(ISC)² Blog

Security Headlines: Malware, Malware, Malware

From malware built to disrupt our critical infrastructure to front-line cyber soldiers, here are some of the top security headlines from the week of June 12: The malware cometh. The “nightmare” malware has been attacking power plants in Europe, causing blackouts and Daily Beast reports that U.S. companies have been warned. “I’m a Mac.” “You still might be in trouble.” That’s what security researchers are saying to Bleeping Computer after two new strains of Mac malware have been offered through the Dark Web over the last few weeks. Is the cloud really safer? Help Net Security found that most IT... Read more →

Weekly Security Headlines: Still Crying and Fireball

A holiday week in the U.S. and U.K. means five days worth of headlines in four business days. Here’s what we saw this week… Wanna move on from WannaCry? Not so fast, my friend. BitSight looks at the global impact of the ransomware that spread two weeks ago and found that the ransom collected is only around $100,000. Dark Reading reports on cyber criminals attacking each other on the dark web. Can’t we all just get along? No, apparently not. The price of a breach is high. Bitdefender looks at the Ponemon Institute’s study of the impact on stock prices.... Read more →

Weekly Security Headlines: WannaCry Spillover, Mickey Mouse Hacked, DocuSign Phishing and 560 Million Passwords

Not surprisingly, WannaCry remained top of mind last week. We’re sure you’re doing everything you can to patch your environment and prevent similar ransomware attacks in the future. Here are some WannaCry headlines (and other security news) that caught our eye last week. WannaCry Rolls On According to the Dark Reading article WannaCry's 'Kill Switch' May Have Been a Sandbox-Evasion Tool, researchers early last week were looking into the “kill switch” and consensus seemed to be building that it was a poorly constructed VM analysis/sandbox evasion technique. WIRED went a bit deeper with their assessment The WannaCry Ransomware Hackers Made... Read more →

How to Stop and Remediate WannaCry

The effects of WannaCry, the ransomware dominating international headlines, continue to be felt by organizations and individuals alike. If you or anyone you know has had a device infected, (ISC)2 has advice for stopping and remediating the attack. View the video below to see how you can respond to WannaCry: Read more →

Calling All Cybersecurity Experts!

This year’s (ISC)² Security Congress – with the theme “Leaders of Tomorrow” – will take place September 25-27 in Austin, Texas at the JW Marriott. For the first time, Security Congress will be a stand-alone event, without former partner ASIS International. “We value the partnership we had with ASIS International for the past six years, but it was time for Security Congress to stand on its own to address the programming needs expressed by our members,” says (ISC)² CEO David Shearer. The cybersecurity conference will host more than 90 educational sessions, as well as a town hall meeting, career center... Read more →

(ISC)² Security Congress EMEA Opened a Window to Our Future

A view from the Conference Chair, Dr. Adrian Davis, CISSP, Managing Director (EMEA) (ISC)² From an examination of how augmented humans will live, work and play, to policy commitments from the Irish government, (ISC)²’s Third Annual Congress EMEA delegates gained a comprehensive view of the changing world to be faced by cybersecurity professionals. The international community of 250 members and information security professionals started to gather the evening before the event for our member reception and Town Hall Q&A. These events presented a well appreciated opportunity to hear from four serving members of our Board of Directors from outside the... Read more →

The Accidental Security Threat: Insiders

Insider threats can be malicious; but more commonly, they are accidental. The weakest point in any security program is people. They can have ill intent, they can also be manipulated or exploited, and they can simply make a mistake and email a spreadsheet full of client information to the wrong email address. These types of incidents are real and happen every day. They can lead to disastrous results on par with any major external cyberattack. Traditionally, these threats are overlooked by most businesses as they are more concerned with the unknown malicious actor than the known staff member or business... Read more →

IT Security essentials for small and medium enterprises

It is no secret that the cyber criminals are where the money are. If the targets are easy to breach, it is even better since this improves the ratio effort/outcome for them. Usually, small to medium size companies are preferred targets because they fit in this category: they do have money, more than the private users, and are very easy to infiltrate. The tips below help these companies not only to survive in the cyber world, but also keep the attackers away. Read more →

A Spook in the Wheel

It’s important to keep improving products as they move further and further away from static detection, but if we’re to counter misinformation from other security sectors, we also need to make it clearer to our audiences and customers – not necessarily the same thing - what we really do and what they can realistically expect from us. Read more →

