(ISC)² Blog

Infosecurity Europe 2023 Preview – Our Pick of the Keynote Sessions

In the first of two previews of Infosecurity Europe 2023, we look at our top picks for unmissable keynote sessions across the three days of the conference, held at ExCel in London from June 20-22. By John E. Dunn As the pivotal cybersecurity conference in the region, every Infosecurity Europe conference is oriented to topical themes. This year is no exception, with the speaker lineup covering everything from the on-going anxiety of cyberwar, how zero trust can be made to work once it leaves the drawing board, and the never-ending puzzle of assessing supply chain risk. The following is our... Read more →

Latest Cyberthreats and Advisories - May 19, 2023

WordPress’s Elementor is vulnerable (again), the U.S. Department of Transportation is breached, 5.8 million medical records are posted online after PharMerica incident. Here are the latest threats and advisories for the week of May 19, 2023. By John Weiler Threat Advisories and Alerts Australian and U.S. Governments Release Advisory on BianLian Ransomware Group The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has released a joint cybersecurity advisory with the U.S. outlining typical threat vectors and signs of ongoing attacks by the BianLian ransomware group. It is a relatively new group that uses trusted Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credentials to gain network access... Read more →

#WorldPasswordDay - (ISC)² Members Weigh In

This year for World Password Day we have covered the history and misconceptions of passwords in Password Myths vs. Reality and dove into the benefits of password managers in Beyond Username and Password: Protecting Your Digital Identity. To wrap up the annual reminder of staying safe and secure online, we asked our group of (ISC)² Blog Volunteers for their insights and advice. What is your best advice as a cybersecurity professional to those outside of the industry when it comes to setting passwords? Continue to educate yourself, regardless of the industry you are in, the safety of data is not... Read more →

RSA Conference Day One: Disruption Key to Keeping Bad Actors At Bay

Day One of the RSA Conference opened with keynotes diagnosing a security identity crisis, while offering AI, platforms, and big dose of disruption as the cure for what ails the cybersecurity world. By Joe Fay The 2023 RSA Conference kicked off in San Francisco this week, with human delegates being confronted with speaker after speaker declaring that AI is taking over much of their jobs. Opening the conference, RSA CEO Rohit Ghai said that over the years, the core purpose of security platforms has evolved, but “in the AI era, it is security first, followed by convenience and compliance.” “AI... Read more →

Cybersecurity Industry News Review - April 25, 2023

Europe’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) agency under DDoS attack. Eavesdropping police in the U.K. spared massive fine. Numbers emerge after NCR ransomware attack. Hackers hit gold in secondhand routers. By Joe Fay “Pro-Russian” Hackers Dive Bomb European Air Traffic Control Agency Europe’s air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol, has been fighting off a cyberattack by pro-Russian hackers since April 19. The attack appears to have been a DDoS targeting the agency’s website. Pro-Russian group Killnet claimed to have launched a “100 hour” marathon against Eurocontrol. The agency declined to detail the nature of the attack but said its safety operations had... Read more →

#IdentityManagementDay - Best Practices to Help Keep Your Organization Secure

By Chinatu Uzuegbu, CISSP, CEO/Managing Cyber Security Consultant at RoseTech CyberCrime Solutions Ltd. We kicked off the Identity and Access Management Processes from the Top-Level Management approach. The Identity and Access Management Security Steering Committee is a group of C-Suites leaders, also referred to as the respective Data and Asset Owners from the various Business Units of my organization. The group met and established the governing policy around the Identity and Access Management Processes. The governance covers the Mandatory Access Control Policy and Trust Policy of the organization which are automatically enforced as the baselines on default. The governance of... Read more →

Cybersecurity Industry News Review – March 21, 2023

KillNet is bad for your health, TikTok facing further bans, ransomware impacts cancer test results, Russia allegedly increasing its cyberwarfare efforts. By Joe Fay Microsoft Demonstrates How KillNet Is Bad for Our Healthcare Sector Microsoft has highlighted a rise in DDoS attacks on healthcare organizations, mapping a three-fold increase in attacks over three months. It said it tracked 10 to 20 attacks per day on healthcare organizations on Azure in November but was seeing 40 to 60 per day in February. The attack mix changed over this time, it added, with over half of attacks now being UDP floods, with... Read more →

