Transitioning to a Risk-based Approach to Cybersecurity

For todays CISOs, managing cyber risk is Job 1, and its a full-time concern. This was communicated loud and clear when Qualys recently hosted several CISOs and cybersecurity executives from our global enterprise customer base at our Strategic Advisory Board meeting in London. Their teams are...

Qualys FIM: Be Compliance Ready with Intuitive, Ready-to-Use File Monitoring Profiles

Requirements for file-level security are often set by laws, regulations, and audit standards. These include identification of what must be protected, the various controls required to implement security, and outcomes required to successfully pass audits for compliance. This blog describes these an...

Put SecOps in the Driver’s Seat with Custom Assessment and Remediation

When zero-day threats emerge, time is of the essence. Security teams struggle to manage and respond to a range of challenges that often require custom approaches outside of existing vulnerability and security programs. Recently, many companies scrambled to mount their defenses against the Log4She...

Upgrade Your FIM Program to Detect Risk and Streamline Compliance

File integrity monitoring FIM tools are essential for defending business and customer data, but legacy tools are falling short by swamping security analysts with irrelevant alerts. This blog describes how Qualys FIM easily solves such issues by accurately isolating file-level breaches and sending...

May 2022 Patch Tuesday | Microsoft Releases 75 Vulnerabilities with 8 Critical; Adobe Releases 5 Advisories, 18 Vulnerabilities with 16 Critical.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday Summary Microsoft has fixed 75 vulnerabilities in the May 2022 update, including one advisory ADV2200011 for Azure in response to CVE-2022-29972, a publicly exposed Zero-Day Remote Code Execution RCE Vulnerability, and eight 8 vulnerabilities classified as Critical as they...

Ursnif Malware Banks on News Events for Phishing Attacks

Ursnif aka Gozi, Dreambot, ISFB is one of the most widespread banking trojans. It has been observed evolving over the past few years. Ursnif has shown incredible theft capabilities. In 2020 Ursnif rose to prominence becoming one of the top ten most prolific pieces of malware. Among its core...

CISA Alert: Top 15 Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities

The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency has published its report on the top exploited vulnerabilities of 2021. This blog summarizes the report’s findings and how you can use Qualys VMDR to automatically detect and remediate these risks in your enterprise environment. The...

Ransomware Insights from the FBI’s 2021 Internet Crime Report

The FBI has published its annual report on Internet crime. Qualys has analyzed its trends and statistics. In this post, we review our findings, especially with regards to the prevalence of Ransomware, and our recommendations for actions that enterprises should take to mitigate their risk. Every...

Assessing Certificate Risk with Qualys VMDR

Digital certificates and SSL are everywhere. However, managing an accurate inventory of all current certificates in use across your enterprise is an ongoing challenge. This blog examines the scale of the problem, the shortcomings of some popular certificate tracking methods, and how Qualys VMDR’s...

Implications of Windows Subsystem for Linux for Adversaries & Defenders (Part 2)

This post is the second of a multi-part blog series that explores and highlights the different risks that Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL poses to an enterprise IT environment. Here we examine different TTPs that abuse WSL and assess different methods to defend against such threats. ← Go to Part ...

April 2022 Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Releases 145 Vulnerabilities with 10 Critical; Adobe Releases 4 Advisories, 78 Vulnerabilities with 51 Critical.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday Summary Microsoft has fixed 145 vulnerabilities, including 17 Microsoft Edge vulnerabilities, in the April 2022 update, with ten 10 classified as Critical as they allow Remote Code Execution RCE. This month’s Patch Tuesday release includes fixes for two 2 zero-day...

EDR Is Dead. Long Live Multi-Vector EDR.

News of EDR’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. Fact is: older approaches to EDR have to move over. There’s a new solution now: Multi-Vector EDR. This blog reviews the highlights of our latest release of this critically important app on the Qualys Cloud Platform. Although it now seems like a...

