Wi-Fi risks: Delivering a secure hotspot
The fact that Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity hints at how long Wi-Fi has been around, but it was only in 1999 that the Wi-Fi Alliance formed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark, under which most products are sold. Today, Wi-Fi is on the top of the list of must-haves for businesses…
Using Cognitive Security to Fight the Cybersecurity Borg
Organizations today find themselves in a situation not unlike that of the Enterprise crew in “Star Trek.” They are facing a formidable, technologically advanced enemy capable of taking over key components of the organization. In one episode of “Star Trek,” in fact, the Borg collective takes control of Captain Jean-Luc Picard himself, to the horror…
Ransomware took in $1 billion in 2016–improved defenses may not be enough to stem the tide
Increased user awareness of phishing threats, better antivirus technology, more industry-wide information sharing and cross-border efforts by law enforcement authorities will combine to turn the tide against ransomware this year, according to some security experts, but others expect the attacks to continue to increase. According to a security expert who requested anonymity, ransomware cyber-criminals took…
Tor Browser Patches Start Being Uplifted into Firefox
The Tor (The Onion Router) team and Mozilla are working together to implement Tor browser patches directly into Firefox and tighten their collaboration. The Tor browser is built almost entirely on Firefox, with 95% of its code coming from Mozilla’s browser. However, it still needs a series of changes, which the team refers to as…
Subtlety Is the Danger for Cybercrime Security Efforts
Celebrities who appear to be suddenly successful have long been called “overnight sensations.” In reality, most of these instant stars worked for years to perfect their skills before they got their big break. Cyberattacks often follow the same trajectory. They are not always immediately disruptive because they are executed stealthily over long periods of time….
Exposed MongoDB installs being erased, held for ransom
Security researcher Victor Gevers, co-founder of the GDI Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to making the internet safer, is urging administrators to check their MongoDB installations, after finding nearly two hundred of them wiped and being held for ransom. Currently, as of Monday morning, Gevers says he’s discovered 196 instances of a MongoDB installation exposed to…
Cyberrisk Through A Business Lens
As with any other aspect of operating a business, effectively managing cyberrisk is predicated on making well-informed decisions and then executing reliably within the context of those decisions. With that in mind, boards and senior executives must ensure that their organizations accomplish both. For the reasons described below, today many organizations are unable to do…
More attacks, new technologies: Cybersecurity predictions for the year ahead
Every day, the cybersecurity landscape changes. Each new device connected to the network presents a new target for attackers that needs to be secured, and each new social media post creates new risks for phishing attacks or social engineering. As a result, the industry is evolving to meet these changes. Over the past few years,…
Mirror, Mirror: Using Self-Protection to Boost App Security
Last week while reading to my toddler, I came across the story of “Snow White,” in which the evil queen consults a magic mirror to find her greatest threat, the fairest person in the land. While my kid fell asleep — probably due to my effective storytelling technique — I kept thinking about why the…
Data breaches through wearables put target squarely on IoT in 2017
Forrester predicts that more than 500,000 internet of things (IoT) devices will suffer a compromise in 2017, dwarfing Heartbleed. Drop the mic — enough said. With the sheer velocity of how the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks spread through common household items such as DVR players, makes this sector scary from a security standpoint.