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☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

Popular JWT cloud security library patches “remote” code execution hole

By Paul Ducklin — January 10th 2023 at 19:59
It's remotely triggerable, but attackers would already have pretty deep network access if they could "prime" your server for compromise.

☐ ☆ ✇ WeLiveSecurity

StrongPity espionage campaign targeting Android users

By Lukas Stefanko — January 10th 2023 at 10:30

ESET researchers identified an active StrongPity campaign distributing a trojanized version of the Android Telegram app, presented as the Shagle app – a video-chat service that has no app version

The post StrongPity espionage campaign targeting Android users appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

CircleCI – code-building service suffers total credential compromise

By Paul Ducklin — January 9th 2023 at 14:52
They're saying "rotate secrets"... in plain English, they mean "change your credentials". The company has a tool to help you find them all.

☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

S3 Ep116: Last straw for LastPass? Is crypto doomed? [Audio + Text]

By Paul Ducklin — January 5th 2023 at 17:52
Lots of big issues this week: breaches, encryption, supply chains and patching problems. Listen now! (Full transcript inside.)

☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Bluebottle Cybercrime Group Preys on Financial Sector in French-Speaking African Nations

By Ravie Lakshmanan — January 5th 2023 at 12:34
A cybercrime group dubbed Bluebottle has been linked to a set of targeted attacks against the financial sector in Francophone countries located in Africa from at least July 2022 to September 2022. "The group makes extensive use of living-off-the-land, dual use tools, and commodity malware, with no custom malware deployed in this campaign," Symantec, a division of Broadcom Software, said in a
☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

CircleCI Urges Customers to Rotate Secrets Following Security Incident

By Ravie Lakshmanan — January 5th 2023 at 09:12
DevOps platform CircleCI on Wednesday urged its customers to rotate all their secrets following an unspecified security incident. The company said an investigation is currently ongoing, but emphasized that "there are no unauthorized actors active in our systems." Additional details are expected to be shared in the coming days. "Immediately rotate any and all secrets stored in CircleCI,"
☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

Serious Security: How to improve cryptography, resist supply chain attacks, and handle data breaches

By Paul Ducklin — January 4th 2023 at 19:50
Lessons for us all: improve cryptography, fight cybercrime, own your supply chain... and don't steal my data and then pretend you're sorry.

☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

Inside a scammers’ lair: Ukraine busts 40 in fake bank call-centre raid

By Naked Security writer — January 3rd 2023 at 17:03
When someone calls you up to warn you that your bank account is under attack - it's true, because THAT VERY PERSON is the one attacking you!

☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Enforcement vs. Enrollment-based Security: How to Balance Security and Employee Trust

By The Hacker News — January 3rd 2023 at 14:09
Challenges with an enforcement-based approach An enforcement-based approach to security begins with a security policy backed by security controls, often heavy-handed and designed to prevent employees from engaging in risky behavior or inadvertently expanding the potential attack surface of an organization.  Most organizations exclusively use enforcement-based security controls, usually carried
☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

PyTorch: Machine Learning toolkit pwned from Christmas to New Year

By Paul Ducklin — January 1st 2023 at 21:36
The bad news: the crooks have your SSH private keys. The good news: only users of the "nightly" build were affected.

☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

PyTorch Machine Learning Framework Compromised with Malicious Dependency

By Ravie Lakshmanan — January 2nd 2023 at 14:27
The maintainers of the PyTorch package have warned users who have installed the nightly builds of the library between December 25, 2022, and December 30, 2022, to uninstall and download the latest versions following a dependency confusion attack. "PyTorch-nightly Linux packages installed via pip during that time installed a dependency, torchtriton, which was compromised on the Python Package
☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

S3 Ep115: True crime stories – A day in the life of a cybercrime fighter [Audio + Text]

By Paul Ducklin — December 29th 2022 at 09:20
Listen now - you'll be alarmed, amused and educated, all in equal measure. (Full transcript in article.)

☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

S3 Ep114: Preventing cyberthreats – stop them before they stop you! [Audio + Text]

By Paul Ducklin — December 22nd 2022 at 19:56
Join world-renowned expert Fraser Howard, Director of Research at SophosLabs, for this fascinating episode on how to fight cybercrime.

☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

GitHub Announces Free Secret Scanning for All Public Repositories

By Ravie Lakshmanan — December 16th 2022 at 12:24
GitHub on Thursday said it is making available its secret scanning service to all public repositories on the code hosting platform for free. "Secret scanning alerts notify you directly about leaked secrets in your code," the company said, adding it's expected to complete the rollout by the end of January 2023.  Secret scanning is designed to examine repositories for access tokens, private keys,
☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

New GoTrim Botnet Attempting to Break into WordPress Sites' Admin Accounts

By Ravie Lakshmanan — December 14th 2022 at 14:12
A new Go-based botnet has been spotted scanning and brute-forcing self-hosted websites using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to seize control of targeted systems. "This new brute forcer is part of a new campaign we have named GoTrim because it was written in Go and uses ':::trim:::' to split data communicated to and from the C2 server," Fortinet FortiGuard Labs researchers Eduardo
☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Google Launches OSV-Scanner Tool to Identify Open Source Vulnerabilities

By Ravie Lakshmanan — December 13th 2022 at 18:22
Google on Tuesday announced the open source availability of OSV-Scanner, a scanner that aims to offer easy access to vulnerability information about various projects. The Go-based tool, powered by the Open Source Vulnerabilities (OSV) database, is designed to connect "a project's list of dependencies with the vulnerabilities that affect them," Google software engineer Rex Pan in a post shared
☐ ☆ ✇ WeLiveSecurity

Unmasking MirrorFace: Operation LiberalFace targeting Japanese political entities

By Dominik Breitenbacher — December 14th 2022 at 10:30

ESET researchers discovered a spearphishing campaign targeting Japanese political entities a few weeks before the House of Councillors elections, and in the process uncovered a previously undescribed MirrorFace credential stealer

The post Unmasking MirrorFace: Operation LiberalFace targeting Japanese political entities appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

S3 Ep112: Data breaches can haunt you more than once! [Audio + Text]

By Paul Ducklin — December 9th 2022 at 16:46
Breaches, exploits, busts, buffer overflows and bug hunting - entertaining and educational in equal measure.

☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

Credit card skimming – the long and winding road of supply chain failure

By Paul Ducklin — December 8th 2022 at 19:58
Don't keep calling home to a JavaScript server that closed its doors eight years ago!

☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Vice Society Ransomware Attackers Targeted Dozens of Schools in 2022

By Ravie Lakshmanan — December 7th 2022 at 14:34
The Vice Society cybercrime group has disproportionately targeted educational institutions, accounting for 33 victims in 2022 and surpassing other ransomware families like LockBit, BlackCat, BianLian, and Hive. Other prominent industry verticals targeted include healthcare, governments, manufacturing, retail, and legal services, according to an analysis of leak site data by Palo Alto Networks
☐ ☆ ✇ WeLiveSecurity

Fantasy – a new Agrius wiper deployed through a supply‑chain attack

By Adam Burgher — December 7th 2022 at 10:30

ESET researchers analyzed a supply-chain attack abusing an Israeli software developer to deploy Fantasy, Agrius’s new wiper, with victims including the diamond industry

The post Fantasy – a new Agrius wiper deployed through a supply‑chain attack appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

SIM swapper sent to prison for 2FA cryptocurrency heist of over $20m

By Naked Security writer — December 6th 2022 at 17:56
Guilty party got 18 months, also has to pay back $20m he probably hasn't got, which could land him in more hot water.

☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Open Source Ransomware Toolkit Cryptonite Turns Into Accidental Wiper Malware

By Ravie Lakshmanan — December 6th 2022 at 06:11
A version of an open source ransomware toolkit called Cryptonite has been observed in the wild with wiper capabilities due to its "weak architecture and programming." Cryptonite, unlike other ransomware strains, is not available for sale on the cybercriminal underground, and was instead offered for free by an actor named CYBERDEVILZ until recently through a GitHub repository. The source code and
☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

What the CISA Reporting Rule Means for Your IT Security Protocol

By The Hacker News — December 2nd 2022 at 10:35
The new Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA) requires CISA to create rules regarding cyber incident reporting by critical infrastructure organizations. The RFI and hearings precede a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that CISA must publish sooner than 24 months from the enactment of CIRCIA, which the President signed into law in March. The sessions and
☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

S3 Ep111: The business risk of a sleazy “nudity unfilter” [Audio + Text]

By Paul Ducklin — December 1st 2022 at 19:58
Latest episode - listen now (or read if you prefer)...

☐ ☆ ✇ WeLiveSecurity

Who’s swimming in South Korean waters? Meet ScarCruft’s Dolphin

By Filip Jurčacko — November 30th 2022 at 10:30

ESET researchers uncover Dolphin, a sophisticated backdoor extending the arsenal of the ScarCruft APT group

The post Who’s swimming in South Korean waters? Meet ScarCruft’s Dolphin appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The Hunt for the Kingpin Behind AlphaBay, Part 6: Endgame

By Andy Greenberg — November 29th 2022 at 11:00
With AlphaBay shuttered, Operation Bayonet enters its final phase: driving the site’s refugees into a giant trap. But one refugee hatched his own plan.
☐ ☆ ✇ WeLiveSecurity

RansomBoggs: New ransomware targeting Ukraine

By Editor — November 28th 2022 at 15:23

ESET researchers spot a new ransomware campaign that goes after Ukrainian organizations and has Sandworm's fingerprints all over it

The post RansomBoggs: New ransomware targeting Ukraine appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Interpol Seized $130 Million from Cybercriminals in Global "HAECHI-III" Crackdown Operation

By Ravie Lakshmanan — November 25th 2022 at 04:58
Interpol on Thursday announced the seizure of $130 million worth of virtual assets in connection with a global crackdown on cyber-enabled financial crimes and money laundering. The international police operation, dubbed HAECHI-III, transpired between June 28 and November 23, 2022, resulting in the arrests of 975 individuals and the closure of more than 1,600 cases. This comprised two fugitives
☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Top Cyber Threats Facing E-Commerce Sites This Holiday Season

By The Hacker News — November 23rd 2022 at 12:13
Delivering a superior customer experience is essential for any e-commerce business. For those companies, there's a lot at stake this holiday season. According to Digital Commerce 360, nearly $1.00 of every $4.00 spent on retail purchases during the 2022 holiday season will be spent online, resulting in $224 billion in e-commerce sales. To ensure your e-commerce site is ready for the holiday rush
☐ ☆ ✇ WeLiveSecurity

Bahamut cybermercenary group targets Android users with fake VPN apps

By Lukas Stefanko — November 23rd 2022 at 10:30

Malicious apps used in this active campaign exfiltrate contacts, SMS messages, recorded phone calls, and even chat messages from apps such as Signal, Viber, and Telegram

The post Bahamut cybermercenary group targets Android users with fake VPN apps appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

☐ ☆ ✇ McAfee Blogs

How to Tell Whether a Website Is Safe or Unsafe

By McAfee — November 22nd 2022 at 20:49

It’s important to know that not all websites are safe to visit. In fact, some sites may contain malicious software (malware) that can harm your computer or steal your personal contact information or credit card numbers.  

Phishing is another common type of web-based attack where scammers try to trick you into giving them your personal information, and you can be susceptible to this if you visit a suspicious site.  

Identity theft is a serious problem, so it’s important to protect yourself when browsing the web. Online security threats can be a big issue for internet users, especially when visiting new websites or following site links. 

So how can you tell if you’re visiting a safe website or an unsafe website? You can use a few different methods. This page discusses key things to look for in a website so you can stay safe online. 

Key signs of website safety and security

When you’re visiting a website, a few key indicators can help determine whether the site is safe. This section explores how to check the URL for two specific signs of a secure website. 