Qualys Multi-Vector EDR Excels in 2022 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation

MITRE evaluated Qualys Multi-Vector EDR against competing alternatives, and the results are in. This blog reviews the basics of MITRE ATT&CK evaluation, how our EDR solution performed, and how to interpret the ratings. MITRE Engenuity has released the results of round 4 of its ATT&CK Evaluations...

Spring Framework Zero-Day Remote Code Execution (Spring4Shell) Vulnerability

This page last updated: April 7th A new zero-day Remote Code Execution RCE vulnerability, “Spring4Shell” or “SpringShell” was disclosed in the Spring framework. An unauthorized attacker can exploit this vulnerability to remotely execute arbitrary code on the target device. What is Spring Framewor...

Implications of Windows Subsystem for Linux for Adversaries & Defenders (Part 1)

This post is the first of a multi-part blog series that will explore and highlight the different risks that Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL poses to an enterprise IT environment. Here we examine a new Microsoft feature for GNU\Linux that increases the attack surface and introduces a lot more...

Infographic: Log4Shell Vulnerability Impact by the Numbers

The full scope of risk presented by the Log4Shell vulnerability is something unprecedented, spanning every type of organization across every industry. Hard to find but easy to exploit, Log4Shell immediately places hundreds of millions of Java-based applications, databases, and devices at risk...

Qualys Study Reveals How Enterprises Responded to Log4Shell

On December 9, 2021, a critical zero-day vulnerability affecting Apache’s Log4j2 library, a Java-based logging utility, was disclosed to the world. This was no small announcement. As the third most used computer language, Java is practically ubiquitous. Its Log4j2 library is extremely popular...

Casdoor SQL Injection (CVE-2022-24124)

On Jan 22, 2022, a high severity SQL Injection vulnerability was reported in Casdoor which affected versions before 1.13.1 release. The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2022-24124 with CVSS V3 7.5 score has a publicly available simple proof of concept which makes it easier for skilled attackers to...

March 2022 Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Releases 92 Vulnerabilities with 3 Critical; Adobe Releases 3 Advisories, 6 Vulnerabilities with 5 Critical.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday Summary Microsoft has fixed 92 vulnerabilities, including 21 Microsoft Edge vulnerabilities, in the March 2022 update, with three 3 classified as Critical as they allow Remote Code Execution RCE. This months Patch Tuesday release includes fixes for three 3 publicly disclos...

AvosLocker Ransomware Behavior Examined on Windows & Linux

AvosLocker is a ransomware group that was identified in 2021, specifically targeting Windows machines. Now a new variant of AvosLocker malware is also targeting Linux environments. In this blog, we examine the behavior of these two AvosLocker Ransomware in detail. AvosLocker is a relatively new...

Ukrainian Targets Hit by HermeticWiper, New Datawiper Malware

The Ukrainian Government has been targeted by HermeticWiper, a new ransomware-like data wiper. Its aim is not simply to encrypt the victim’s data, but rather to render a system essentially unusable. In this blog, our Research Team details our analysis of how this aggressive new malware works. The...

Russia-Ukraine Crisis: How to Strengthen Your Security Posture to Protect against Cyber Attack, based on CISA Guidelines

CISA has created Shields Up as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Qualys is responding with additional security, monitoring and governance measures. This blog details how and what our enterprise customers can do to immediately strengthen their security posture and meet CISA’s...

Meet FedRAMP Compliance with Qualys Cloud Platform

FedRAMP compliance is not without its challenges. Learn about some of the major security controls and how the Qualys Cloud Platform can help achieve FedRAMP authorization. What is FedRAMP? The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program FedRAMP is a U.S. government program that promotes the...

Enhanced Native DNS based Scanning with Qualys VMDR

Network based scanning of modern infrastructure is getting very complex, especially when the assets are behind CDNs, load balancers, firewalls, and more recently, ephemeral assets that spin up/down as required. This blog describes recent enhancements to Qualys Cloud Platform that allow native...

Managing CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities with Qualys VMDR

CISA released a directive in November 2021, recommending urgent and prioritized remediation of actively exploited vulnerabilities. Both government agencies and corporations should heed this advice. This blog outlines how Qualys Vulnerability Management, Detection & Response can be used by any...

