and added competition from renewable sources, these monsters of Old Power are being shown the door. Considering they've predated and precipitated all Industrial Revolutions (except for...
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VERT Threat Alert: March 2023 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Image Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s March 2023 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1046 on Wednesday, March 15th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-24880 Up first this month is a publicly disclosed and exploited vulnerability impacting Windows...
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VERT Threat Alert: February 2023 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Image Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s February 2023 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1042 on Wednesday, February 15th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-21823 The first vulnerability in the list this week is CVE-2023-21823, a vulnerability in...
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How to Advance ICS Cybersecurity: Implement Continuous Monitoring

Image Industrial control systems are fundamental to all industrial processes, from power generation to water treatment and manufacturing. ICS refers to the collection of devices that govern a process to ensure its safe and effective execution. These devices include Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Distributed...
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The State of the US National Cybersecurity Strategy for the Electric Grid

Image The distribution systems of the U.S. energy grid — the portions of the grid that carry electricity to consumers — are growing more susceptible to cyber-attacks, in part due to the advent of monitoring and control technology and their reliance on them. However, the magnitude of the possible consequences of such attacks is not...
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Network Security Threats and Defenses: A 2023 Guide

Image What Is Network Security? Network security is a broad field, encompassing various processes, policies, rules, standards, frameworks, software, and hardware solutions. Its primary goal is to protect a network and its data from various threats, including intrusions and breaches. A network security program typically utilizes a...
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The Heightened Importance of Cybersecurity in Mobile App Development

Image Mobile device use is pervasive, and has eclipsed traditional computing.  We often hear how various malicious mobile apps are released into circulation.  For these reasons, mobile app development needs to focus on cybersecurity just as much as it does on functionality and flexibility, if not more so. It’s an inevitable aspect of...