Energy efficiency and availability is a major concern for all countries and governments. The electric grid is a vital sector, and any malfunctions will create ripple effects on any nation’s economy. As the grid is heavily dependent on cyber-enabled technologies and a vast chain of suppliers, contractors, and partners, the ability to safeguard the...

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks occur when adversaries overwhelm a connected target’s resources, aiming to make it unavailable. Learning the best strategies to protect from DDoS attacks is critical to energy grid cybersecurity. A well-planned DDoS attack on the grid could halt essential services, cause substantial disruptions to...

In the intricate realm of cybersecurity, the relentless surge of cyber threats demands a constant reassessment of defensive strategies. Amidst this dynamic landscape, a subtle yet indispensable player takes center stage — Security Configuration Management (SCM). This blog embarks on an insightful journey into the critical role played by SCM in the...

Have you ever considered that even before you enjoy the first sip of your favorite morning beverage, you have probably interacted with at least half of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors that keep a nation running? In one way or another, the simple act of brewing a cup of tea would probably not be possible without interacting with water, energy,...

Many of the breaches of the past ten years have taken advantage of weak or nonexistent security settings. Conversely, for example, companies that configured their Docker application to the CIS recommended security settings for container users and privileges were not as vulnerable to container escape exploits. Arguably, a configuration change...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s February 2024 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1093 as soon as coverage is completed. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2024-21351 This CVE describes a bypass in the Windows SmartScreen Security Feature. At this point, these bypasses...

Technology has recently been evolving at the speed of light. We have seen the onset of increased cyber threats across all industries. Gone are the times when threat actors had a specific goal and target. We now live in an age where robots collect, collate, and save information for a more opportune and profitable day. It is ever more important to...

Kubernetes has emerged as the leading platform for orchestrating containerized applications. However, developers and administrators rely on an ecosystem of tools and platforms that have emerged around Kubernetes. One of these tools is Helm, a package manager that simplifies Kubernetes deployments. However, with the convenience and efficiency Helm...

The IBM i is a midrange server that is used across many industries and businesses varying in sizes. Backed by its long history and support by IBM, a world-class innovator, the IBM i platform stands alone in the midrange server offerings. Some of the largest companies in the world use IBM i running on the IBM Power server as their strategic platform...

2023 saw two concerning attacks on public water systems, highlighting the fragility and risk to utility systems. In Pennsylvania, malicious hackers breached the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa system the night after Thanksgiving. The criminals were making a political statement: the technology used to manage water pressure was developed by...

US federal agencies have teamed up to release a cybersecurity best practice guidance for the water and wastewater sector (WWS). The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have published the guide in an attempt to promote cybersecurity...

One of the most common factors that can lead to cybersecurity incidents is a security misconfiguration in software or application settings. The default settings that come with the implementation of these tools and solutions are often not configured securely, and many organizations do not invest the time and resources into ensuring that they are. ...

To most people, the process of logging into a Microsoft Windows machine is a simple process of entering a username and a password. However, for a cybersecurity professional, the process is a carefully orchestrated mechanism. Unfortunately, throughout the history of the various Windows operating system versions, criminals have also sought ways to...

At Tripwire's recent Energy and NERC Compliance Working Group, we had the opportunity to speak with the Manager of Gas Measurement, Controls, & Cybersecurity at a large energy company. More specifically, we focused on SCADA and field assets of gas Operational Technology. The experience at the management level of such an organization provided a...

Cloud providers are becoming a core part of IT infrastructure. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's biggest cloud provider, is used by millions of organizations worldwide and is commonly used to run sensitive and mission-critical workloads. This makes it critical for IT and security professionals to understand the basics of AWS security and take...

Back in 1992, when I was more concerned about my acne breakouts and being selected for the Junior cricket team, a freshman at Purdue University was studying the impact of the 1988 Morris Worm event and how it brought about unwarranted changes on Unix systems as it propagated across the network, resulting in the first Denial of Service (DoS) attack....

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s January 2024 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1088 as soon as coverage is completed. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs There were no in-the-wild or disclosed CVEs included in the January Patch Tuesday drop. CVE Breakdown by Tag While...

What is an Attack Surface? An attack surface is the total number of channels, pathways, or areas that threat actors can utilize to gain unauthorized access to networks. The result is that they can obtain private information or carry out a cyber-attack. An attack surface comprises the organizational assets a threat actor can exploit to gain...

Cloud optimization is the process of correctly selecting and assigning the right resources to a workload or application with the ultimate goal of minimizing costs while improving performance and efficiency. These resources can range from computational power, memory, and storage to network capabilities. The cloud optimization process involves...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s December 2023 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1086 on Wednesday, December 13th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2023-20588 AMD has released AMD-SB-7007 – Speculative Leaks Security Notice, which describes how some AMD processors can...