It’s often said that humans are the weakest link in cybersecurity. Indeed, I’d have a hard time arguing that a computer that was sealed in a box, untouched by human hand, poses much of a security risk. But a computer that is unused has no purpose. It behooves security practitioners to get smarter about how we teach people to use those machines so...

A budding ransomware group donated part of the ransom demands that it had previously extorted from its victims to two charities. On October 13, the Darkside ransomware group announced the donations in a blog post on its dark web portal. As quoted by ZDNet: As we said in the first press release - we are targeting only large profitable corporations....

Cybersecurity is in the news again with the disclosure that Tesla, working in conjunction with the FBI, prevented a ransomware attack from being launched at its Gigafactory in Nevada. The cybercriminals targeted Tesla through one of its employees, whom they allegedly promised to pay $1 million in order to help them infect the company’s system with...

A few weeks, ago, technology news site The Verge reported on a new Ring security camera that is in fact a drone that flies around inside your house. Available beginning next year, the ‘Always Home Cam’ is supposed to give its owners a total view of their home without the need for multiple cameras. Those worried about break-ins or other kinds of...

By now, we have a good understanding of what secure remote access (SRA) is and why organizations might choose to enable it for their OT environments. We also know that securing IT-OT collaboration, leveraging guidance from best practice frameworks and using an automated solution can help organizations to implement this type of access. Even so, we...

A federal court in the United States issued a temporary restraining order against a tech support scheme that's alleged to have targeted U.S. consumers. On October 15, the U.S. District Court filed Southern District of Florida submitted a complaint against Michael Brian Cotter, 59, of Glendale,...

Security researchers discovered that an APT group known as "Silent Librarian" is actively targeting universities with spear phishing attacks. Malwarebytes learned in mid-September that Silent Librarian, also known as "TA407" and "COBALT DICKENS," had launched a new attack campaign. In its analysis of the operation, the security firm found that the...

American bookselling giant Barnes & Noble is contacting customers via email, warning them that its network was breached by hackers, and that sensitive information about shoppers may have been accessed. In the email to customers, Barnes & Noble says that it became aware that it had fallen victim to a cybersecurity attack on Saturday October 10th. ...

For years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has committed itself to adopting information technology (IT) and electronic communication. The UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) noted that this policy has made the state’s government agencies and organizations more efficient as well as has improved the ability for individuals to collaborate...

Digital attackers created a Magento phishing page that used JavaScript to exfiltrate the login credentials of its victims. Sucuri came across a compromised website using the filename "wp-order.php" during an investigation. This phishing page hosted what appeared to be a legitimate Magento 1.x login portal at the time of discovery. In support of this...

Vulnerability Description Tripwire VERT has identified a stack-based buffer overflow in SonicWall Network Security Appliance (NSA). The flaw can be triggered by an unauthenticated HTTP request involving a custom protocol handler. The vulnerability exists within the HTTP/HTTPS service used for product management as well as SSL VPN remote access. ...

As I had mentioned previously, this year, I’m going back to school. Not to take classes but to teach a course at my alma mater, Fanshawe College. I did this about a decade ago and thought it was interesting, so I was excited to give it another go. Additionally, after a friend mentioned that their kid wanted to learn Python, I developed an Intro to...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s October 2020 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-909 on Wednesday, October 14th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs (October 2020 Patch Tuesday Analysis) CVE-2020-16938 This CVE describes an information disclosure in the Windows kernel that...

Digital attackers incorporated a fake Windows Defender Antivirus theme into a malicious document in order to distribute QBot malware. According to Bleeping Computer, the QBot gang began using a new template for their email attack campaigns' malicious documents beginning on August 25, 2020. The template adopted the disguise of a Windows Defender...

A number of high-profile data breaches have resulted directly from misconfigured permissions or unpatched vulnerabilities. For instance, the 2017 Equifax breach was the result of exploiting an unpatched flaw in Apache Struts allowing remote code execution. More recently, the Capital One breach last year stemmed from a misconfigured web application...

Recovering CISO and Director of (TL)2 Security Thom Langford joins the show to debate Tripwire’s Paul Edon on facial recognition vs. security. https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fFEo0k55WgGqM6Yzi0Mbi?si=-Bkeyld4QtuTSeq6IKQseQ Spotify:...

“Gartner projections show the growth in cybersecurity spending is slowing. Cybersecurity grew at 12% (CAGR) in 2018, and it is projected to decline to only 7% (CAGR) by 2023. Gartner clients are also reporting that after years of quarterly reporting on cybersecurity to their boards, that boards are now pushing back and asking for improved data and...

As the world of AI and deepfake technology grows more complex, the risk that deepfakes pose to firms and individuals grows increasingly potent. This growing sophistication of the latest software and algorithms has allowed malicious hackers, scammers and cyber criminals who work tirelessly behind the scenes to stay one step ahead of the authorities,...

A new variant of a sophisticated Android locker family used an innovative sequence to load its ransom note on infected devices. On October 8, Microsoft Defender Research Team revealed that it had spotted a new Android locker variant using novel techniques to display its ransom note to its victims. This threat specifically targeted two components on...

The confirmation that US President Donald Trump has been infected by the Coronavirus, and had to spend time this weekend in hospital, has - understandably - made headlines around the world. And there are plenty of people, on both sides of the political divide, who are interested in learning more about his health status. It's no surprise, therefore,...