Security configurations are an often ignored but essential factor in any organization’s security posture: any tool, program, or solution can be vulnerable to cyberattacks or other security incidents if the settings are not configured correctly. Staying on top of all of these security configurations can be a daunting responsibility for security or IT teams to focus on, which is where security...

The number of endpoints in an organization often exceeds the number of employees. Managing these often disparate entities is more than a full-time job. Moreover, keeping them secure is equally difficult, yet securing all of your endpoints against cyber threats has become paramount for organizations worldwide. A common oversight that undermines these security efforts is the misconception about data...

Let’s start the second quarter of the year with boosting our security posture by adopting two-factor authentication methods on our accounts to make them more secure. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an identity and access management security method that requires two forms of identification to access resources and data. The first factor you provide is a password (often referred to as something...

In today's digital landscape, it is important for organizations to depend upon the tools they use for cybersecurity. Large businesses can employ many security solutions, practices, and policies that must combine to create a robust and layered security strategy. While many of these tools are important and necessary, organizations often don't use them to their full potential. With any security tool...

I’ll start this one with an apology – I’ve been watching a lot of the TV show The Bear (which I’d highly recommend!) and thus been thinking a lot about kitchen processes and the challenges of making everything come together nicely (both in life and in a recipe). If you are unfamiliar with the show, it is a comedy-drama about a chef who manages his deceased brother’s sandwich shop. When I see...

Thanks to the burgeoning supply chain, a host of IoT and work-from-home devices, and an expanding cloud presence, organizations are constantly ingesting new hardware into their IT environments. With each new line of code comes a fresh chance for a hidden vulnerability. With each unfound weakness, attackers gain one more opportunity to gain a foothold in the organization and compromise sensitive...

Security and compliance are often tightly intertwined. The main difference is that sometimes security can outpace compliance efforts. While it is easy to infer that a more secure system exceeds a compliance requirement, an auditor should not be expected to deduce the state of a system; the evidence needs to be clear. There are many factors that can cause compliance shifts. Configurations are...

Any time the television news presents a story about cybersecurity, there is always a video of a large data center with thousands of blinking lights. Even most cybersecurity blogs will include an image of many lights on the front panels of servers, routers, and other hardware. However, most people don’t notice that the lights are usually green or some shade of blue. Rarely are those lights yellow...

What Is a Host-Based Intrusion Detection System (HIDS)? A host-based intrusion detection system, or HIDS , is a network application that monitors suspicious and malicious behavior, both internally and externally. The HIDS’ job is to flag any unusual patterns of behavior that could signify a breach. By bringing this activity to the team’s attention, the HIDS enables in-house staff to investigate...

Protecting sensitive data and other assets requires an organization to be adaptable and stay informed on things like the digital landscape and threat trends. While some aspects of security are within an organization’s control, it can be extremely difficult to manage all of the risks and vulnerabilities that are likely to arise. Security configuration management (SCM) is one way to take control of...

Using security tools to monitor activities on IP based endpoints and the resulting changes that occur pose one of the most formidable challenges to security and regulatory compliance efforts, thanks to its potential to disrupt established security measures and protocols. Compliance frameworks, such as PCI DSS and NIST 800-53/SI-7, require organizations in every sector to maintain a consistent and...

In the intricate realm of cybersecurity, the relentless surge of cyber threats demands a constant reassessment of defensive strategies. Amidst this dynamic landscape, a subtle yet indispensable player takes center stage — Security Configuration Management (SCM) . This blog embarks on an insightful journey into the critical role played by SCM in the ongoing battle against cyberattacks, shedding...

Many of the breaches of the past ten years have taken advantage of weak or nonexistent security settings. Conversely, for example, companies that configured their Docker application to the CIS recommended security settings for container users and privileges were not as vulnerable to container escape exploits. Arguably, a configuration change prevented many breaches. Security configuration...

Technology has recently been evolving at the speed of light. We have seen the onset of increased cyber threats across all industries. Gone are the times when threat actors had a specific goal and target. We now live in an age where robots collect, collate, and save information for a more opportune and profitable day. It is ever more important to understand the security measures individuals and...

Kubernetes has emerged as the leading platform for orchestrating containerized applications. However, developers and administrators rely on an ecosystem of tools and platforms that have emerged around Kubernetes. One of these tools is Helm, a package manager that simplifies Kubernetes deployments. However, with the convenience and efficiency Helm offers, it also introduces significant security...

The IBM i is a midrange server that is used across many industries and businesses varying in sizes. Backed by its long history and support by IBM, a world-class innovator, the IBM i platform stands alone in the midrange server offerings. Some of the largest companies in the world use IBM i running on the IBM Power server as their strategic platform for manufacturing planning, retail, distribution...

One of the most common factors that can lead to cybersecurity incidents is a security misconfiguration in software or application settings. The default settings that come with the implementation of these tools and solutions are often not configured securely, and many organizations do not invest the time and resources into ensuring that they are. Several regulatory organizations have established...

Imagine you’re on the tail end of installing a 100-line script. It’s five o’clock, and you’re ready to head out early for once. You run the startup script on a new server, and then – the fated error message. Something isn’t working, and only after painstakingly reviewing 67 lines of code do you realize you had the IP address wrong. This could have been prevented. File Integrity Monitoring (FIM)...

To most people, the process of logging into a Microsoft Windows machine is a simple process of entering a username and a password. However, for a cybersecurity professional, the process is a carefully orchestrated mechanism. Unfortunately, throughout the history of the various Windows operating system versions, criminals have also sought ways to disrupt this process in order to breach a network...

The shifting sands of IT make the adage "you never know it all" ever more true as time goes by. I recall days when it felt like you could click through every major directory of Yahoo and know a little something about everything. I was a young man with a voracious reading appetite and an active imagination – both of which were thoroughly outpaced by the growth of the internet and my own developing...