”Https:” in the website URL

“Https” in a website URL indicates that the website is safe to visit. The “s” stands for “secure,” and it means that the website uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption to protect your information. A verified SSL certificate tells your browser that the website is secure. This is especially important when shopping online or entering personal information into a website. 

When you see “https” in a URL, the site is using a protocol that encrypts information before it’s sent from your computer to the website’s server. This helps prevent anyone from intercepting and reading your sensitive information as it’s transmitted. 

A lock icon near your browser’s URL field

The padlock icon near your browser’s URL field is another indicator that a webpage is safe to visit. This icon usually appears in the address bar and means the site uses SSL encryption. Security tools and icon and warning appearances depend on the web browser. 

Let’s explore the cybersecurity tools on the three major web browsers: 

  • Safari. In the Safari browser on a Mac, you can simply look for the lock icon next to the website’s URL in the address bar. The lock icon will be either locked or unlocked, depending on whether the site uses SSL encryption. If it’s an unsafe website, Safari generates a red-text warning in the address bar saying “Not Secure” or “Website Not Secure” when trying to enter information in fields meant for personal data or credit card numbers. Safari may also generate an on-page security warning stating, “Your connection is not private” or “Your connection is not secure.” 
  • Google Chrome. In Google Chrome, you’ll see a gray lock icon (it was green in previous Chrome versions) on the left of the URL when you’re on a site with a verified SSL certificate. Chrome has additional indicator icons, such as a lowercase “i” with a circle around it. Click this icon to read pertinent information on the site’s cybersecurity. Google Safe Browsing uses security tools to alert you when visiting an unsafe website. A red caution symbol may appear to the left of the URL saying “Not secure.” You may also see an on-page security message saying the site is unsafe due to phishing or malware. 
  • Firefox. Like Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox browser will tag all sites without encryption with a distinctive marker. A padlock with a warning triangle indicates that the website is only partially encrypted and may not prevent cybercriminals from eavesdropping. A padlock with a red strike over it indicates an unsafe website. If you click on a field on the website, it’ll prompt you with a text warning stating, “This connection is not secure.” 

In-depth ways to check a website’s safety and security

Overall, the ”https” and the locked padlock icon are good signs that your personal data will be safe when you enter it on a website. But you can ensure a website’s security is up to par in other ways. This section will explore five in-depth methods for checking website safety. 

Use McAfee WebAdvisor

McAfee WebAdvisor is a free toolbar that helps keep you safe online. It works with your existing antivirus software to provide an extra layer of protection against online threats. WebAdvisor also blocks unsafe websites and lets you know if a site is known for phishing or other malicious activity. In addition, it can help you avoid online scams and prevent you from accidentally downloading malware. Overall, McAfee WebAdvisor is a useful tool that can help you stay safe while browsing the web. 

Website trust seals

When you’re browsing the web, it’s important to be able to trust the websites you’re visiting. One way to determine if a website is trustworthy is to look for trust seals. Trust seals are logos or badges that indicate a website is safe and secure. They usually appear on the homepage or checkout page of a website. 

There are many types of trust seals, but some of the most common include the Better Business Bureau (BBB) seal, VeriSign secure seal, and the McAfee secure seal. These seals indicate that a third-party organization has verified the website as safe and secure. 

While trust seals can help determine whether a website is trustworthy, it’s important to remember that they are not foolproof. Website owners can create a fake trust seal, so it’s always important to do your own research to ensure a website is safe before entering personal information. 

Check for a privacy policy

Another way to determine if a website is safe to visit is to check for a privacy policy. A privacy policy is a document that outlines how a website collects and uses personal information. It should also state how the site protects your data from being accessed or shared by scammers, hackers, or other unauthorized individuals. 

If a website doesn’t have a privacy policy, that’s a red flag that you shouldn’t enter any personal information on the site. Even if a website does have a privacy policy, it’s important to read it carefully so you understand how the site uses your personal data. 