Oh Snap! More Lemmings: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Discovered in snap-confine (CVE-2021-44731)

The Qualys Research Team has discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the snap-confine function on Linux operating systems, the most important of which can be exploited to escalate privilege to gain root privileges. Qualys recommends security teams apply patches for these vulnerabilities as soon as...

The Unbearable Lightness of Unaudited Supply Chains

An acute need expressed by a majority of CISOs at a roundtable in Italy sparks an idea to use one of our lesser-known compliance apps to manage supply chain security assurance efforts. In the 1984 novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, author Milan Kundera ponders the fleeting nature of man’s...

Microsoft & Adobe Patch Tuesday (February 2022) – Microsoft 70 Vulnerabilities with 0 Critical; Adobe 17 Vulnerabilities with 5 Critical

Microsoft Patch Tuesday – February 2022 Microsoft addresses 70 vulnerabilities in their February 2022 Patch Tuesday release. While none of the vulnerabilities in this month’s Microsoft release cycle have been assigned as critical risk, several have been given a High risk rating CVSSv3.1 score of...

Introducing Qualys Context XDR: the Difference between Chaos & Clarity

In my role as a product leader, I have the pleasure of meeting security practitioners from organizations big and small, across multiple industry segments and geographies. No matter how large or small their budget or staff is, how much they’ve invested in their tech stack or how much experience th...

LolZarus: Lazarus Group Incorporating Lolbins into Campaigns

Qualys Threat Research has identified a new Lazarus campaign using employment phishing lures targeting the defence sector. The identified variants target job applicants for Lockheed Martin. This blog details the markers of this campaign, including macro content, campaign flow and phishing themes ...

Catching the RAT called Agent Tesla

For the last few years, the Qualys Research Team has been observing an infamous "Malware-as-a-service" RAT Remote Access Trojan called Agent Tesla. It first appeared in 2014, and since then many variants have been deployed. This malware uses multiple techniques for evading detection as well as...

Vulnerability Remediation: It’s Not Just Patching

Vulnerability does not equal a patch, as such remediating a detected vulnerability requires deploying the right patches and, in some cases, making the right configuration changes. Using multiple tools to detect, map and deploy the right remediation actions is time consuming and will result in les...

Simplifying Cloud Asset Identification in a Multi-Cloud Environment

Enterprises struggle to get an accurate asset inventory in multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environments. Qualys enhances the metadata for cloud assets while simplifying the collection process. This blog explains how this functionality expedites the identification process, easily identifies vulnerable...

PwnKit: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Discovered in polkit’s pkexec (CVE-2021-4034)

The Qualys Research Team has discovered a memory corruption vulnerability in polkits pkexec, a SUID-root program that is installed by default on every major Linux distribution. This easily exploited vulnerability allows any unprivileged user to gain full root privileges on a vulnerable host by...

The Chaos Ransomware Can Be Ravaging

The Qualys Research Team has observed a new version of Chaos ransomware in development. This blog reviews the malware’s updated functionality as well as its ongoing evolution. A ransomware builder called Chaos is still actively under development. The fourth version has recently been observed bein...

Automating Agent-less Vulnerability Assessment for Intune Enrolled Mobile Devices

Most Mobile Device Management solutions lack critical functionality such as vulnerability assessment and patch management. Integration with a popular MDM like Microsoft Intune allows Qualys to provide automated onboarding and continuous scanning of your mobile devices, among other functions to...

Microsoft & Adobe Patch Tuesday (January 2022) – Microsoft 126 Vulnerabilities with 9 Critical, Adobe 41 Vulnerabilities, 22 critical

Microsoft Patch Tuesday – January 2022 Microsoft patched 126 vulnerabilities in their January 2022 Patch Tuesday release. Out of these, nine are rated as critical severity. As of this writing, none of the 126 vulnerabilities are known to be actively exploited. Microsoft has fixed problems in thei...

