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3AM Ransomware Attackers Pose as IT Support to Compromise Networks

Cybercriminals are getting smarter. Not by developing new types of malware or exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, but by simply pretending to be helpful IT support desk workers.Attackers affiliated with the 3AM ransomware group have combined a variety of different techniques to trick targeted employees into helping them break into networks.It works like this.First, a company employee finds their...
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Dead Man’s Scripts: The Security Risk of Forgotten Scheduled Tasks in Legacy Systems

There are ghosts in the machine.Not the poetic kind. I mean literal, running-code-with-root-access kind. The kind that was set up ten years ago by an admin who retired five jobs ago. The kind that still wakes up every night at 3:30 a.m.; processes something no one remembers, and then quietly vanishes into the system logs. Until, of course, something goes wrong—or someone takes advantage of it...
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Report Reveals BEC Cryptocurrency Scams Rose by 344%

APWG's Q4 2024 Phishing Activity Trends Report, published March 19th, revealed that more than eight in ten Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks last quarter were sent by attackers favoring Google's free webmail service. By comparison, only 10% used Microsoft's free email web app, Outlook.com.The report, published quarterly, is a product of the phishing incidents reported to the APWG annually by...
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Strengthening Cybersecurity Incident Response Part 2: From Detection to Recovery

Cyber incidents are always going to be present. Regardless of whether you’re working for a startup or a corporation, malicious software can target you and your business. This is why it’s important to work closely with cybersecurity incident response teams and have such protocols in place.The lifecycle of a cybersecurity incident starts way before it happens with good preparation. However, the...
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The Cost of Ransomware: Shutdowns & Extortion

Ransomware is no longer in its heyday. Evolving, AI-driven cybersecurity tools and global law enforcement efforts have seen to that. But that doesn’t mean ransomware is no longer a threat. In fact, in some ways, the danger is greater than ever. While ransomware attacks are less common than they used to be, the consequences of those that succeed are more severe. Earlier this year, the Ponemon...
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Information Security Risk Management (ISRM) Boosts Compliance by Undermining Configuration Drift

Compliance is a “ticket to entry” for businesses today, and information security risk management (ISRM) makes sure organizations hang on to their ticket. In this blog, we’ll review how ISRM helps organizations not only get compliant but stay compliant.And how Tripwire makes that process automatic.Compliance is a Core Cost of Doing Business TodayWithout adhering to industry-standard data privacy...
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Mastering Cybersecurity Incident Communication Part 1: A Proactive Approach

Cybersecurity threats are no longer a matter of "if" but "when." While companies invest heavily in technical defenses, one important aspect often gets overlooked — communication.How an organization communicates during a cybersecurity incident determines the speed and effectiveness of its response, as well as the level of trust it maintains with stakeholders.Here, we’ll walk through the...
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How to Secure Your Information on AWS: 10 Best Practices

About one in three organizations that leverage cloud service providers (CSPs) use Amazon Web Services (AWS), according to November 2024 research from Synergy Research Group. This means two things. One is that when attackers are looking to get the most out of a single exploit, they will likely craft them to target AWS systems. And two, that AWS data security best practices are a timely topic for a...
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Monitoring Applications vs. Operating Systems: Why It Matters

In today’s dynamic IT environments, securing and maintaining the integrity of your systems is critical. Fortra’s Tripwire Enterprise is a robust tool designed to help organizations ensure compliance and security by continuously monitoring the configuration and behavior of their IT assets.When deploying Tripwire, a common question arises: should you prioritize monitoring applications, operating...
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What Is a Security Operations Center (SOC)?

Data breaches continue to cost organizations millions of dollars each year, with costs rising steadily. According to IBM's 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach has surged to $4.88 million globally, reflecting the increasing complexity and sophistication of cyberattacks. In the United States, this figure is even higher, averaging $9.8 million per breach, and the...
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Best Practices for Securing Your SaaS Environment

Can you imagine a modern working world without Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications? Productivity, communication, and project management solutions have transformed the modern workplace, enabling hybrid and remote working, helping to cut costs, and offering unprecedented opportunities for collaboration and innovation. Without them, the business world would grind to a halt.But these...
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New Law Could Mean Prison for Reporting Data Leaks

The Turkish government is proposing a controversial new cybersecurity law that could make it a criminal act to report on data breaches. The new legislation proposes penalties for various cybersecurity-related offences. But they key one which has people concerned is this:"Those who carry out activities aimed at targeting institutions or individuals by creating the perception that there has been a...
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Helping the Energy Sector Navigate NERC Complexities

The energy sector is the cornerstone of modern infrastructure, powering essential services and supporting the daily operations of economies worldwide. However, it also faces unique cybersecurity challenges, particularly in complying with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation's Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) standards.Cyber threats keep growing in sophistication and...
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The 7 Stages NERC CIP Audit Preparation

Maintaining compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards is a complex process that can put significant strain on security and compliance teams. Easing this strain and ensuring compliance relies on effective preparation. As the old adage goes, fail to prepare, prepare to fail.The NERC CIP preparation process is best...
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Advice for Exponential Organizations: Intersecting Agile and Incident Response

While Exponential Organizations (ExOs) are transforming industries beyond the tech space, that doesn’t mean that they are not susceptible to an increasing number of cyber threats. As ExOs harness innovative and cutting-edge technologies to drive transformative growth, the ability to respond effectively and proactively to cyber incidents becomes increasingly vital. Recent statistics from the 2024...
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Managing NERC CIP Patching Process With Tripwire Enterprise

One of the hardest parts of managing an organization’s cybersecurity is patch management.Just as one patch cycle is completed, another set of patches are released. When compounded with the highly regulated energy industry, governed by the NERC CIP Standards, the task becomes even more daunting. Fortunately, Fortra’s Tripwire Enterprise (TE) can ease the process.Some of the specified requirements...
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What’s the Difference Between DSPM, CSPM, and CIEM?

DSPM, CSPM, and CIEM are more than just a mouthful of acronyms. They are some of today’s most sophisticated tools for managing data security in the cloud.While they are all distinct entities and go about protecting data in different ways, the fact that they all seem to do very much the same thing can lead to a lot of confusion. This, in turn, can sell each of these unique solutions short – after...
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CIS Control 09: Email and Web Browser Protections

Web browsers and email clients are used to interact with external and internal assets. Both applications can be used as a point of entry within an organization. Users of these applications can be manipulated using social engineering attacks. A successful social engineering attack needs to convince users to interact with malicious content. A successful attack could give an attacker an entry point...
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DSPM vs CSPM: Key Insights for Effective Cloud Security Management

Most modern organizations have complex IT infrastructures made up of various components like Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), public cloud, and sometimes hybrid environments. While these infrastructures bring significant benefits, including improved scalability, flexibility, and cost savings, increasing complexity has made it...
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Defending Against Ransom DDoS Attacks

DDoS attacks have become an annoyance most companies assume they may have to deal with at some point. While frustrating, minor website disruptions from small-scale hacktivist campaigns rarely create substantial business impacts. However, a particularly insidious DDoS spinoff has emerged over the past decade – one aimed at blackmail.This evolutionary milestone stems from what's called Ransom DDoS ...