Why businesses should build 'human firewalls'
It is often the illusive H Factor -- the human element -- that ends up being the weakest link that makes cyber-attacks and data breaches possible, sometimes even more so than hackers exploiting zero-day system vulnerabilities or employing new malware.
According to the 2016 Verizon DBIR, human errors are a major factor in most data breaches. This human touch is especially true with the growing mobility of employees and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies that are becoming more widespread. Therefore, while technological cybersecurity solutions take center stage in many businesses' cybersecurity plans, addressing the human element is as important as the technological one.
Behavioral firewall helps guard against data breaches
When a data breach is just as likely to originate from inside the organization as outside, protecting an enterprise can be a difficult task.
Californian company Preempt is launching a new proactive approach that allows organizations to spot threats in real-time without engaging already overwhelmed security teams.
The changing role of the firewall in network security
The firewall is still at the center of most network security strategies, but it needs to evolve as cloud technology, software defined networks and next generation firewalls take hold.
This is among the conclusions of the latest State of the Firewall Report from network security specialist FireMon, which finds that 91 percent of IT security professionals believe firewalls are still as critical or more critical than ever to their security architecture.
How reliable is your firewall? Atelier Web Firewall Tester finds out
Warning: Comodo Antivirus included insecure remote tech support tool
A researcher from Google Project Zero discovered a serious security issue with the technical support tools supplied with Comodo software products. Tavis Ormandy found that Comodo Antivirus, Comodo Firewall, and Comodo Internet Security all included a bundled VNC server with either no password protection, or a very weak password.
GeekBuddy is a remote desktop tool used by support staff to troubleshoot customer problems, but it also serves as a backdoor that allows for near-unrestricted access to users' computers. The tool installs with full admin rights, meaning that an attacker could very easily gain complete control of a remote computer.
Cisco announces Firepower Next-Generation Firewall
Cisco has released a new firewall solution which aims to completely change how security services tackle cyber-threats.
The new product, Cisco Firepower Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), is built to detect threats on a system, and not keep the system on a lockdown. Here’s how Cisco explains the new product
Fortinet firewalls feature hard-coded password that acts as a backdoor
Just weeks after Juniper was found to be using insecure code in its products, a security issue has been found in Fortinet's FortiOS. It's a problem that affects the software in older NetScreen firewalls from Fortinet and could allow for remote access of unpatched system.
Buried in the firewall software is a hardcoded password (FGTAbc11*xy+Qqz27) that could be easily used to exploit servers running FortiOS. Ralf-Philipp Weinmann is one of the security researchers who unearthed the problem with Juniper hardware, and he has confirmed the problem which is being referred to as the FortiOS SSH Undocumented Interactive Login Vulnerability.
Critical patches issued after spying backdoors found built into Juniper firewalls
Networking manufacturer Juniper has discovered backdoors built into its firewalls. The company says that a number of its devices running the ScreenOS operating system include serious vulnerabilities that could be used to take remote control of networked devices, or to decrypt VPN traffic.
The company says that the security issues were unearthed during an internal code review and has issued an out-of-cycle fix to address the vulnerabilities. Network admins are advised to treat the threats seriously, and to make use of the available patches immediately.
The best enterprise firewalls based on user reviews [Infographic]
A good firewall will keep your company’s and customers’ private information secure in order to prevent issues such as identity theft, hackers and viruses by shutting off access to your network where necessary.
With recent data breaches like that of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and at Harvard, firewalls are gaining increasing importance in business.
New firewall provides stronger protection for hybrid cloud systems
As more apps move to the cloud business infrastructures are increasingly fragmented. This can make traditional on-site security tools ineffective in fighting off cyber attacks.
The threat of attacks remains, however, and a new release from security software company Radware is aimed at protecting both on-premise and cloud-based applications, using just one solution.
Meraki MX Firewalls: Why cloud managed networking simply rocks [Review]
Two of the largest network gaming services, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, took unplanned hiatuses on Christmas Day 2014. And for their credit, both Sony and Microsoft were not the culprits for the outages. Newly infamous hacking group Lizard Squad used DDoS attacks against the gaming networks to chalk up part publicity stunt and part targeted advertising for their new DDoS-for-hire service.
At this point, the who and why of this story aren't anything new if you've been watching IT news the last few weeks. But something that hasn't gotten as much attention is the "how" of Lizard Squad's Xmas Day barrage last year.
2015 -- the year automated malware protection and firewalls become worthless?
Whether you're a home or business user, one thing you've probably had drummed into you for years is the importance of virus protection, an effective firewall and malware guards. Well, as we start our journey into 2015 such security tools may not be anywhere near as effective as they used to be. Is it worth investing in them at all?
The suggestion isn’t that we should ditch firewalls and malware protection altogether -- that would be insanity. But security expert Ilia Kolochenko says that we need to rethink our reliance on automated security tools.
GreatFire.org and BBC punch uncensored news through the Great Firewall of China
The Great Firewall of China is renowned for the restrictions it places on what Chinese citizens can access online. Free speech advocates have long called for the Chinese government to allow access to the wider web, so people in China can get a better idea of what is going on elsewhere in the world. Now GreatFire.org, working with the BBC, has found a way to deliver uncensored Chinese language news to those on the wrong side of the firewall.
GreatFire.org is an anti-censorship group that monitors web blocking in China and campaigns against censorship. Various techniques for getting around the Great Firewall of China have been publicized in the past, but they have relied on VPNs and other tools that can be complicated to set up. The latest method requires no special tools.
Next-gen firewalls need to evolve to avoid becoming irrelevant
When Gartner coined the phrase "next generation firewall", in 2003, it captured a then-nascent approach to traffic classification and control. Combining traditional packet filtering with some application control and IPS layered on top, today's 'legacy' NGFWs do pretty much what they say on the tin.
However, while NGFWs continue to be a vital part of an organization’s protection, they were designed for a time before advanced targeted threats started attacking our enterprises -- threats which often go undetected until it's too late.
Cisco adds threat focus to its firewall platform
The firewall is usually the first line of defense for any network, but most offerings are focused on access policy and application control which makes it hard for them to respond to zero-day and more advanced attacks.
Now networking company Cisco is launching what it calls the first threat-focused Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW). Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services provides the contextual awareness and dynamic controls needed to automatically assess threats, correlate intelligence, and optimize defenses in order to protect networks.
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