Tag: Blog RSS Feed

Cybersecurity for Electricity Distribution [2025 Update]

Electricity transmission and distribution are popular topics at the moment, especially as they pertain to utilities infrastructure security. These essential pillars of modern society are undergoing rapid digital transformation, with increased connectivity and technological sophistication harboring large-scale cybersecurity challenges. Electrical…

Monitoring Applications vs. Operating Systems: Why It Matters

In today’s dynamic IT environments, securing and maintaining the integrity of your systems is critical. Fortra’s Tripwire Enterprise is a robust tool designed to help organizations ensure compliance and security by continuously monitoring the configuration and behavior of their IT…

Advanced Ransomware Evasion Techniques in 2025

Ransomware has become more than a threat—it’s a calculated assault on industries, wielding AI-driven precision to bypass traditional defenses. Attackers adapt faster than ever, turning cybersecurity into a high-stakes race where falling behind isn’t an option. As we step into…

IIoT Security Threats Reshape Factory Protection Strategies

Modern factories are increasingly relying on Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions. This shift is beneficial in many regards, including higher efficiency and transparency, but it also introduces unique cybersecurity concerns. Better vulnerability management for IIoT systems is essential if…

Holding the Tide Against the Next Wave of Phishing Scams

By now, we should all be pretty well acquainted with phishing scams. They’ve been around for a very long time—nearly 30 years, in fact—and are the primary focus of most security awareness training programs and initiatives. Despite this, phishing remains…

VERT Threat Alert: February 2025 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s February 2025 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1143 as soon as coverage is completed. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2025-21391 A vulnerability in Windows Storage could…

Building a Vulnerability Management Program from Scratch

Building a vulnerability management (VM) program from the ground up is no small feat. It requires technical expertise, organizational buy-in, and a clear roadmap. In recent months, I’ve been working with a client who had to discard their legacy approach…

Key Takeaways from the NCSC Annual Review 2024

In early December 2024, the UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) released its eighth Annual Review. While the report’s primary focus is to recap the NCSC’s activities over the past year, it also offers invaluable insights into how the UK…

“Quishing” – The Emerging Threat of Fake QR Codes

QR codes have revolutionized digital interactions, offering quick access to websites and services and adding a layer of security to many apps. These quick and seemingly innocent codes are everywhere — however, their widespread use has made them a prime…

Research Reveals Data Breaches On The Rise at UK Law Firms

British legal professionals have seen a “significant surge” in data breaches, according to new research from NetDocuments, a firm that provides a cloud-based content management platform for the legal sector. The firm has described how it analysed data from the…

How CISOs Can Build a Cybersecurity-First Culture

Creating an enterprise security-first culture is one of the most impactful things a CISO can do to protect their organization. Sure, high-tech solutions and fancy tools are important, but they are largely ineffective when staff are unable or unwilling to…

CIS Control 03: Data Protection

Key Takeaways for Control 3 At the heart of a strong data management plan is awareness surrounding the ‘ Five Ws’ of the enterprise’s data: What data does the enterprise store or handle? Who should have access to it? Where…

Zero Trust Principles for Critical Infrastructure Security

The cyber threat to critical infrastructure has never been greater. The growing sophistication of cybercriminals, deteriorating geopolitical relations, and the convergence of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) have created unprecedented risks for critical infrastructure organizations. Fortunately, resources are…

What Is a Security Operations Center (SOC)?

Data breaches continue to cost organizations millions of dollars each year, with costs rising steadily. According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach has surged to $4.88 million globally, reflecting the…

Tripwire Patch Priority Index for January 2025

Tripwire’s January 2025 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft. First on the list are patches for the Microsoft office platform, including Word, Access, Visio, Excel, OneNote, and Outlook. These patches resolve 13 issues such as remote…

Tackling the New CIS Controls

In the early part of 2024, the Center for Internet Security (CIS) released the latest version of the well-respected Critical Security Controls (CSC). The new version, 8.1, adds contours to the prior versions, making it more comprehensive and timely in…

Identifying and Responding to Investment Scams

Investment scams are a growing problem. Modern cybercriminals are increasingly using this technique to swindle money out of unsuspecting victims. It’s easy to understand why: investment scams are remarkably effective. Research from Barclays even found that they accounted for a…

Best Practices for Securing Your SaaS Environment

Can you imagine a modern working world without Software-as-a-Service ( SaaS) applications? Productivity, communication, and project management solutions have transformed the modern workplace, enabling hybrid and remote working, helping to cut costs, and offering unprecedented opportunities for collaboration and innovation.…

New Law Could Mean Prison for Reporting Data Leaks

The Turkish government is proposing a controversial new cybersecurity law that could make it a criminal act to report on data breaches. The new legislation proposes penalties for various cybersecurity-related offences. But they key one which has people concerned is…

