The number of data breaches increased 27.5% in 2014 , making measures against these types of security incidents increase significantly among large companies. What about small businesses? Do they really stand a chance against hackers and security incidents? Being a small company might make you think no hacker will bother stealing your data. But, just because you’re small doesn’t mean your...

Recently, we compiled a list of the top 10 highest paying jobs in information security in an effort to help individuals navigate this exciting field as a career choice. That being said, we would be remiss if we stopped there. Information security is continuously evolving, so knowing which events offer the best opportunities for learning new ideas and making new connections is just as important as...

With acceptance that the prospect of unauthorised incursion, hacks and/or compromise of corporate, and personal systems is to now be expected, it would seem to make good sense to accommodate mechanisms with which the organisation may respond to such manifestation as and when they are encountered. It is this awareness which is driving many reputable organisations to seek robust and pragmatic...

Netflix announced on Monday the open source release of its very own system designed to analyze and categorize security events, and automatically respond to urgent incidents. The popular streaming service released its Fully Integrated Defense Operation, dubbed FIDO, after its implementation more than four years ago. “The idea for FIDO came from a simple proof of concept,” wrote Netflix’s Rob Fry...

A television service provider has blamed the Lizard Squad hacking group on a series of channel service interruptions that affected weekend programming, including the highly anticipated boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. According to Buckeye CableSystem , which services cable customers in northwest Ohio and parts of southeast Michigan, a command was issued at approximately 9...

I've been talking to many different organizations recently about their sources of threat intelligence, and one thing I've heard numerous times is that some of the most timely, valuable threat intelligence they are receiving is via email. I’ve even heard that we’ve made some progress with STIX, as sometimes STIX content is attached to the emails—poor TAXII must feel so left out. In this article, I...

Under proposed legislation that has been introduced to Congress in recent months, U.S. companies would be empowered to decide whether to alert their customers in the event of a data breach. According to an article published by the Wall Street Journal , the legislation would limit the need for companies to notify their customers of a security incident only in instances where they are at risk of...

Last week, Tripwire explored the story of Austin Alcala , a teenager who penetrated a number of American videogame corporations and the United States military as a member of an international hacking group. We now report on the story of Konstantin Simeonov Kavrakov, a Bulgarian hacker who is responsible for having infiltrated Bill Gates’ bank account and stolen thousands of dollars. Kavrakov, who...

"The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” – Albert Einstein Being involved in information security is intimidating. Not just because you are dealing with complex technology with serious implications if you fail, but everyone around you is going to be smarter than you. Even your adversaries. Especially your adversaries. Get used to it. By everyone being smarter, I don’t mean to...

The Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas has been hit with malware leading to the compromise of credit card data, names and addresses at restaurant, bar and retail locations. The compromise did not affect the hotel or casino transactions. At this time, no details regarding the specific malware or other specifics regarding the compromise were provided. However, the glaring point of this particular breach...

A security firm has identified a new malware campaign on Careerbuilder.com , a popular job search website, in which attackers are using phishing and social engineering techniques in order to trick users into opening malicious documents. In a post published on its security blog, Proofpoint explains that attackers are posting malicious documents in the Microsoft Word format to open positions on...

You know what I don’t want to talk about any more? Responsible disclosure. The problem is that, as old as that discussion is for information security, it and the adjacent topics, remain relevant for many other industries. There’s a good chance you caught the media coverage of a recent incident involving Chris Roberts, a security researcher, being removed from a flight for a joking tweet about...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is assisting Rutgers University investigate the source of a second targeted attack that has crippled the university’s Internet in the past month. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting the university with its search,” agency spokeswoman Celeste Danzi explained on Wednesday. Danzi has declined to provide additional comment about the FBI’s...

Thirty thousand people; five hundred vendors; a clan of security practitioners seeking out safety in their ecosystem; a tribe of knowledge pursuing the opportunity to share best practice and thought leadership to increase likelihood of survival... my first RSA. Amit Yoran’s Keynote suggests that an evolution out of the Dark Ages of Security is required for our next evolution, as we've become...

Today, security engineers at Google announced the release of a new browser extension aimed to help users better protect their Google accounts against phishing attacks. Known as Password Alert, the free, open-source Chrome extension works by alerting users when they enter their passwords into any non-Google site. “Once you’ve installed and initialized Password Alert, Chrome will remember a...

In ages past, invading armies would poison the water source – usually a well – of a city in order to reduce the fighting capability of the enemy or to force the populace of a city under siege to surrender. This method was usually successful because an invader could have a devastating effect on a very large population with minimal yet targeted effort. But only if the poison wasn't discovered in a...

Plenty of people these days are prepared to augment their bodies with face furniture, piercings, rings and tattoos. But would you implant a chip in your hand to show how easy it is to exploit an Android phone? That's what former US navy petty officer Seth Wahle did, in an attempt to demonstrate how business networks could be compromised. Wahle took an NFC chip, similar to the kind found in many of...

Continuous monitoring is poised to do for information security what cloud deployment did for global productivity. Continuous monitoring not only has a role to play in preventing large-scale data breaches but it can also help compliance-sensitive organizations save money by facilitating long-term compliance continuity and reducing annual audit overhead. On the drawing board, continuous monitoring...

Earlier this month, Lastline , a security firm that focuses on real-time analysis of advanced malware, issued a new report on the evolving landscape of evasive malware. Co-founder and chief scientist at Lastline Christopher Kruegel published the report as part of his presentation for RSA Conference 2015 entitled, “ Evasive Malware Exposed and Deconstructed .” His findings serve as an update for “...

General Keith Alexander, the former head of the National Security Agency (NSA), is concerned that the United States’ energy infrastructure is vulnerable to targeted attacks launched by sophisticated actors. “The greatest risk is a catastrophic attack on the energy infrastructure. We are not prepared for that,” he said. According to General Alexander, the West’s “doomsday” scenario involves a...