including evading sandbox analysis by detecting human behavior
he said.
OEM Security Newsalert – 17-Oct-2020
Table of Contents
- U.S. Department of Defense Selects Forescout to Protect Millions of Mission Critical Devices Across Global Networks
- EY Announces Adam Vincent of ThreatConnect, Inc. Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2020 Mid-Atlantic Award Finalist
- Gigamon and Cisco Partner to Accelerate Network Threat Detection and Response in Highly Dynamic Environments
- Cisco extends Meraki SD-WAN to Microsoft Azure
- How The Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival Brought Comedy Online Using Cisco And Twitch
- Boston-based software security company Snyk raises $200M
- U.S. Financial Services Cyber Security Market Share, Trend, Opportunity, Affect On Demand By COVID-19 Pandemic And Forecast 2020-2025
- CYBERSECURITY MARKET REVIEW | 1H 2020
- Zscaler Releases New Data Protection Innovations in Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Cloud SIEM Security Provider Panther Labs Raises $15 Million
- Securonix SIEM Updates Global MSSP, MDR Program, Adds 30 Partners
- Bugcrowd adds two industry executives to advisory board
U.S. Department of Defense Selects Forescout to Protect Millions of Mission Critical Devices Across Global Networks
Globenewswire
Yahoo – Finance
SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Forescout Technologies, Inc., the leader in Enterprise of Things security, today announced it was selected by the U.S.
Department of Defense (DoD) to expand cybersecurity across its global enterprise as the initial phase of a multi-million dollar contract award through 2020.
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) chose Forescout’s technology as the foundation of the DoD’s “Comply to Connect” (C2C) initiative, a security framework to provide the highest level of assurance for authentication, authorization, compliance assessment and automated remediation of devices connecting to the DoD information network (DoDIN).
The multi-year C2C program will impact all branches of the U.S.
Armed Forces, as well as other DoD Agencies and Centers.
Forescout has supported the C2C program from its pilot and early adopter phases at DoD enterprises including DISA, the Marine Corps, the Navy’s Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), and Army Medical Command (MEDCOM).
Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-department-defense-selects-forescout-130000754.html
EY Announces Adam Vincent of ThreatConnect, Inc. Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2020 Mid-Atlantic Award Finalist
Business Wire
Yahoo – Finance
Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that ThreatConnect, Inc.
CEO Adam Vincent was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2020 Mid-Atlantic Award finalist.
Now in its 34th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors entrepreneurial business leaders whose ambitions deliver innovation, growth and prosperity as they build and sustain successful businesses that transform our world.
Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ey-announces-adam-vincent-threatconnect-143000884.html
Gigamon and Cisco Partner to Accelerate Network Threat Detection and Response in Highly Dynamic Environments
Business Wire
Yahoo – Finance
Gigamon, the worldwide leader in network visibility and analytics, today announced the integration of Gigamon ThreatINSIGHT and Cisco SecureX to optimize network security through accelerated threat detection and response (NDR).
With an expanded attack surface and resources that are stretched thin, now more than ever, InfoSec teams need a platform of integrated, advanced security solutions to combat attackers and secure their organizations.
Link: https://news.yahoo.com/gigamon-cisco-partner-accelerate-network-125000733.html
Cisco extends Meraki SD-WAN to Microsoft Azure
Michael Cooney
Network World, from IDG
Cisco and Microsoft have teamed up on another joint effort, this time to make it easier for enterprise branch offices with Cisco Meraki SD-WAN gear to tap into the Azure Virtual WAN service.
Specifically, Cisco said it has integrated its SD-WAN Powered by Cisco Meraki offering with Microsoft’s Azure Virtual WAN service, which will let customers automate secure connectivity between Meraki MX appliances at branch locations directly with the Azure service, regardless of geographical location.
In this latest announcement, the companies say they have co-developed a toolkit that automates the process of securely connecting the branch MX appliances directly to the Azure service.
The automated workflow includes built-in security features and zero-touch configuration.