How to Make Log4Shell Remediation Quick & Effective

Confronting the Log4Shell vulnerability in your environment has seemed anything but “easy” due to its prevalence in Java applications. Rapid remediation is critical. In this blog, Qualys offers some advice – and a new utility – to speed up the process. Remediation is a critical step to ensure tha...

Emotet Re-emerges with Help from TrickBot

Emotet has recently reemerged after being taken down less than a year ago by global law enforcement as coordinated by Europol and Eurojust. The takedown was achieved after law enforcement compromised a command-and-control system, and then pushed a specially crafted update to Emotet agents that...

Mitigation of Supply Chain Risks in Microsoft 365

In this blog we review five attack techniques exploited to compromise MS 365 tenants. Qualys SaaS Detection & Response can be used by both IT and security teams to assess these threats, and then to fix common misconfigurations, hardening supply chain defenses. Last October, news of Microsoft 365 ...

Log4Shell – Follow This Multi-Layered Approach for Detection and Remediation

Since the Log4Shell vulnerability was first discovered, Qualys has analyzed and responded to the threat in a systematic way approaching it from all angles – detection, mitigation and remediation. Recognizing the challenge it poses to large enterprises, we recommend that organizations follow a...

How to Discover Log4Shell Vulnerabilities in Running Containers & Images

If you run Java applications in containers, then it is critical that you check for Log4Shell vulnerabilities, given the high severity of this potential exploit. Qualys Container Security offers multiple methods to help you detect Log4Shell in your container environment. The Container Security...

Qualys Integrates with Shodan to Help Map the External Attack Surface

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management CSAM now natively integrates with Shodan to enable cybersecurity teams to identify all assets visible on the internet, including previously unknown and potential security issues… before attackers find them. Your attack surface is dynamic. Assets come and go,...

New Options Profiles for Log4Shell Detection

We have now added two new option profiles to our library for Log4Shell vulnerabilities. Option profiles define the settings you want to use for your scan. These new option profiles are tuned to quickly detect the Log4Shell vulnerability on assets in your environment. The following two...

6 Ways to Quickly Detect a Log4Shell Exploit in Your Environment

In recent days, the cybersecurity industry has been rapidly assessing the full impact of the Log4Shell CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046 vulnerability. Many organizations are quickly trying to figure out whether this vulnerability is within their environment, and where. The next question a securi...

Out-of-Band Detection for Log4Shell

Log4j is the de facto logging library for all Java applications, as Log4j is used in most Java-based applications. The challenge is that Java applications that use the log4j-vulnerable library can be coded, packaged, and deployed using different methods – this introduces a challenge for detection...

Is Your Web Application Exploitable By Log4Shell Vulnerability?

On December 09, 2021, a critical remote code execution vulnerability was identified in Apache Log4j2 after proof-of-concepts were leaked publicly, affecting Apache Log4j 2.x = 2.15.0-rc1. The vulnerability is being tracked as CVE-2021-44228 with CVSSv3 10 score and affects numerous applications...

Log4Shell Exploit Detection and Response with Qualys Multi-Vector EDR

Author: Hiep Dang & Malware Threat Research Team On Dec 9, 2021, the world first learned about the Log4Shell vulnerability aka Log4J CVE-2021-44228 found in the Log4j2 library commonly used by Java applications. Since then, everyone in the cybersecurity industry has been scrambling to understand...

Detect Exploitation Attempts With Qualys XDR (Beta)

The recently announced Log4JShell / CVE-2021-44228 exploit is the latest reminder of why it’s so important to maintain an enterprise-wide view of your security posture. The heart of the exploit centers around misuse of the JNDI lookup function built into log4j. Impact: There are multiple proofs o...

Microsoft & Adobe Patch Tuesday (December 2021) – Microsoft 83 Vulnerabilities with 7 Critical, 1 Actively Exploited. Adobe 60 Vulnerabilities, 28 critical.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday – December 2021 Microsoft patched 83 vulnerabilities in their December 2021 Patch Tuesday release, of which seven 7 are rated as critical severity. This months release includes one 1 Zero Day known to be actively exploited. Products impacted by Microsofts December security...