Of Mice and Men

I’ve noticed a number of articles recently based on historical summaries of threats past – for instance, a ‘brief history of Apple hacking’ (see also my commentary for Infosecurity Magazine) and SC Magazine’s Ten Devastating Computer Viruses. In general, I’m more fascinated by the fact that the media and the reading public are so taken with top ten lists – in fact, I’ve considered the phenomenon a couple of times with some seriousness, as in Perfect Ten: Truth and Prognostication – than I am by the prospect of putting my own lists together. Though I have done from time to... Read more →

The evolution of support scamming

Cold-call tech support scams. Didn't they go away when the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on them in the US? Actually, while the FTC crackdown wasn't quite as comprehensive as it might have seemed, there's no doubt that the number of classic "I'm-ringing-from-Microsoft-to-tell-you-that-you-have-viruses-but-I-can-help-you-for-a-small-fee" cold-calls has declined (round here at any rate, but maybe they just figured that ringing someone who wrote as extensively as I do about the scam wasn't much of a sales prospect). Still, it seems that what is happening here is evolution, not extinction. Last month, my colleague Jean-Ian Boutin reported malware that not only combined fake... Read more →

Flight risk

An amateur pilot has reportedly assembled and hacked real aircraft cockpit systems, demonstrating their vulnerabilities. "Security researcher Hugo Teso was able to "hijack" the systems to feed false navigation information to a simulated jet that made it change course." BBC It's not hard to think of scenarios where a well-resourced, competent and overtly malicious yet non-suicidal adversary could wreak havoc by redirecting aircraft, missiles, anti-missile-missiles, drones etc. using similar techniques, or simply interfere with them, hence one would have thought that information security was an obvious safety-critical requirement for their navigation and comms systems ... like for example the 30... Read more →

There’s Testing, Then There’s VirusTotal

From time to time, I find myself having to rail against the misuse of VirusTotal’s service as a sort of surrogate AV product test. Sadly, I feel the need to do it again here, in the light of a current news item. Read more →

Practice Safe Computing

by F. Gary Alu What is the first thing we should check when we turn on our computer? That’s a question I always pose to the kids when I present the (ISC)2 Safe and Secure Online Program. If your answer is Facebook or Email, you have a problem. Of course having a look at your anti-virus application is the place to start. Is it running? Are the databases current? (by current I mean no older than 24 hours). Even the best anti-virus (AV) solution will do one little good if it is not running because the subscription has expired or... Read more →

Android, Malware and Rehabilitation

With news breaking of a further wave of "fake malware-laden apps", let's hope that Google has seen ENISA's analysis of appstore security, and will not assume that Bouncer app review is enough... Read more →

2012: Redefining United States Cyber Security: Taking a Holistic View and Machiavellian Approach, part 1

By: Larry P. Bunch CISSP, CEH http://mysite.verizon.net/vze18ez5m/id3.html Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/bunchlarryp Preface This article was originally intended to be a light reading OP/ED piece. However, it has slowly evolved into a hybrid OP/ED – Whitepaper dealing with Cyber Intelligence and Network Security. The opinions in this article do not represent the United States government or my employer (VortechX LLC.). This article is intended to generate discussion, collaboration, and interaction within the Intelligence and Network Defense communities of both the Public and Private sectors of the United States. The ideas and recommendations presented here reflect only my own opinions and may NOT be... Read more →

Focus on everything

I had the opportunity to visit several companies over the years and in many cases I could verify that their network and security teams suffered of a lack of network visibility, which let them unable to answer some important questions, per example: What's the average traffic in the network? What's the most used applications? Who are the top talkers? There are unknown applications running in the network? Why there are non HTTP traffic on TCP port 80 going out of the network? Many teams don't know the answers from the questions above and certainly, this make them blind to what's... Read more →

The APT Attack Surface

According to the FAS Project on Government Secrecy, using data tabulated in the report, 4,266,091 people held security clearances in the US for access to classified information. Read more →

Doom is Busting Out All Over

The cold war is back (if it ever really went away). Only now, anyone can play. Nations - including the UK, where I have the pleasure of residing - are queueing up to announce that they're developing cyberwarrior capabilities. Read more →

Epsilon Overkill and the Security Ecology

I'm not actually going to write about the Epsilon fiasco as such here. I can think of at least two journalists who will be grateful for that, but I'm not going to let them off quite that easily, even though I can empathise with their ennui. Larry Seltzer notes that he has received far too many pitches using Epsilon as a hook. I can sympathise with that: I'm bored out of my skull with it, and I don't do much more than skim Epsilon-related articles to see if they're worth flagging on a resources blog, with or without commentary. John... Read more →