Link: https://www.networkworld.com/article/3574711/cisco-extends-meraki-sd-wan-to-microsoft-azure.html
How The Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival Brought Comedy Online Using Cisco And Twitch
Sooraj Shah
Forbes
The Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival has been going since 2004 as a platform for up and coming comedians to make a name for themselves without the higher costs associated with appearing at the main Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The main festival, which is one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world, issued more than 850,000 tickets in 2019.
It is harder to get exact figures for attendances at the Free Edinburgh Fringe festival, but the organizers are confident that the shows get at least 375,000 attendances each year.
“A lot of the comedians were worried about how you interact with people who are potentially watching and also with each other.
WebEx allows us to get a group of people online – that myself who sits behind as a producer can make sure the correct people can be heard and we chose Twitch to stream it out, because it gives it a good way of being a broadcast while also getting the feedback from the audience.
While the audience are not immediately involved with the show, it gives us an element of feedback and an element of interactivity”.
Petty explained that the organization did not test out other popular video conferencing apps like Microsoft Teams and Zoom, because it was confident in Cisco’s technology.
Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/soorajshah/2020/09/08/how-the-free-edinburgh-fringe-festival-brought-comedy-online-using-cisco-and-twitch/#811a5ef73337
Boston-based software security company Snyk raises $200M
Andy Rosen
Boston Globe
Snyk, a Boston-based technology company that helps developers identify security risks while they are building software, said Wednesday it has brought in $200 million in new private investment.
The money is a sign of growing investor confidence in the firm, which has about 325 employees, 100 of whom work for its Boston office.
Snyk said it has raised a total of $450 million and is now valued by its investors at $2.6 billion.
Early this year, when the company last raised money, its value was less than half of that.
Snyk CEO Peter McKay said in an interview that the company has grown rapidly this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic caused more companies to use software to handle functions that may have been done on paper or by hand in prior years.
Snyk, which also has offices in Israel, London, Canada, and Silicon Valley, plans to move its headquarters from the Back Bay to downtown at Boston’s 100 Summer Street early next year.
Link: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/09/business/boston-based-software-security-company-snyk-raises-200m/
U.S. Financial Services Cyber Security Market Share, Trend, Opportunity, Affect On Demand By COVID-19 Pandemic And Forecast 2020-2025
Market Watch
Sep 05, 2020 (AmericaNewsHour) — This cyber security market report focuses on the U.S. financial services demand side of cyber security products, systems & services.
It is based on hundreds of interviews with financial institutions’ cyber security customers, CEOs, CISOs and CIOs as well as cyber security industry executives and world-class experts.
According to the Cyber Security Market Report “U.S.
Financial Services: U.S.
Financial Services: Cybersecurity Systems & Services Market – 2016-2020” report, the U.S. financial institutions cyber security market is the largest and fastest growing private sector cyber security market.
Its cumulative 2016-2020 market size is forecasted to exceed $68 Billion.
We corroborated our findings by conducting a meta study which integrated the results of eight individual surveys performed by others (e.g., Verizon, IBM, SANS survey for: Blue Coat, FireEye, ForeScout, Raytheon, Sourcefire Tenable Network, N.Y.
State Department of Financial Services, Accenture, Zurich Insurance and more) with thousands of combined responders.
Link: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/us-financial-services-cyber-security-market-share-trend-opportunity-affect-on-demand-by-covid-19-pandemic-and-forecast-2020-2025-2020-09-05
CYBERSECURITY MARKET REVIEW | 1H 2020
Momentum Cyber
We are pleased to provide you with Momentum’s Cybersecurity Market Review for 1H 2020.
