You can’t do large-scale business in 2024 without having a successful, well-run IT infrastructure. Arguably, it’s difficult to do any sort of business well (large or small) without tuning your IT capabilities to your business objectives. This allows them to work as one, not against each other.COBIT is a framework created by ISACA (International Systems Audit and Control Association) to do this...

Security configuration management (SCM) is all about making sure your security systems do what you think they’re doing.In tennis, there is something called an unforced error. This is when a player loses points for a mistake they made themselves, not due to the skill of the other opponent. In a big way, security misconfigurations are those unforced errors on the security side or instances in which...

Historically, Mac users haven't had to worry about malware as much as their Windows-using cousins. Although malware targeting Apple devices actually predates viruses written for PCs, and there have been some families of malware that have presented a significant threat for both operating systems (for instance, the Word macro viruses that hit computers hard from 1995 onwards), it is generally the...

The way in which we interact with applications has changed dramatically over the years. Enterprises use applications in day-to-day operations to manage their most sensitive data and control access to system resources. Instead of traversing a labyrinth of networks and systems, attackers today see an opening to turn an organization's application against it to bypass network security controls and...

Also known as change monitoring, File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) solutions monitor and detect file changes that could indicate a cyberattack. They determine if and when files change, who changed them, and what can be done to restore files if those changes are unauthorized. As such, FIM solutions are useful for detecting malware and achieving compliance with regulations like PCI DSS and are a...

No-one would be bold enough to say that the ransomware problem is receding, but a newly-published report by Microsoft does deliver a slither of encouraging news amongst the gloom. And boy do we need some good news - amid reports that 389 US-based healthcare institutions were hit by ransomware last year - more than one every single day. The 114-page Microsoft Digital Defense Report (MMDR) looks at...

New legislation is on the horizon in Australia that is set to change the way businesses deal with ransomware attacks. This law, not unlike the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA) in the US, aims to improve transparency when it comes to paying ransoms.There's no question that cybercrime is on the rise in the country. In its 2022/23 Annual Cyber Threat Report, the...

The National Information Assurance (NIA) Policy is a framework for offering organizations a foundation for information security management. It was designed and developed to aid organizations with the necessary steps to ensure information security, from assessing and classifying risk to choosing and implementing controls for mitigation.The NIA policy provides businesses with guidelines to support...

In the second quarter of 2024, 877,536 phishing attacks were reported, a marked decrease from the 963,994 attacks reported in the first quarter of the same year. However, this might not be a reason to celebrate just yet, as this reduction might be due to the fact that email providers have made it increasingly difficult for users to report phishing attempts.Complaints and testing reveal that...

Depending on the industry, location, and business operations of your organization, you may have any number of cybersecurity regulations to comply with. Keeping track of each law that affects your organization and the various requirements associated with them can be overwhelming, but the consequences of noncompliance are often far worse.While diligent adherence to regulatory requirements is not a...

Breaches, be they accidental, careless, or malicious, are an inevitability for most companies. Depending on the industry, the consequences could range from something as minor as a little public embarrassment to hefty fines, lawsuits, expensive remediation actions, and loss of customer confidence (and, with that - business).The question is, how can compliance use this to its advantage and get a...

Human nature tells us that we’ll go for the low-hanging fruit before climbing a tree. Since threat actors are (after all) human, the same applies to them. Since databases are particularly vulnerable to many lower-level attacks, they are constantly at high risk. From misconfiguration to credential theft, these repositories of sensitive information can be preyed upon by even the most nascent...

We’re over halfway through the year, and ChainAnalysis has released parts one and two of their 2024 Crypto Crime Mid-Year Update. The update provides valuable insight into the cryptocurrency and cybersecurity landscape, so let’s look at the key takeaways and what they mean.There’s Been an Overall Decline in Illicit ActivityContrary to what one might expect, aggregate illicit activity on the...

For the past few years, the CRM market has witnessed steady growth and it is projected to reach $89 billion by 2024. Estimates are that this growth will continue into the foreseeable future. Essentially, CRM systems have come to stay and have become the backbone of many organizations.However, the bleak state of cybersecurity cuts across many industries, and CRM systems are equally vulnerable....

When discussing the consequences of a data breach for organizations, we usually consider three types of damage: financial, legal, and, somewhat more tenuously, reputational. But what about stock prices? One would assume that stock price—an indicator of a business’s overall health and investor confidence—would plummet after a breach, but is this really the case?Do Stock Prices Fall After Data...

To allay dependence on oil revenue and expand the private sector, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has committed, in recent years, to establishing a knowledge-based economy. Consequently, they have become a formidable competitor in Information Communication Technology (ICT). As the ICT industry has grown, so have government agencies to regulate it, namely the Signals Intelligence Agency, formerly...

The CIS Critical Security Controls (CIS Controls) are a set of best practices designed to help organizations protect themselves from the most common cyber attacks. First developed in 2008, the controls define the minimum level of cybersecurity any organization that collects or maintains personal information should meet.CIS released version 8.1 of the CIS Critical Security Controls on June 25th,...

Misconfigurations (when cloud computing assets are set up incorrectly, leaving them vulnerable to unauthorized access, data breaches, and operational disruptions) and inadequate change control top the list of cloud security threats in 2024, rising from third place the year before. It's clear that the transition to cloud computing has amplified the challenges of configuration management, making it...

The upcoming election has brought up conversations about the security of our voting infrastructure. While recent developments have somewhat shifted attention toward more visceral threats such as "death threats against county clerks, polling-place violence, and AI-fueled disinformation," the protection of voting machine security is still a pressing concern.Securing electronic voting infrastructure...

Achieving Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act compliance is becoming more difficult. While the Act is primarily a financial reporting regulation, it requires all publicly traded companies operating in the United States to maintain the integrity, accuracy, and reliability of financial reporting, which those organizations can only achieve through robust cybersecurity measures. As such, an effective...