Check third-party reviews

It’s important to do some preliminary research before visiting a new website, especially if you’re shopping online or entering personal data like your address, credit card, or phone number. One way to determine if a website is safe and trustworthy is to check third-party reviews. Several websites provide reviews of other websites, so you should be able to find several reviews for any given site.  

Trustpilot is one example of a website that provides reviews of other websites. 

Look for common themes when reading reviews. If most of the reviews mention that a website is safe and easy to use, it’s likely that the site is indeed safe to visit. However, if a lot of negative reviews mention problems with viruses or malware, you might want to avoid the site. 

Look over the website design

You can also analyze the website design when deciding whether a website is safe to visit. Look for spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, and anything that appears off. If a website looks like it was made in a hurry or doesn’t seem to be well-designed, that’s usually a red flag that the site might not be safe. 

Be especially careful of websites that have a lot of pop-ups. These sites are often spammy or contain malware. Don’t download anything from a website unless you’re absolutely sure it’s safe. These malicious websites rarely show up on the top of search engine results, so consider using a search engine to find what you’re looking for rather than a link that redirects you to an unknown website. 

Download McAfee WebAdvisor for free and stay safe while browsing

If you’re unsure whether a website is safe to visit, download McAfee WebAdvisor for free. McAfee WebAdvisor is a program that helps protect you from online threats, such as malware and viruses. It also blocks pop-ups and other intrusive ads so you can browse the web without worry. Plus, it’s completely free to download and use. 

Download McAfee WebAdvisor now and stay safe while browsing the web. 

The post How to Tell Whether a Website Is Safe or Unsafe appeared first on McAfee Blog.

☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The Hunt for the Dark Web’s Biggest Kingpin, Part 5: Takedown

By Andy Greenberg — November 22nd 2022 at 11:00
After months of meticulous planning, investigators finally move in to catch AlphaBay’s mastermind red-handed. Then the case takes a tragic turn.
☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Researchers Warn of Cyber Criminals Using Go-based Aurora Stealer Malware

By Ravie Lakshmanan — November 22nd 2022 at 12:30
A nascent Go-based malware known as Aurora Stealer is being increasingly deployed as part of multiple campaigns designed to steal sensitive information from compromised hosts. "These infection chains leveraged phishing pages impersonating download pages of legitimate software, including cryptocurrency wallets or remote access tools, and the 911 method making use of YouTube videos and SEO-poised
☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

S3 Ep109: How one leaked email password could drain your business [Audio + Transcript]

By Paul Ducklin — November 17th 2022 at 17:52
Latest episode - listen now! Cybersecurity news plus loads of great advice...

☐ ☆ ✇ Security – Cisco Blog

Reducing Friction in SecureX Orchestration

By Matt Vander Horst — November 17th 2022 at 13:00

Since releasing SecureX orchestration, we’ve regularly published two types of content for our customers to import and use: atomic actions and workflows. Atomic actions are small, re-usable functions that allow you to do simple things like isolating an endpoint in Cisco Secure Endpoint. Workflows are more complex combinations of activities, often made up of multiple atomic actions, that accomplish a broader objective. One of our most popular workflows fetches blog posts from Talos and then conducts an investigation into each post using a customer’s SecureX-integrated products. As of this blog post’s publishing, we’ve released 75 workflows. So, let’s talk about what’s new…

SecureX Tokens

In the past, when you wanted to communicate with SecureX APIs, you had to go through a multi-step process to generate an API client, use that API client to get a token, and then refresh the token every 10 minutes. This process wasn’t exactly simple, so in April we released the new SecureX Token account key. This special type of account key allows you to integrate with SecureX APIs without creating an API client, generating a token, or worrying about when the token expires. Simply use a SecureX target in conjunction with a SecureX Token account key and the platform takes care of the tokens. For more information about this update and how to take advantage of this new functionality, check out our documentation. Keep in mind that if your orchestration tenant was created prior to April 2022, you may need to create a SecureX Token.

Now that we have SecureX Token account keys and customers have been using them for a few months, we decided it was time to update all of our previously published workflows to be fully compatible with the new account key type. All 24 workflows using SecureX APIs have now been updated to leverage SecureX Tokens. For more information about Cisco-published workflows, check out our workflow list.