Strategic activity in the first half of 2020 included 293 transactions completed totaling $14.5B in deal value across M&A (93 transactions, $9.8B) and Financing (200 transactions, $4.7B)
• 93 M&A deals were announced with disclosed values of $9.8B, (median disclosed value of $125.0M)
• The acquisitions of RSA by STG for $2.1B, Forescout by Advent International for $1.6B, Checkmarx by Hellman & Friedman for $1.2B, & Armis by Insight Partners $1.1B highlighted M&A activity for the first half of 2020
• The most active sectors in the first half of 2020 included: Identity & Access Management (11), Risk & Compliance (10), Network & Infrastructure Security (10), & Cloud Security (8)
• 200 financing transactions completed with total capital raised of $4.7B (median amount raised of $8M)
• Netskope’s $350M Series G, Stackpath’s $216M Series B, OneTrust’s $210M Series B, & SentinelOne’s $200M Series E rounds led all financing activity for the first half of 2020
• 55% of total financing deals were Early Stage to Series A (median amount raised was $10.5M)
• The most active sectors in the first half of 2020 included: Risk & Compliance (36), Cloud Security (34), Identity & Access Management (18), & Network & Infrastructure Security (16)
Link: https://momentumcyber.com/cybersecurity-market-review-1h-2020/
Zscaler Releases New Data Protection Innovations in Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Zscalar
Zscaler, Inc., the leader in cloud security, today announced new data protection innovations in the ZscalerTM Zero Trust Exchange that protect organizations in the work-from-anywhere era by securely connecting users, devices, and applications.
The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, built on a Secure Access Services Edge (SASE) framework, expanded its data protection capabilities with a suite of services that are now generally available.
These services include Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) for SaaS applications, and Cloud Browser Isolation.
The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange was built with a new approach that creates zero trust connections between the users and applications directly to solve this unique challenge.
As a scalable, cloud-native platform, it enables digital transformation by securely connecting users, devices, and applications anywhere, without relying on network-wide access.
This platform is delivered by five key architecture attributes, unique to the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, that together enable organizations to provide strong security and a great user experience to their employees and customers.
The attributes are:
Zero attack surface
Connect a user to an application, not a networ
Multi-tenant architecture
Proxy architecture, not pass-through
ecure access service edge (SASE) architecture
Link: https://www.zscaler.com/press/zscaler-releases-new-data-protection-innovations-zscaler-zero-trust-exchange
Cloud SIEM Security Provider Panther Labs Raises $15 Million
Dan Kobialka
MSSP Alert
Panther Labs, a cybersecurity startup and security information and event management (SIEM) platform provider, has added $15 million in Series A funding led by venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The company also has named Lightspeed Partner Gaurav Gupta to its board of directors.
The Series A funding will help Panther accelerate the development of its open-source SIEM platform, the company stated.
In addition, the funding brings Panther’s total financing to date to $20.5 million.
Link: https://www.msspalert.com/investments/cloud-siem-security-provider-panther-labs-raises-15-million/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
Securonix SIEM Updates Global MSSP, MDR Program, Adds 30 Partners
Dan Kobialka
MSSP Alert
Securonix, a security information and event management (SIEM) platform provider, has unveiled Securonix Fuel, an updated version of its global MSSP and managed detection and response (MDR) program.
With Securonix Fuel, MSSPs and MDR providers can access a partner portal and training and certification for sales and pre-sales via Securonix Academy, the company said.
They also can leverage Securonix SearchMore community-powered threat hunting to search for threats in real-time, streaming data across multiple tenants and deliver managed threat hunting services to their customers.
Other Securonix Fuel features include:
• Professional services
• Tiered pricing
• Onboarding and sales support
In addition, Securonix will increase partner support resources this year, said David Wagner, VP of the company’s MSSP business.
This will ensure that Securonix can help MSSPs and MDR providers meet the rising demand for SIEM services.
Link: https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-companies/partner-programs/securonix-siem-updates-global-mssp-mdr-program/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
Bugcrowd adds two industry executives to advisory board
Help Net Security
Bugcrowd announced the addition of two board advisory members, Norma Lane, chief human resources officer and executive vice president of people and places at Infoblox, and Dave Gerry, chief revenue officer and head of global operations at WhiteHat Security, a wholly-owned, independent subsidiary of NTT.
Link: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/09/10/bugcrowd-adds-two-industry-executives-to-advisory-board/
Incident Response Newsalert – 27-Oct-2019
OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities List — You’re Probably Using It Wrong
Gabriel Avner
White Source
Gabriel AvnerFirst issued in 2004 by the Open Web Application Security Project, the now-famous OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities list (included at the bottom of the article) is probably the closest that the development community has ever come to a set of commandments on how to keep their products secure.
Unfortunately, as the OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities list has reached a wider audience, its real intentions as a guide have been misinterpreted, hurting developers instead of helping.