Analysis: Lookalike Confusable Domains Fuel Phishing Attacks

By John E. Dunn Phishing attacks depend on creating huge numbers of lookalike ‘confusable’ domains. A new report has highlighted the most prevalent examples and suggested a way to detect phishing domains before they are used in anger. Ever since phishing attacks gathered steam two decades ago, the ability of criminals to create ‘confusable’ or typosquatting domains that look plausibly similar to real ones has been a thorn in everyone’s side. Companies have their brands hijacked, users are tricked into clicking on phishing emails that look genuine, and registrars are roundly criticized for allowing all of this to happen. Large... Read more →

SVB Collapse: A Stark Warning for Technology and Cybersecurity Startups!

By Dave Cartwright, CISSP A week is a long time in most business sectors. In the intertwined world of banking and startups, it feels like an eternity as both sides deal with the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB); the financial crisis impacting a myriad of startups suffering cashflow loss and disruption, with other banks now seemingly in poor shape after experiencing runs. For the technology and cybersecurity startups, not just those in California, that used SVB as their banker or lender (or both), its failure could delay or derail at least part of the next wave... Read more →

Latest Cyberthreats and Advisories - March 17, 2023

Cybercriminals pounce on SVB collapse, privacy concerns around ChatGPT and the FBI warns of a rise in crypto scams. Here are the latest threats and advisories for the week of March 17, 2023. By John Weiler Threat Advisories and Alerts FBI Warning: Cryptocurrency Investment Schemes on the Rise The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning internet users of an increase in cryptocurrency investment scam schemes, which defrauded victims of over $2 billion in 2022. Cybercriminals (usually located overseas) use social media platforms, dating apps, professional networking apps and other online means to connect with targets. The criminals then... Read more →

Cybersecurity Industry News Review – March 14, 2023

The U.K. Online Safety Bill triggers a security rebuke from WhatsApp, the Czech Republic concerned about TikTok, an international law enforcement effort shuts down the NetWire RAT infrastructure, while a study suggests workforce malaise towards reporting security incidents. By Joe Fay WhatsApp Would Leave U.K. Rather Than Break Encryption WhatsApp would pull its end-to-end encrypted messaging service in the U.K., rather than submit to any requirement to weaken its privacy stance to comply with the U.K. government’s Online Safety Bill. WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart said that 98 per cent of its users were outside the U.K., and ALL users wanted... Read more →

Cybersecurity Industry News Review: March 7, 2023

Cybercrime may have less of a gender issue than cybersecurity, LastPass gives attack update, CISA warns on Royal ransomware gang while WHSmith and DISH Network count the cost after both suffer cyber attacks. Study: Gender No Barrier To Participating In “Meritocratic” Cybercriminal Community If the cybersecurity industry is struggling to achieve gender parity, it could learn some lessons from its criminal flipside. A study from Trend Micro suggests that the cyber underground “provides an open environment for individuals of any gender to find employment or a side business”. Its analysis suggested gender was not a barrier to finding work as... Read more →

What’s Driving the Demand for GRC Professionals in Critical Infrastructure?

As geopolitical tensions continue, cyberwarfare has taken its toll on the world. Last July, the FBI, CISA and the Department of the Treasury issued a joint advisory about North Korean hackers targeting U.S. healthcare systems. Another warning was issued about Russian state-sponsored CNI attacks aimed against Ukraine or organizations providing materiel support. Alarmingly, the last few years have seen cyberattacks on oil and gas (Colonial Pipeline), nuclear operations (Iranian nuclear facility, Kansas nuclear plant, Stuxnet) and water utilities (Oldsmar, Israeli facilities) among others. In response, more CNI-geared legislation is on the way. The most game-changing move on this front last... Read more →