Cisco Secure Firewall + SecureX Orchestration

Since Cisco Secure Firewall is almost always deployed on-premises and behind a firewall, integrating it with SecureX orchestration in the cloud has required the use of a SecureX orchestration remote. Not all of our customers are interested in deploying an on-premises virtual machine or they lack a VMware ESXi deployment within which to run the VM. Now, with the release of the SecureX Security Services Exchange (SSE) API proxy, you can integrate your SSE-registered FMC devices with orchestration workflows without the need for additional remotes or virtual machines. To show how this works and highlight how easy this integration is, we re-released five of our existing FMC workflows with support for the SSE API proxy:

Resources

To stay updated on what’s new with SecureX, check out the following resources:

 


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☐ ☆ ✇ Security – Cisco Blog

UN’s International Day of Tolerance is a good reminder that workforce diversity should be 365-day goal

By Shailaja Shankar — November 16th 2022 at 17:34

Since 1996, United Nations members have commemorated Nov. 16 as International Day of Tolerance. As a word, tolerance can mean different things to different people and cultures. The UN defines tolerance as: “respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human.” I define it slightly differently. To me, tolerance is acceptance. Tolerance is inclusion. Tolerance is humanity. Tolerance is letting people be and live authentically as they choose.  

Being able to live authentically is key. It’s about creating an environment for everyone to fit in and feel a sense of belonging. In a way, this means obfuscating the “standard” and stop paying attention to the degrees of variation from it.  Tolerance is a step one in that process and a critical step toward a more diverse and tolerant world.  

But if this is the goal, I say we have lots of work left in promoting this within our workforce, especially in the cybersecurity industry. I wrote extensively about this in a blog last year on why diversity matters so much to create stronger cybersecurity organizations. I pointed out that cybersecurity as a technology is multi-faceted and constantly changing. So, it would make sense that a highly diverse organization would provide different perspectives and more creative solutions to these challenges. 

Cybersecurity workforce by the numbers 

Even in the face of this logical goal of creating more diverse workforces, legacy recruiting, education, and even hiring practices are holding us back as an industry. I’ll look at one workforce populations specifically, women in cybersecurity. Currently, women constitute less than 25 percent of the workforce in cybersecurity. Of course, this is inclusive of all roles in cybersecurity meaning that I think it’s fair to say that the percentage of women in technical cybersecurity roles (e.g., software and hardware engineering) would be much lower. That’s discouraging, especially when there are still more than 700,000 cybersecurity positions that remain unfilled, many of them being high-paying roles. 

Perhaps the more important question is “why?” The International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC2) commissioned a study to examine this issue closely and came up with some important conclusions that I’ll summarize. 

  1. Women, especially when they are girls, tend to self-select out of pursuing cybersecurity careers because they believe they have to be “much more accomplished than men in order to get equal treatment”.  
  2. Cybersecurity work itself has an image issue that may not be appealing to women with its intense war-room and cloak-and-dagger, spy-vs-spy metaphors. I have personally experienced this myself and wrote in my earlier blog about my belief that I had to act like just “one of the guys” just to fit it. Perception or not, the feelings are real, and we must acknowledge it as an issue. 
  3. Though not limited to the cybersecurity industry, it is a reality that women tend to be paid less and get promoted more slowly compared to their male counterparts. This is a contributing factor for women tending to leave the field more quickly than men. Of the three issues I’ve listed, I believe this is the most fixable. The first step of any solution is to understand that there is a problem. In other words, if the cybersecurity industry is going to be more tolerant and diverse, we have to understand what intolerance and lack of diversity looks like. 

The path towards more tolerance and diversity 

In promoting the International Day of Tolerance, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon listed three ways we as a global society can be more tolerant: education, inclusion, and opportunities. As it happens, those are also exactly the approaches required to create more diverse workforces.  

Of the three, I believe education (the earlier the better) is key as it’s foundational to being able to take advantage of inclusion and opportunities. Yes, we must continue to invest in STEM education and encourage more girls and minorities to take part. But the harder challenge is to somehow overcome the perception issue among large parts of these populations that the STEM field is not for them.  