So how should we understand the purpose of this list and actually encourage developers to code more securely?
In a recent interview, OWASP’s chairman Martin Knobloch voiced his disappointment at the list being used as a sort of checklist for a final run through before a release, serving more as a validation mechanism than a guide.
The OWASP Top 10 is not set up to resolve every attack in the book, but to help teams avoid the common mistakes which are far more likely to get their applications breached.
A determined attacker can find many avenues to breach their target.
However, the smart risk management advisories do not focus on the minority of cases but instead seek to address the issues facing the widest audience.
Security teams that do not engage with their developers, making the effort to understand how they can empower them to have security be an inherent element of their workflow, will quickly find themselves sidelined.
If you want to stay relevant, become an enabler, and use the OWASP Top 10 list as a way to start conversations, not to threaten.
In the end, you might find that you catch more (O)WASPS with honey than vinegar.
Link: https://resources.whitesourcesoftware.com/blog-whitesource/owasp-top-10-vulnerabilities?utm_medium=email&utm_source=topic%20optin&utm_campaign=awareness&utm_content=20191026%20prog%20nl&mkt_tok=eyJpIj
CPDoS attack can poison CDNs to deliver error pages instead of legitimate sites
Catalin Cimpanu
ZD Net
Two academics from the Technical University of Cologne (TH Koln) have disclosed this week a new type of web attack that can poison content delivery networks (CDNs) into caching and then serving error pages instead of legitimate websites.
The new attack has been named CPDoS (Cache-Poisoned Denial-of-Service), has three variants, and has been deemed practical in the real world (unlike most other web cache attacks).
According to the research team, three variants of the CPDoS attack exist, depending on how attackers decide to structure the malformed header.
The names are self-explanatory, with using oversized header fields, meta characters that trigger errors, or instructions that override normal server responses.
Mitigations against CPDoS attacks, fortunately, exist.
The simplest solution is that website owners configure their CDN service to not cache HTTP error pages by default.
Link: https://www.zdnet.com/article/cpdos-attack-can-poison-cdns-to-deliver-error-pages-instead-of-legitimate-sites/
4 steps to RPA success
Eth Stackpole
insider Pro
Amidst the hype and promise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), their less-familiar counterpart, RPA, is starting to gain traction, especially among banks, insurance companies, telecommunications firms and utilities.
The technology employs AI and ML to handle rules-driven, high-volume and repeatable business tasks such as queries, calculations and copying and pasting data across systems without any coding requirement.
According to Gartner, RPA software revenue spiked 63.1 percent in 2018 to $846 million with projections calling for $1.3 billion in sales this year.
By the end of 2022, Gartner expects 85 percent of large and very large organizations will have deployed some form of RPA, fueling a $2.4 billion market.
While initial RPA use cases are aimed at automating back-office functions such as reconciliations and accounts receivable and payables, experts in the field say it’s only a matter of time before RPA is deployed to automate middle office and front-office activities, including customer call centers where there is a lot of behind-the-scenes manual work to share data between multiple systems.
As companies move beyond limited RPA pilots to full-blown implementations, there are four practices to keep in mind to ensure things stay on track:
1) Don’t rush to automate
2) Governance is key, but don’t let it grind things to a halt
3) Align business and IT
4) Embrace change management
Link: https://www.idginsiderpro.com/article/3446657/4-steps-to-rpa-success.html?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Title%3A%204%20steps%20to%20RPA%20success&utm_campaign=CIO%20Daily&utm_term=Ed
JSON tools you don’t want to miss
Paul Krill
infoworld, from IDG
- JSONLint
- JSONCompare
- jtc
- ijson
- JSON Formatter and Validator
- Altova XMLSpy JSON and XML Editor
- Code Beautify JSON Tools
- Visual Studio Code
- Eclipse JSON Editor Plugin
Slack rolls out new Salesforce integrations, launches Workflow Builder
Matthew Finnegan
Computerworld
Slack has added new integrations with Salesforce’s customer relationship management (CRM) and customer service apps, part of its ongoing push to bolster connections with other “best of breed” cloud apps.
Slack now lets users search and preview Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud records such as accounts and opportunities in app by using a slash command to pull up details.
