Articles about Security

Hackers continue to target zero-day vulnerabilities

Zero Day

Unpatched vulnerabilities remain the most prominent attack vectors exploited by ransomware groups, according to a new report.

The study by Ivanti, produced in conjunction with Cyber Security Works, shows 65 new vulnerabilities tied to ransomware last year, representing a 29 percent growth compared to the previous year and bringing the total number of vulnerabilities associated with ransomware to 288.

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Over three-quarters of container images have high risk vulnerabilities

A new report from container and cloud security company Sysdig finds that 75 percent of images contain patchable vulnerabilities of 'high' or 'critical' severity. In addition 85 percent of container images that run in production contain at least one patchable vulnerability.

Looking at the issues in more detail, 73 percent of cloud accounts contain exposed S3 buckets and 36 percent of all existing S3 buckets are open to public access.

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Every major Linux distro has a PwnKit flaw that is easily exploited to gain root access

Linux-based operating systems are frequently touted as being far more secure than the likes of Windows or macOS. More secure they may be, but they are not completely infallible.

A great example of this is the recently discovered PwnKit vulnerability in the pkexec component of Polkit. The flaw can be exploited to gain root access to a system and it has been a security hole in pretty much all major Linux distros for over 12 years, including Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu.

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Strengthen your company's security posture with risk quantification

Risk dial

Risk professionals work with uncertainty every day. They need to identify and prioritize which risks to address now versus later, consider many moving parts and rely on judgment and data to make informed decisions.

But how do they communicate those risks to stakeholders? Using "low, medium or high" classifications doesn’t always express the consideration risk requires -- especially since those terms don’t mean the same thing to everyone. If you told key stakeholders "there’s a possibility of rain tomorrow" before a company barbecue, how would they know whether to reschedule or put a few tents up? Is "possibility" enough information to make that decision, especially since not everyone equates possibility with the same level of probability? 

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Moving to the edge needs a rethink of security

Edge computing

In order to provide real-time services to the user, enhance data management and support latency-critical applications, many businesses are moving computing to the edge.

But this brings with it new issues when it comes to securing systems. The latest Cybersecurity Insights Report from AT&T Cybersecurity focuses on the security considerations needed in order to implement edge computing safely.

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Almost half of organizations don't use all of Microsoft 365's features

The thing about integrated office suites is that inevitably you don't need all of the features they provide, or at least you use some of them less than others.

New research from managed services provider Ensono shows that 83 percent of enterprises say Microsoft 365 is an invaluable part of their business operations. However, almost half aren't using all of the features available.

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New solution helps guarantee electronic documents

Contract signing

Electronic documents are becoming more common in business, but this doesn't eliminate the risk of forgery or tampering.

UK-based Borderless Security is launching a new e-signature solution that makes use of blockchain technology to create a safe, secure and convenient solution for signing paperwork, contracts and legally binding documents.

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What the UK's revised security guidelines mean for business [Q&A]

security meter

Changes to the UK government's Cyber Essentials security certification scheme come into force today. They include things like guidelines on remote working and hybrid approaches, rules for cloud service accounts -- such as deploying multi-factor authentication -- and speeding up critical patch deployments for critical and high severity vulnerabilities

We talked to Karl Alderton, technical account manager at security and compliance specialist Qualys to find out more about how these changes will affect businesses and what they need to do in response.

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Security is the top concern for CIOs and budgets are increasing

Security

A new study from IDG Communications finds that more than half (57 percent) of CIOs surveyed indicate the need for security improvements as a top reason for increasing tech budgets this year.

This is followed by upgrading outdated IT infrastructure (48 percent) and investing in new skills and talent (48 percent). In addition, over three-quarters (76 percent) think their involvement with cybersecurity will increase over the next year, along with their involvement in data privacy and compliance (71 percent).

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Insurance businesses targeted for customer details

insurance key

Insurance companies exist to offer protection but they're increasingly having to protect themselves against a range of cyberattacks.

A new report from IntSights looks at the threats faced by insurance businesses and why they’ve become a particular problem in recent times.

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65 percent of organizations still use shared logins for infrastructure access

Password

Despite the fact that admin credentials represent a major prize for hackers and cybercriminals, a new report reveals that 65 percent of organizations still rely on shared logins and 41 percent use shared SSH keys.

The survey of 600 DevOps professionals from infrastructure access platform strongDM shows that technical staff at 93 percent of organizations have access to sensitive systems.

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New targeted attack strategies used against industrial companies

industrial skyline

A new, rapidly evolving, series of spyware campaigns attacking more than 2,000 industrial enterprises around the world has been uncovered by experts at Kaspersky.

Although the malware used in these attacks belongs to well-known commodity spyware families, they stand out from the mainstream due to the very limited number of targets in each attack -- no more than a few dozen -- and the very short lifetime of each malicious sample.

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Data breaches expose over 40 billion records in 2021

Data breach

New figures released today from cyber exposure company Tenable show that over 40 billion records were exposed in data breach incidents last year, a whopping 78 percent increase over the previous year.

The company's 2021 Threat Landscape Retrospective report is based on analysis of 1,825 incidents publicly disclosed between November 2020 and October 2021. Since many reports didn't include details of the number of records breached the true figure is likely to be far higher.

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Supply chain attacks more than triple in 2021

Broken chain

Software supply chain attacks grew by more than 300 percent in 2021 compared to 2020 as attackers focused on open source vulnerabilities and poisoning, code integrity issues, and exploiting the software supply chain process and supplier trust to distribute malware or backdoors.

According to Aqua Security's Argon Security arm, 2021 Software Supply Chain Security Review, security across software development environments remains low, and significantly, every company evaluated had vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that could expose them to supply chain attacks.

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Endpoint malware and ransomware reach new highs

endpoint protection

New data shows that while total perimeter malware detection volume has decreased, endpoint malware detections had already surpassed the total volume seen in 2020 by the third quarter of 2021.

The latest quarterly report from WatchGuard Technologies also shows a continuing trend for a significant percentage of malware to arrive over encrypted connections, the percentage delivered via TLS jumping from 31.6 percent to 47 percent.

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