Latest Cyberthreats and Advisories - February 24, 2023

An FBI cyber incident, GoDaddy’s third breach in three years and an NHS data leak highlight a week of major cybersecurity events. Here are the latest threats and advisories for the week of February 24, 2023. Threat Advisories and Alerts NCSC Provides Recommendations on Supply Chain Security As the recent ransomware attack on ION Trading revealed, supply chain attacks can be devastating to a business and have knock-on effects for suppliers and customers alike. The U.K. National Cyber Security Centre recently published guidance on the topic to help companies address supply chain cyberthreats. The article provides detailed security recommendations, including... Read more →

The Significance of Key Risk Indicators in Organisations

By Vivek Soni, CCSP Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) are critical predictors/indicators of undesirable events that can adversely impact the organisation. These are the kind of metrics which are forward looking and contribute to the early warning sign that facilitates enterprise to report risks, prevent calamity and remediate them promptly. Risks to an organisation may vary based on their business environment and the respective business unit. For example, an IT service management team might worry about changes going into production without approvals, an Information Security Team might focus on preventing data compromise, a bank might be concerned with fraudulent bank accounts... Read more →

Cybersecurity Industry News Review: February 15, 2023

By Joe Fay NHS still recovering from ransomware incidents. Network firm employee confesses to data extortion, as U.S. cyber ambassador admits their Twitter account was hacked as the President turns to industry leaders to advise him. NHS Still Reconnecting After 2022 Lockbit Attack on Supplier Just how disruptive ransomware can be was illustrated this past week, six months after an attack on UK health software supplier Advanced. The attack on Advanced first emerged in August 2022, causing disruption across a range of NHS services. Health and secondary care minister Will Quince said that while most affected NHS organizations were up... Read more →

Latest Cyberthreats and Advisories - February 10, 2023

Cyberattacks wreak havoc on the U.K., LockBit brings big business to its knees and a massive VMware ransomware campaign. Here are the latest threats and advisories for the week of February 10, 2023. Threat Advisories and Alerts Massive Ransomware Campaign Targets VMware ESXi Servers The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued a script for retrieving VMware ESXi servers encrypted by the massive ESXiArgs ransomware campaign. The attack began last week when cybercriminals launched their attack. At the time of writing, 2,800 servers are know to have been encrypted. As for the script, the U.S. cybersecurity organization has... Read more →

Analysis: Could NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 be the beginning of international best practice?

By John E. Dunn It’s been nearly seven years since the 1.1 revision of NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework. What might be coming in version 2.0? Since its release in 2014, NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) has grown into the one of the world’s most influential cybersecurity references for best practice and planning. In January, the world finally caught sight of the draft CSF Concept Paper that will form the basis of the next version 2.0 overhaul due for release around mid-2023. From this draft, it is clear that the CSF is developing fast, taking on new and much wider ambitions since the... Read more →

Cybersecurity Industry News Review: February 7, 2023

By Joe Fay Derivatives traders, trainer trainers, and finger lickers all hit by ransomware. Russian hackers lash out after Ukraine tanks deal announced. Apple patches decade old devices. ION Markets Hit by “Cyber Security Event” Dublin-based data and software firm ION Markets has been hit by a “cyber event” which has had a knock-on effect on financial futures and derivatives markets worldwide. The attack is thought to have been ransomware related. ION Markets said the attack on its ION Cleared Derivatives division was “contained to a specific environment”, all the affected servers are disconnected, and remediation of services is ongoing.... Read more →

Latest Cyberthreats and Advisories - February 3, 2023

Cybercriminals for hire, Hive ransomware is busted and the JD Sports breach impacts millions of sportswear buyers. Here are the latest threats and advisories for the week of February 3, 2023. Threat Advisories and Alerts U.S. Security Agencies Warn of Malicious Use of RMM Software A joint cybersecurity advisory issued by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) warns that legitimate remote monitoring and management (RMM) software is being used for malicious purposes. After cybercriminals gain access to target networks, they use the software as a “backdoor... Read more →