Other features include the ability to send Salesforce records relating to an account or case directly to an individual Slack user or a channel, such as #customer-support, for instance.
In addition, sales and service reps using Salesforce will be able to see Slack conversations related to a Salesforce record.
Also this week, Slack announced that its Workflow Builder tool is now generally available.
The feature lets all users automate routine processes; they can, for instance, create messages sent to new members of a channel, set up their own automations or select a pre-built template from Slack.
Link: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3446881/slack-rolls-out-new-salesforce-integrations-launches-workflow-builder.html?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Title%3A%20Slack%20rolls%20out%
Windows 10 security: Microsoft reveals ‘Secured-core’ to block firmware attacks
Liam Tung
ZD Net
The new layer of security is for high-end PCs and the first Windows 10 ‘Secured-core’ PC is the Arm-powered Surface Pro X.
At its heart, the new firmware protection comes from a Windows Defender feature called System Guard.
That feature is intended to protect Windows 10 PCs from new attacks used by the likes of state-sponsored hacking group APT28 or Fancy Bear, which was caught late last year using a novel Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) rootkit to target Windows PCs.
“It’s pretty similar to what other manufacturers might be doing with a specific security chip, but we are doing this across all different manners of CPU architectures and OEMs, so we can bring this to a much broader audience, and they can select the form factor or product that matches them but with the same security guarantees as if Microsoft created it.”
Microsoft already has Secure Boot.
However, that feature assumes the firmware is trusted to verify bootloaders, meaning attackers can exploit trusted firmware.
APT28’s rootkit was not properly signed, which meant Windows PCs with Windows Secure Boot enabled were not vulnerable because the system only permits signed firmware to load.
Link: https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-security-microsoft-reveals-secured-core-to-block-firmware-attacks/
STEALTHY TOOL DETECTS MALWARE IN JAVASCRIPT
Matt Shipman
Futurity
A new open-source tool called VisibleV8 allows users to track and record the behavior of JavaScript programs without alerting the websites that run those programs.
The tool runs in the Chrome browser and is designed to detect malicious programs that are capable of evading existing malware detection systems.
VisibleV8 saves all of the data on how a site is using JavaScript, creating a “behavior profile” for the site.
Researchers can then use that profile, and all of the supporting data, to identify both malicious websites and the various ways that JavaScript can compromise web browsers and user information.
You can download VisibleV8 from Kapravelos’ site.
Link: https://www.futurity.org/malware-in-javascript-visiblev8-2190792/
ACSC warns of Windows malware Emotet spreading in Australia Featured
Sam Varghese
IT Wire
An infection of Windows systems by the Emotet malware was the precursor to the recent ransomware attack on Victorian hospitals, the Australian Cyber Security Centre says, as part of a warning that Emotet, which has been around since 2014, is being spread in Australia by malicious emails.
The ACSC named the ransomware as being Ryuk.
According to the Israeli firm Check Point, Ryuk is used only for tailored attacks.
In a statement, the ACSC said it had received numerous reports of confirmed Emotet infections from different industries, including critical infrastructure providers and government agencies.
The ACSC has asked anyone who requires assistance to contact ASD.Assist@defence.gov.au.
Link: https://www.itwire.com/security/acsc-warns-of-windows-malware-emotet-spreading-in-australia.html
Microsoft Office Bug Remains Top Malware Delivery Vector
Kelly Sheridan
Dark Reading
CVE-2017-11882 has been attackers’ favorite malware delivery mechanism throughout the second and third quarters of 2019.
The third quarter of 2019 brought the rise of keylogger Agent Tesla, the decline of phishing-delivered ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), and attackers’ continued preference for exploiting the CVE-2017-11882 Microsoft Office vulnerablity to deliver phishing campaigns.
Throughout the second and third quarters, researchers saw little change in the significant delivery mechanisms used to spread malware.
The most common method, as seen in more than 600 incidents, is Microsoft Office vulnerability CVE-2017-11882, which remains a “prolific technique” for attackers to spread malware through phishing attacks, researchers report.
Following CVE-2017-11882, the other two most common delivery mechanisms were Office macros and Windows Script Component (WSC) downloaders.