I believe that will require an investment in time and interaction in the form of mentoring and community outreach. For example, the Cisco Women in Technology employee resource organization that I’m proud to be the executive sponsor for, started a coding bootcamp targeting underrepresented populations. There will be many more bootcamps next year including weeklong camps in the summer. We need more of this, much more and I know there are many companies in cybersecurity who have similar aspirations and programs. 

So, on this International Day of Tolerance, I ask my fellow cybersecurity professionals to at least think of ways they can influence someone in an underrepresented population to explore a career in the STEM field including cybersecurity. Take part in local volunteer activities at a school, especially in an inner-city one, like the kind that the Cisco Networking Academy is renowned for. Join and be an active participant in one of many cybersecurity organizations and affinity groups. Become a sponsor and a mentor to a girl or a minority and help encourage them to get ready to join this exciting and lucrative industry. 

But whatever you do, get started. Author and activist Rachel Cargle spoke to us earlier this year as part of our Black History Month celebration about what it means to show up with purpose toward addressing many injustices that still exist today. There’s an incredible disconnect here between humanity and dignity and all of this stuff in the country, and that should hopefully push you to action,” she said. Indeed, as these are issues that have existed for decades, and we will not solve them in a day, a month, or even a year. But if we don’t start, I’m afraid that the diversity issues that I’ve highlighted will be much the same in the International Day of Tolerance for years to come. 


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☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The Hunt for the Dark Web’s Biggest Kingpin, Part 4: Face to Face

By Andy Greenberg — November 15th 2022 at 11:00
The team uses a secret technique to locate AlphaBay’s server. But just as the operation heats up, the agents have an unexpected run-in with their target.
☐ ☆ ✇ Security – Cisco Blog

Cisco Secure Endpoint Crushed the AV-Comparative EPR Test

By Truman Coburn — November 8th 2022 at 13:00

The word is out! Cisco Secure Endpoint’s effectiveness is off the charts in protecting your enterprise environment.

This is not just a baseless opinion; however, the facts are rooted in actual test results from the annual AV-Comparative EPR Test Report published in October 2022. Not only did Secure Endpoint knock it out of the park in enterprise protection; but Cisco Secure Endpoint obtained the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) per agent at $587 over 5 years. No one else was remotely close in this area. More to come on that later.

If you are not familiar with the “AV-Comparatives Endpoint Prevention and Response Test is the most comprehensive test of EPR products ever performed. The 10 products in the test were subjected to 50 separate targeted attack scenarios, which used a variety of different techniques.”

These results are from an industry-respected third-party organization that assesses antivirus software and has just confirmed what we know and believe here at Cisco, which is our Secure Endpoint product is the industry’s best of the best.

Leader of the pack

Look for yourself at where we landed. That’s right, Cisco Secure Endpoint smashed this test, we are almost off the quadrant as one of the “Strategic Leaders”.

We ended up here for a combination of reasons, with the top being our efficacy in protecting our customers’ environments in this real-world test that emulates multi-stage attacks similar to MITRE’s ATT&CK evaluations which are conducted as part of this process (click here for an overview of MITRE ATT&CK techniques). Out of all the 50 scenarios tested, Secure Endpoint was the only product that STOPPED 100% of targeted threats toward enterprise users, which prevented further infiltration into the organization.

Lowest Total Cost of Ownership

In addition, this test not only assesses the efficacy of endpoint security products but also analyzes their cost-effectiveness. Following up on my earlier remarks about achieving the lowest cost of ownership, the graph below displays how we stacked up against other industry players in this space including several well-known vendors that chose not to display their names due to poor results.

These results provide a meaningful proof point that Cisco Secure Endpoint is perfectly positioned to secure the enterprise as well as secure the future of hybrid workers.

Enriched with built-in Extended Detection and Response (XDR) capabilities, Cisco Secure Endpoint has allowed our customers to maintain resiliency when faced with outside threats.

