Should Failing Phish Tests Be a Fireable Offense?

Would your average Internet user be any more vigilant against phishing scams if he or she faced the real possibility of losing their job after falling for one too many of these emails? Recently, I met someone at a conference who said his employer had in fact terminated employees for such repeated...

Understand and improve your security posture with Microsoft 365

I kickstarted 2019 with a “dry,” keto January. And, as so often happens, I found a parallel between my personal life and my chosen industry, cybersecurity. In this case, it was measurement. How do you know if you’re healthy? There are clear indicators when you’re not healthy, such as a sore throa...

Introducing the security configuration framework: A prioritized guide to hardening Windows 10

In the past, we left defining the security configuration for Windows 10 as a task for every customer to sort out. As a result, we saw as many different configurations as we saw customers. Standardization has many advantages, so we developed a security configuration framework to help simplify...

Free Cynet Threat Assessment for Mid-sized and Large Organizations

If you cannot see what’s happening in your network, your ability to make smart security decisions will suffer. Many vendors offer threat assessment options, but they usually require an investment of time and resources. One vendor out there – Cynet – is offering a no-cost threat assessment to...

Free Cynet Threat Assessment for Mid-sized and Large Organizations

If you cannot see what’s happening in your network, your ability to make smart security decisions will suffer. Many vendors offer threat assessment options, but they usually require an investment of time and resources. One vendor out there – Cynet – is offering a no-cost threat assessment to...

Announcing the Microsoft Graph Security Hackathon winners

Bringing together information from multiple disconnected security systems to solve today’s security challenges is complex. We recently asked Microsoft Graph Security Hackathon participants to come up with innovative solutions using the Microsoft Graph Security API, and they did not disappoint. We...

Leveraging AWS Trusted Advisor for Security and Compliance

The benefits of undergoing mandatory or voluntary cybersecurity compliance assessments are well known throughout the cybersecurity industry. These benefits include improving the security posture of the organization, enabling sales to move faster through the sales lifecycle, addressing regulatory...

“Password Spraying”—What to Do and How to Avoid It

Cyber breaches arent the only hot topic in the cyber media--sometimes the attack tactics themselves can claim the limelight when a significant breach gains media attention. One tactic getting some attention in the news is "password spraying." We offer an overview of what it is, how to avoid it, a...

Password Manager Firms Blast Back at ‘Leaky Password’ Revelations

Secure password firms 1Password, Dashlane, KeePass and LastPass are blasting a research report that highlights how a local adversary can crack open and steal passwords stored by the utilities. The uproar began Tuesday when lead researcher, Adrian Bednarek with Independent Security Evaluators ISE,...

Know What’s on Your Network at All Times with Qualys Asset Inventory

Qualys has just launched a global IT asset inventory solution that offers full visibility across even the most hybrid, complex and distributed IT environments, addressing a challenge many security and IT teams face today. When IT directors and CISOs look at their digitally transformed networks,...

3 Reasons Your Business Needs Security at the Edge

As a security professional, no one knows better than you that the attack surface is shifting and continues to expand across an ever-widening area. Our interconnected digital lives are wreaking havoc with the idea of "the perimeter." As digital attacks continue to grow in size and volume, and are...

How to browse the Internet safely at work

This Safer Internet Day, we teamed up with ethical hacking and web application security company Detectify to provide security tips for both workplace Internet users and web developers. This article is aimed at employees of all levels. If you’re a programmer looking to create secure websites, visi...

Scanning for Flaws, Scoring for Security

Is it fair to judge an organization's information security posture simply by looking at its Internet-facing assets for weaknesses commonly sought after and exploited by attackers, such as outdated software or accidentally exposed data and devices? Fair or not, a number of nascent efforts are usin...

SamSam Ransomware

Summary The Department of Homeland Security DHS National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center NCCIC and the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI are issuing this activity alert to inform computer network defenders about SamSam ransomware, also known as MSIL/Samas.A. Specifically, th...

CISO series: Secure your privileged administrative accounts with a phased roadmap

In my role, I often meet with CISOs and security architects who are updating their security strategy to meet the challenges of continuously evolving attacker techniques and cloud platforms. A frequent topic is prioritizing security for their highest value assets, both the assets that have the mos...

Qualys Broadens Security Offerings for Azure

Qualys is expanding its security and compliance capabilities for Microsoft Azure, by adding protection for the on-premises Azure Stack and extending capabilities for public cloud deployments. By using Qualys’ platform to defend hybrid IT environments, organizations get a unified view of their...

Zero Trust Security Architectures - Identity Aware Proxy

By Faraz Siddiqui and Andrew Terranova This is Part 4 of a 5 part blog series. Jump to Part 1: Introduction Jump to Part 2: Network Micro-Segmentation Jump to Part 3: Software Defined Perimeter Jump to Part 5: Akamai's Approach to Zero Trust Introduction In the first part of this blog series, we...

Inside MSRC: Sharing Our Story & Customer Tips

For the last 20 years, the Microsoft Security Response Center has been an integral part of Microsoft’s commitment to customer security. We are often called on to talk about the work we do and how customers can apply the lessons we have learned over that period to better their security posture...

Inside MSRC: Sharing Our Story & Customer Tips

For the last 20 years, the Microsoft Security Response Center has been an integral part of Microsoft’s commitment to customer security. We are often called on to talk about the work we do and how customers can apply the lessons we have learned over that period to better their security posture...

Threat Identity...The First Line of Defense

Last quarter, we discussed zero trust and identity in regard to remote application access. This focus was primarily looking at enterprise users seeking to gain access to applications on a network where there are no boundaries: The internet. In the concept of zero trust, the internet is considered...