Attackers’ consistent use of the same delivery mechanisms could change as the holidays approach and Emotet reemerges, driving innovation among cybercriminals who may start using new variants and tactics.
Another notable trend third quarter was the drop in RaaS, which has decreased as attackers swap large-scale campaigns for narrowly focused ones.
GandCrab was taken offline; Sodinokibi, the ransomware that shares some of its code base, has seen a low rate of dissemination.
Targeted attacks let cybercriminals keep a lower profile and benefit from a higher return ratio.
Link: https://www.darkreading.com/operations/microsoft-office-bug-remains-top-malware-delivery-vector/d/d-id/1336182
Cisco Networking Trends Report: ‘Intent-Based Networking Is Coming’
Sydney Sawaya
sdX Central
Winter is coming, and according to Cisco’s 2020 Global Networking Trends Report, so is intent-based networking (IBN).
Cisco conducted a web-based survey of 505 IT leaders and 1,566 network strategists across 13 countries about the current state of their networks, their network aspirations over the next two years, and their network operational and talent readiness.
The survey found maximizing business value to be IT’s No. 1 priority with 40% of respondents naming it their top concern.
But seeing the top of the mountain is one thing, and getting up there is another.
In order to maximize business value, IT teams will require greater insight into data along with the right tools.
Still, Cisco’s findings suggest IBN will be the next “IT girl” of networking in the coming years — essentially the second phase of SDN.
Some 41% of those surveyed claim to have at least one instance of SDN in at least one of their network domains.
SDN has given network operators a way to design, build, and operate their networks through a centralized view.
However, only 28% of respondents indicated having reached SDN or IBN on Cisco’s Digital Network Readiness Model, yet 78% expect to their networks to move beyond SDN or IBN within the next two years.
Likewise, only 4% indicated that their currently deployed networks are intent-based, and 35% plan to be within two years.
Link: https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/cisco-networking-trends-report-intent-based-networking-is-coming/2019/10/
Nasty PHP7 remote code execution bug exploited in the wild
Catalin Cimpanu
ZD Net
Exploiting the bug is trivial, and public proof-of-concept exploit code has been published on GitHub earlier this week.
“The PoC script included in the GitHub repository can query a target web server to identify whether or not it is vulnerable by sending specially crafted requests,” says Satnam Narang, Senior Security Response Manager at Tenable. “Once a vulnerable target has been identified, attackers can send specially crafted requests by appending ‘?a=’ in the URL to a vulnerable web server.”
Fortunately, not all PHP-capable web servers are impacted.
Only NGINX servers with PHP-FPM enabled are vulnerable.
PHP-FPM, or FastCGI Process Manager, is an alternative PHP FastCGI implementation with some additional features.
This blog post from Wallarm, the company that found the PHP7 RCE, includes instructions on how webmasters can use the standard mod_security firewall utility to block %0a (newline) bytes in website URLs, and prevent any incoming attacks.
Due to the availability of public PoC code and the simplicity of exploiting this bug, website owners are advised to check server settings and update PHP as soon as possible if they run the vulnerable configuration.
Link: https://www.zdnet.com/article/nasty-php7-remote-code-execution-bug-exploited-in-the-wild/
Huawei: Banned and Permitted In Which Countries? List and FAQ
Joe Panettieri
CHANNEL e2e
Here’s an FAQ explaining the Huawei controversy, along with a list of countries, organizations and technology companies, and their current business status with the China-based technology giant.
Link: https://www.channele2e.com/business/enterprise/huawei-banned-in-which-countries/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
Heed 5 security operations center best practices before outsourcing
Johna Till Johnson
Tech Target – Security
Research showed highly successful cybersecurity organizations, as measured by mean total time to contain, are 52% more likely to have deployed an SOC than their less successful peers.
In fact, merely deploying a SOC can improve an organization’s mean time to contain a breach by almost half.
But, as always, the devil is in the details in terms of assessing security operations center best practices: Should cybersecurity pros outsource the SOC function or develop one in-house.
And, if they outsource, what should the selection criteria be?
First is the operational model: Is the SOC provider primarily focused on event notification, or does it work in a team extension mode and proactively take steps to respond to events?