CIS Control 05: Account Management

Knowing who has credentials, how those credentials are granted, and how they are being used is the foundation of any secure environment. It begins with user accounts and the credentials they use. Maintaining a thorough inventory of all accounts and…

Helping the Energy Sector Navigate NERC Complexities

The energy sector is the cornerstone of modern infrastructure, powering essential services and supporting the daily operations of economies worldwide. However, it also faces unique cybersecurity challenges, particularly in complying with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s Critical Infrastructure Protection…

Medusa Ransomware: What You Need To Know

What is the Medusa ransomware? Medusa is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) platform that first came to prominence in 2023. The ransomware impacts organisations running Windows, predominantly exploiting vulnerable and unpatched systems and hijacking accounts through initial access brokers. Initial access brokers?…

CIS Control 06: Access Control Management

CIS Control 6 merges some aspects of CIS Control 4 (admin privileges) and CIS Control 14 (access on a need-to-know basis) into a single access control management group. Access control management is a critical component in maintaining information and system…

Think You Know Tripwire? Think Again

Fortra’s Tripwire has always been widely known as a File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) solution, and a very good one at that. The good news is that it still is – only when you look closely, it’s a lot more. And…

VERT Threat Alert: January 2025 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s January 2025 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1139 as soon as coverage is completed. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2025-21333 The first of three Hyper-V vulnerabilities…

What Is Vulnerability Management?

Enterprise networks frequently experience changes in endpoint devices, software, and files, which can introduce risk to the organization. To mitigate this, companies can implement foundational security controls like file integrity monitoring (FIM), which tracks changes to essential files and helps…

Tripwire Patch Priority Index for December 2024

Tripwire’s December 2024 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft and Adobe. First on the list is a notice about Windows Common Log File System Driver (CLFS). CVE-2024-49138 impacts Windows CLFS, which Microsoft released a patch for…

Space Bears Ransomware: What You Need To Know

What is Space Bears? Space Bear is a relatively new ransomware group that first appeared on the radar in April 2024. The gang, which is aligned to the Phobos ransomware-as-a-service group, steals sensitive data from organisations, encrypts victims’ computer systems,…

CIS Control 07: Continuous Vulnerability Management

When it comes to cybersecurity, vulnerability management is one of the older technologies that still play a critical role in securing our assets. It is often overlooked, disregarded, or considered only for checkbox compliance needs, but a proper vulnerability management…

The 7 Stages NERC CIP Audit Preparation

Maintaining compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards is a complex process that can put significant strain on security and compliance teams. Easing this strain and ensuring compliance relies on effective preparation. As…

Why Configurations Are the Wrong Thing to Get Wrong

So many times, we look beyond the mark. With our feeds constantly inundated with headline-grabbing news about AI-generated threats, nation states upping their cybercrime game, and sophisticated new forms of malware, we can be tempted to think that the bulk…

Understanding AI in Network Security

Cyber threats are more sophisticated, pervasive, and frequent than ever before. As a result, traditional methods for network security are becoming obsolete. These solutions simply cannot handle the extraordinary scale and complexity of network traffic inherent in modern IT environments.…

4 Security Controls Keeping Up with the Evolution of IT Environments

The rapid adoption of cloud technology in the past few years has transformed IT environments, enabling unprecedented opportunities for flexibility, scalability, and collaboration. However, this transformation has introduced a potentially dangerous level of complexity into these environments – recent research…

Silent Heists: The Danger of Insider Threats

When thinking about cybersecurity, we envision malicious actors working in dark basements, honing their tools to invent cunning new ways to breach our defenses. While this is a clear and present danger, it’s also important to understand that another hazard…

CIS Control 08: Audit Log Management

Audit logs provide a rich source of data critical to preventing, detecting, understanding, and minimizing the impact of network or data compromise in a timely manner. Collection logs and regular reviews are useful for identifying baselines, establishing operational trends, and…

London’s CNI is Under Threat

London is one of the smartest and most interconnected cities in the world. Digital infrastructure plays a role in almost every facet of society, streamlining public transport, improving healthcare provision, boosting sustainability, and more. However, this reliance on technology has…

The Top 10 State of Security Blog Posts From 2024

As we approach the end of another exciting year in the world of cybersecurity, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the stories, insights, and guidance that resonated most with our readers. 2024 brought new challenges and opportunities with the…

CIS Control 09: Email and Web Browser Protections

Web browsers and email clients are used to interact with external and internal assets. Both applications can be used as a point of entry within an organization. Users of these applications can be manipulated using social engineering attacks. A successful…

VERT Threat Alert: December 2024 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s December 2024 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1136 as soon as coverage is completed. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2024-49138 The only vulnerability that has been…

