Webcast Q&A: Automating the CIS Critical Security Controls

Qualys Product Management Director Tim White and SANS Institute Analyst John Pescatore did a deep dive into the Center for Internet Security’s Critical Security Controls during a recent webcast, and answered questions from audience members about these 20 foundational security practices, and about...

How to create an intentional culture of security

In this day and age, companies great and small are vulnerable to potential attacks that they are exposed to every day. From insider threats to simple phishing, one is always left guessing if they know enough to handle them or are well prepared to face the risks. Educating your staff about basic...

The Critical Security Controls: Basic Cybersecurity Hygiene for your Organization

It’s a well-known fact that most successful cyber attacks are easily preventable. That’s because the majority are neither highly sophisticated nor carefully customized. Instead, they are of the “spray and pray” sort. They try to exploit known vulnerabilities for which patches are available, or to...

Achieve Continuous Security and Compliance with the CIS Critical Security Controls

For InfoSec pros, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the constant noise from cybersecurity industry players — vendors, research firms, consultants, industry groups, government regulators and media outlets. A good antidote for this hyperactive chatter is to refocus on foundational InfoSec practices...

Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene

In the first six months of 2017, ransomware threats reached new levels of sophistication. The same period also saw the reversal of a six-month downward trend in ransomware encounters. New ransomware code was released at a higher rate with increasing complexity. Two high-profile ransomware inciden...

How Do SMEs Fight Off Cyberattacks?

I'd like to address some of the concerns that small and medium sized enterprises SMEs may have around cybersecurity, especially in the wake of the WannaCry ransomware attack and a continuous news flow around successful attacks on high profile companies. Does the fact that well-known brands are...

A week in security (July 03 – July 09)

Last week, we released our second quarter Cybercrime Tactics & Techniques report, where we revealed that ransomware outbreaks were dominant during this quarter. You can read the full report on the post below: Report: Second quarter dominated by ransomware outbreaks Our researchers continue to sha...

Windows 10 platform resilience against the Petya ransomware attack

Note: Read our latest comprehensive report on ransomware: Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene. The Petya ransomware attack on June 27, 2017 which we analyzed in-depth in this blog may have been perceived as an outbreak worse than last month's...

xDedic Market Spilling Over With School Servers, PCs

Nearly two-thirds of servers and PCs peddled on the xDedic underground marketplace belong to schools and universities, and most are based in the United States. In a recent analysis of xDedic, Flashpoint found that besides the education sector, PC and servers tied to healthcare and legal firms mak...

Ransomware: A declining nuisance or an evolving menace?

Note: Read our latest comprehensive report on ransomware: Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene. The volume of ransomware encounters is on a downward trend. Are we seeing the beginning of the end of this vicious threat? Unfortunately, a look at the...

Averting ransomware epidemics in corporate networks with Windows Defender ATP

Note: Read our latest comprehensive report on ransomware: Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene. Microsoft security researchers continue to observe ransomware campaigns blanketing the market and indiscriminately hitting potential targets...

Bill Calls for Study of Cybersecurity Standards for Cars

A House bill was introduced Tuesday that could accelerate the federal government’s involvement in regulating automobile cybersecurity. The Security and Privacy in Your Car Study Act of 2017, authored by Reps. Ted Lieu D-Calif. and Joe Wilson R-SC, calls on the National Highway Traffic Safety...

Been shopping lately? Fake credit card email can spook you into downloading Cerber ransomware

Note: Read our latest comprehensive report on ransomware: Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene. As the shopping sprees become increasingly frenetic during holiday season, it’s hard not to worry about how much credit card debt we’re piling. Some of us...

Don’t let this Black Friday/Cyber Monday spam deliver Locky ransomware to you

Note: Read our latest comprehensive report on ransomware: Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene. We see it every year: social engineering attacks that take advantage of the online shopping activities around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, targeting...

FBI Encouraging Ransomware Victims To Report Infections

The Federal Bureau of Investigation this week urged victims of ransomware to report infections to federal law enforcement in hopes of better understanding the threat. The agency, in tandem with the Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3, issued a public service announcement on Thursday asking...

FTC Panel Encourages Basic Security Hygiene to Counter Ransomware

When asked to describe what it’s like to deal with the constantly looming threat of ransomware, Chad Wilson, the Director of Information Security at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington D.C., didn’t beat around the bush. “I’ll sum it up in one word: It’s scary,” Wilson said at a Feder...

Baby Hazel School Hygiene - Dangerous filesystem permissions, Insecure KeyStore vulnerabilities

HackApp vulnerability scanner discovered that application Baby Hazel School Hygiene published at the 'play' market has multiple vulnerabilities...

2014 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report DBIR

Most of us—hopefully—awaken every day, shower and brush our teeth. If you own a home, you patch a leaky roof and paint the shutters so they don’t rot. You own a vehicle, you change the oil when you’re supposed to and make sure the brakes work the way they’re supposed to. It’s simple hygiene. Yet ...

Poor Patching, Passwords Plague Government Computers

A damning report on the security of government computers paints an unflattering picture of lax or non-existent patching efforts, poor password policies, configuration errors and a general lack of confidence that exposes critical services and systems to attack. The report, “The Federal Government’...

Lessons Learned From the Gawker Hack

Everyone sounded the alarms at the Gawker Media attack, which included a security breach of websites such as Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Kotaku, io9, and others. The numbers were impressive: 1.3 million user accounts exposed, 405 megabytes of source code lost, and perhaps more important to some, the...