Second is the SOC run book itself.
Regardless of who executes it — the internal team or the SOC provider — how is the run book developed.
Does the SOC provider have a standardized run book that can be customized to each client, or should the client plan to develop it?
The third step to ensure security operations center best practices is to examine the portfolio of services the SOC provider offers.
Fourth is the set of tools and technologies the SOC provider relies on.
Finally, as counterintuitive as it sounds, there’s the question of how the relationship will be terminated.
Link: https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/tip/Heed-5-security-operations-center-best-practices-before-outsourcing
SOC Operations: 6 Vital Lessons & Pitfalls
Todd Thiemann
Dark Reading
Lesson #1: Locate and Retain High-Quality SOC Talent
Lesson #2: Improve Your SOC Incrementally
Lesson #3: Coordinate SOC and Network Operations
Lesson #4: Realistic Goals
Lesson #5: Staffing Delusions
Lesson #6: The “AI Cure-All” Fallacy
Link: https://www.darkreading.com/operations/soc-operations-6-vital-lessons-and-pitfalls-/a/d-id/1336076
The Global Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) Market size is expected to reach $2.3 billion by 2025, rising at a market growth of 16.3% CAGR during the forecast period
Cision PR Newswire
NEW YORK, Oct. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The Global Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) Market size is expected to reach $2.3 billion by 2025, rising at a market growth of 16.3% CAGR during the forecast period.
Market growth is influenced by factors like growing cyber-attacks, absence of staff availability, strict laws and compliance, absence of centralized views on threats, and a large amount of false alerts that contribute significantly to the SOAR ecosystem.
Market players are taking step-by-step approaches to leverage market possibilities.
Companies focus on innovative market-space competitive strategies.
For instance, in August 2019, Splunk integrated with Deloitte in order to provide automated security monitoring and response capabilities which helps in driving higher fidelity and greater consistency into security workflows and outputs for organizations.
The same month, FireEye launched FireEye® Network Security 8.3 and FireEye Endpoint Security 4.8; are used for enhanced detection and investigation related to advanced attacks.
Similarly, Tufin collaborated with Cisco in order to launch Tufin Orchestration Suite R19-2 for helping the customers to increase the mitigation process to Cisco ACI.
Link: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-global-security-orchestration-automation-and-response-soar-market-size-is-expected-to-reach-2-3-billion-by-2025–rising-at-a-market-growth-of-16-3-cagr-dur
Secureworks Welcomes Steve Hardy as Chief Marketing Officer
Business Wire
Yahoo – Finance
Secureworks® (SCWX), a leading global cybersecurity company that protects organizations in a digitally connected world, announced the appointment of Steve Hardy as its new Chief Marketing Officer, effective today.
As CMO, Steve will lead Secureworks’ global marketing strategy, including product marketing, demand generation, corporate communications and field marketing.
He will report direc
OEM Security Newsalert – 27-Oct-2019
Check Point Revamps Small and Medium Businesses Security to Protect from the Most Advanced Cyber Attacks
Nasaq Globe Newswire
EIN News
/EIN News/ — SAN CARLOS, Calif., Oct. 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions globally, announced the release of the new 1500 series security gateways for SMBs.
The two new SMB appliances set new standards of protection against the most advanced fifth-generation cyberattacks, and offer unrivalled ease of deployment and management.
The 1550 and 1590 gateways are powered by Check Point’s R80 release.
R80 is the industry’s most advanced security management software, and includes multi-layered next-generation protection from both known threats and zero-day attacks using the award-winning SandBlast™ Zero-Day Protection, plus antivirus, anti-bot, IPS, app control, URL filtering and identity awareness.
ffective May 30th, 2020, Check Point will cease to sale the following security gateway models: 730, 750, 770, 790, 1430, 1450, 1470 and 1490 wired and wireless (excluding VDSL).
Link: https://software.einnews.com/pr_news/499529696/check-point-revamps-small-and-medium-businesses-security-to-protect-from-the-most-advanced-cyber-attacks?n=2&code=oFvCCJC2r-jYysMo&utm_source=NewsletterN
How BlackBerry Used Improv Comedy To Make Cybersecurity A More ‘Human’ Topic
Marty Swant
Forbes
BlackBerry wants to make data breaches a laughing matter.