As we embark on securing “what’s next” by staying ahead of unforeseen cyber threats of tomorrow, Cisco Secure Endpoint integration with the complete Cisco Secure Solutions portfolio allows you to move forward with the peace of mind that if it’s connected, we can and will protect it.

Secure Endpoint live instant demo

Now that you have seen how effective Secure Endpoint is with live real-world testing, try it for yourself with one of our live instant demos. Click here to access instructions on how to download and install your demo account for a test drive.

Click here to see what analysts, customers, and third-party testing organizations have to say about Cisco Secure Endpoint Security efficacy, easy implementation and overall low total cost of ownership for their organization —and stay ahead of threats.


We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!

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☐ ☆ ✇ Naked Security

S3 Ep107: Eight months to kick out the crooks and you think that’s GOOD? [Audio + Text]

By Paul Ducklin — November 3rd 2022 at 17:51
Listen now - latest episode - audio plus full transcript

☐ ☆ ✇ Security – Cisco Blog

Secure Your Hybrid Workforce Using These SOC Best Practices

By Pat Correia — October 27th 2022 at 12:00

Hybrid Workforce is here to stay

Just a few years ago when the topic of supporting offsite workers arose, some of the key conversation topics were related to purchase, logistics, deployment, maintenance and similar issues. The discussions back then were more like “special cases” vs. today’s environment where supporting workers offsite (now known as the hybrid workforce) has become a critical mainstream topic.

Figure 1: Security challenges in supporting the hybrid workforce

Now with the bulk of many organization’s workers off-premise, the topic of security and the ability of a security vendor to help support an organization’s hybrid workers has risen to the top of the selection criteria.  In a soon to be released Cisco endpoint survey, it’s not surprising that the ability of a security vendor to make supporting the hybrid workforce easier and more efficient was the key motivating factor when organizations choose security solutions.

Figure 2: Results from recent Cisco Survey

Best Practices complement your security tools

Today, when prospects and existing customers look at Cisco’s ability to support hybrid workers with our advanced security solution set and open platform, it’s quite clear that we can deliver on that promise. But, yes, good tools make it easier and more efficient, but the reality is that running a SOC or any security group, large or small, still takes a lot of work. Most organizations not only rely on advanced security tools but utilize a set of best practices to provide clarity of roles, efficiency of operation, and for the more prepared, have tested these best practices to prove to themselves that they are prepared for what’s next.

Give this a listen!

Knowing that not all organizations have this degree of security maturity and preparedness, we gathered a couple of subject matter experts together to discuss 5 areas of time-tested best practices that, besides the advanced tools offered by Cisco and others, can help your SOC (or small security team) yield actionable insights and guide you faster, and with more confidence, toward the outcomes you want.

In this webinar you will hear practical advice from Cisco technical marketing and a representative from our award winning Talos Threat Intelligence group, the same group who have created and are maintaining breach defense in partnership with Fortune 500 Security Operating Centers (SOC) around the globe.

Figure 3: Webinar Speakers

You can expect to hear our 5 Best Practices recommendations on the following topics;

  1. Establishing Consistency – know your roles and responsibilities without hesitation.
  2. Incident Response Plan – document it, share it and test it with your stakeholders.
  3. Threat Hunting – find out what you don’t know and minimize the threat.
  4. Retro Learning – learn from the past and be better prepared.
  5. Unifying stakeholders – don’t go it alone.

Access this On-Demand Webinar now!

Check out our webinar to find out how you can become more security resilient and be better prepared for what’s next.


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☐ ☆ ✇ The Hacker News

Vice Society Hackers Are Behind Several Ransomware Attacks Against Education Sector

By Ravie Lakshmanan — October 26th 2022 at 08:13
A cybercrime group known as Vice Society has been linked to multiple ransomware strains in its malicious campaigns aimed at the education, government, and retail sectors. The Microsoft Security Threat Intelligence team, which is tracking the threat cluster under the moniker DEV-0832, said the group avoids deploying ransomware in some cases and rather likely carries out extortion using
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