3AM Ransomware: What You Need To Know

What is 3AM? 3AM (also known as ThreeAM) is a ransomware group that first emerged in late 2023. Like other ransomware threats, 3AM exfiltrates victims’ data (threatening to release it publicly unless a ransom is paid) and encrypts the copies…

Maximizing Security Data in Splunk with Tripwire’s New App

In today’s data-driven world, collecting information is just the beginning. The real value lies in transforming raw data into actionable insights that drive decisions. For enterprise security, this means making data not only accessible but also organized, relevant, and easy…

Money-Laundering Network Linked To Drugs and Ransomware Disrupted

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has revealed details of Operation Destabilise, a years-long international law enforcement investigation into a giant Russian money laundering enterprise that handled billions of dollars for drug traffickers and ransomware gangs worldwide. The multi-billion dollar…

CIS Control 10: Malware Defenses

With the continuing rise of ransomware, malware defenses are more critical than ever before with regard to securing the enterprise. Anti-Malware technologies have become an afterthought in many organizations, a technology that they’ve always had, always used, and never really…

Tripwire Patch Priority Index for November 2024

Tripwire’s November 2024 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft and Google Chromium. First on the list are patches for Microsoft Edge, Excel, and Word that resolve remote code execution and security feature bypass vulnerabilities. Next are…

Tech Support Scams Exploit Google Ads to Target Users

It’s not a new technique, but that doesn’t mean that cybercriminals cannot make rich rewards from SEO poisoning. SEO poisoning is the dark art of manipulating search engines to ensure that malware-laced adverts and dangerous websites appear high on users’…

ShrinkLocker Ransomware: What You Need To Know

What is ShrinkLocker? ShrinkLocker is a family of ransomware that encrypts an organisation’s data and demands a ransom payment in order to restore access to their files. It was first identified by security researchers in May 2024, after attacks were…

Exploring the Security Risks of VR and AR

In an era where innovative technologies are emerging left, right, and center, two of the most influential in recent years are experiencing exponential growth. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are immersive technologies that have now firmly integrated into…

CIS Control 13: Network Monitoring and Defense

Networks form a critical core for our modern-day society and businesses. People, processes, and technologies should be in place for monitoring, detecting, logging, and preventing malicious activities that occur when an enterprise experiences an attack within or against their networks.…

VERT Threat Alert: November 2024 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s November 2024 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1132 as soon as coverage is completed. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs CVE-2024-43451 A vulnerability that allows for NTLMv2…

Winter Fuel Payment Scam Targets UK Citizens Via SMS

Scammers have leapt at the opportunity to exploit vulnerable UK residents by sending bogus messages telling them they need to take action to receive help with their winter heating bills. In July, the UK’s new Labour Government announced that it…

CIS Control 14: Security Awareness and Skill Training

Users who do not have the appropriate security awareness training are considered a weak link in the security of an enterprise. These untrained users are easier to exploit than finding a flaw or vulnerability in the equipment that an enterprise…

How to Integrate FIM with SOAR Platforms

File Integrity Monitoring ( FIM) is a key intelligence and audit tool in an advanced security portfolio. While it is a logical component to integrate into your Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response ( SOAR) tooling, it’s important to consider your…

Real Estate Fraud is Running Rampant in the US

Real Estate Fraud is Running Rampant in the US Real estate is an area ripe for fraud and scams: transactions usually involve large sums of money, convoluted paperwork, and messaging back and forth. Criminals can use a wide variety of…

Tripwire Patch Priority Index for October 2024

Tripwire’s October 2024 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft. First on the list are patches for Microsoft Edge, Office, Excel, and Visio that resolve remote code execution, elevation of privilege, and spoofing vulnerabilities. Next are patches…

What Is the ISA/IEC 62443 Framework?

Cybersecurity threats to manufacturing and process plants come from a wide range of attack vectors, including supply chain, logistics, enterprise computing, remote connections, operator stations, programmable logic controllers, distributed control systems (DCSs), smart sensors, and new smart devices. Internet of…

CIS Control 15: Service Provider Management

Enterprises today rely on partners and vendors to help manage their data. Some companies depend on third-party infrastructure for day-to-day operations, so understanding the regulations and protection standards that a service provider is promising to uphold is very important. Key…

Why Security Configuration Management (SCM) Matters

Security configuration management (SCM) is all about making sure your security systems do what you think they’re doing. In tennis, there is something called an unforced error. This is when a player loses points for a mistake they made themselves,…

5 Things to Learn About COBIT

You can’t do large-scale business in 2024 without having a successful, well-run IT infrastructure. Arguably, it’s difficult to do any sort of business well (large or small) without tuning your IT capabilities to your business objectives. This allows them to…