There’s a saying in the cybersecurity community which states that just because you are compliant doesn’t mean that you are secure. Over the years, many images have been used to illustrate the point. One memorable image is that of a nude bicyclist wearing a helmet. By all standards, that is the epitome of “compliant, but not secure”. Many organizations...

All of us at Tripwire’s Vulnerability Exposure and Research Team (VERT) are constantly looking out for interesting stories and developments in the infosec world. Here’s what cybersecurity news stood out to us during the week of April 4, 2022. I’ve also included some comments on these stories. Borat RAT, a new RAT that performs ransomware and DDoS...

In this episode, Jarell Oshodi, Deputy Chief Privacy Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discusses the role of privacy in the cybersecurity field. As an attorney, she brings a unique perspective to the conversation on how we can work better with our privacy officers. https://open.spotify.com/episode/6I9ixrw6IDnWdnHKiNU3e7...

To say that data governance and data compliance are rapidly becoming areas of immense strategic importance for businesses would be an understatement. Governments worldwide already have data protection laws in place or are busy drafting these laws. Moreover, users have become increasingly aware and educated about their rights online, especially...

A new report, which surveyed 1200 IT security professionals in 17 countries around the world, has shone a light on a dramatic rise in the number of organisations willing to pay ransoms to extortionists. The ninth annual Cyberthreat Defense Report (CDR), produced by CyberEdge Group, shows that not only has there been a substantial increase in the...

To put the impact of cybercrime into perspective, let’s examine some important, and startling, numbers: Data breach costs increased from $3.86 million to $4.24 million in 2021. Every 39 seconds, there is an attack. About 90% of healthcare organizations have fallen victim to at least one breach within the past three years. The bottom line?...

Originally envisaged as a convenient way to store web data, cookies emerged as a powerful marketing tool in the 2000s. For many years, digital marketers relied on cookies for data collection. However, in recent history, new privacy laws, browser features, and plug-ins have changed the landscape of data collection. Marketers have had to develop...

What is this AvosLocker thing I’ve heard about? AvosLocker is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) gang that first appeared in mid-2021. It has since become notorious for its attacks targeting critical infrastructure in the United States, including the sectors of financial services, critical manufacturing, and government facilities. In March 2022, the...

One of the main challenges of OT security is the problem of compatibility. OT components often differ significantly from each other in terms of age and sophistication as well as software and communication protocols.This complicates asset discovery and makes it difficult to establish a consistent cybersecurity governance approach. Combating asset...

Endpoint devices played a big part in malware and ransomware attacks in 2021. According to a study covered by Help Net Security, security researchers detected more malware and ransomware endpoint infections in the first nine months of the year than they did for all of 2020. Attack scripts leveraging PowerSploit, PowerWare, and other tools were...

In November 2018, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released the Prudential Standard CPS 234 in direct response to the escalating attack landscape in the financial sector. APRA has understood these threats to be the direct result of banking services moving to more complex and heavily used digital platforms. The new Standard...

In a previous article, I examined Australia’s proposed Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020. This information security overhaul imposes strict reporting requirements for enterprises as well as affords the Australian government unprecedented and far-reaching powers that enables them to intervene in the operation of an...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and National Security Agency (NSA) have joined forces to publish a joint warning that Russian hackers have targeted defence contractors to steal sensitive data. According to an advisory issued by the US authorities,...

The number of missing security patches in an OT system is typically very large—measured in the thousands, at least. It would be difficult and expensive for an asset owner to evaluate each missing security patch / cyber asset pair. This may be one reason we see a patch everything approach, but this is also difficult and expensive. In fact, assessments...

When was the last time you purchased a product that was in a container? If you are a typical consumer, you probably have done so in the last few days. There is an entire industry that focuses on these containers. Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) is an industry term for merchandise that is used and replaced on a frequent basis. CPG includes just about...

Tripwire's January 2022 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Apache, Open Source Policy Kit, Adobe, and Microsoft.First on the patch priority list this month are patches for Apache Log4j2 vulnerabilities, most importantly for the Log4j2 "LogShell" remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228). This...

Data Privacy Day (DPD) is January 28. Sounds exciting, right? I'm sure you've got the pinata stuffed and the presents on the way. What is DPD about? It's all about me! We generally don't like to use this phrase. It's considered selfish and arrogant, leading others to dislike us. But in the case of data privacy, it’s acceptable. Personally, I’m...

It looks likely that the UK will join a growing number of nations promoting cybersecurity’s importance for businesses including the introduction of new laws. Amongst the proposals being considered are adding new powers to the UK Cyber Security Council that could significantly change the reporting requirements associated with security incidents. From...

Industrial control systems (ICS) are specific kinds of assets and associated instrumentation that help to oversee industrial processes. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, there are three common types of ICS. These are supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, which help organizations to control dispersed...

It has been a long time coming! The upgrade to the international standard for information security management systems, ISO27001:2013, is here (almost). Hallelujah! If you're reading this article, then there's a reasonable assumption that you know what ISO27001 is and you're not going to be too worried about the back story. But let's all be clear...