To illustrate how even the smartest and most capable employees can make accidental mistakes that put sensitive information at risk, the Canadian company is taking a more “human” approach to the serious subject of cybersecurity.
It’s not that Mark Wilson–who’s been CMO of the brand since 2017–doesn’t take threats lightly.
Rather, he said an overwhelming majority of customers surveyed viewed their own staff as more of an accidental threat than an outside hacker.
According to research conducted by BlackBerry, 94% of chief security officers and other executives don’t trust their own employees with critical information.
In fact, 72% suspected their employees were working around existing security measures. (For example, BlackBerry found that a nurse at a hospital sent X-ray images to a doctor via Snapchat because she was locked out of the company’s software.)
To promote its own security software, BlackBerry—which has pivoted from its earlier smartphone-making days to enterprise tech made for the era of self-driving cars and the Internet of Things—decided to humanize accidental errors.
But instead of just passing a brief over to an creative agency to come up with a TV spot and some billboards or print ads, Blackerry worked with Oakland-based Funworks to hire improv comedians to create a campaign alongside BlackBerry teams ranging from marketing and tech to sales.
The goal: to translate the technical side of security to something more relatable.
“The key to this is how do you evoke emotion into something that can be at times a very dry topic,” Wilson says. “That’s kind of the fun of what we do.
How do you break through a sea of sameness with something that’s an evolutionary or provocative point of view and that’s a very human point of view?”
Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/martyswant/2019/10/18/how-blackberry-used-improv-comedy-to-make-cybersecurity-a-more-human-topic/#4ec87b51cf5a
Zscaler: Time To Buy
Stefan Ong
Seeking Alpha
Summary
Zscaler has fallen roughly 46% since its 52-week high.
The stock has grown strongly with revenue growth rates above 50% for the past three years.
Moreover, Zscaler is undervalued by 9.5% based on my estimates.
Link: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4296361-zscaler-time-buy
Apollo Global in rumoured $5bn takeover bid for Tech Data
Doug Woodburn
Channel Partner Insight
Tech Data’s shares have spiked following a report that it is the subject of a near $5bn (€4.53bn) takeover approach.
According to a report today by Reuters, private equity firm Apollo Global Management is offering to pay about $130 a share for the global distribution giant.
It cited “people familiar with the matter”.
Tech Data’s shares have hiked 14 per cent in after-hours trading this evening.
Apollo was linked with a $7.5bn bid for Tech Data’s arch-rival Ingram late last year.
Link: https://www.channelpartnerinsight.com/channel-partner-insight/news/3082668/apollo-global-in-rumoured-usd5bn-takeover-bid-for-tech-data?utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=Channel%20Partner%20In
The software-defined rebirth of the load balancer
Frank J. Ohlhorst
Channel Partner Insight
Software-defined technologies have quickly transformed traditional WAN optimization solutions and load balancers into solutions now referred to as application delivery controllers (ADCs).
ZK Research revealed that software defined technologies, along with cloud native applications, are being deployed more frequently, with 50 percent of UK businesses and 29 percent of US businesses expecting to move over half of their applications into the cloud within the next 12 months.
It’s a transformation that ZK expects to have a profound impact on the ADC Market.
According to ZK Research, F5 and Citrix are the most commonly used ADCs by today’s businesses, yet ZK opines that cloud native ADCs are beginning to show strength as applications transform into cloud-based entities.
Forrester’s Application Experience (AX) for Asia Pacific Enterprises in Multi-cloud Environments report reveals that 84 percent of CIOs in APAC believe that a multi-cloud deployment will constitute up to half of their web and application hosting environment in the next three years.
Link: https://www.channelpartnerinsight.com/channel-partner-insight/analysis/3082956/the-death-of-the-load-balancer-is-the-adc-market-primed-for-a-revolution?utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=Chann
Nutanix and the ‘messy middle’ of the subscription software model
Ohn Leonard
Computing
Moving to a new licensing model always carries a degree of risk.
For hyperconvergence vendor Nutanix, the change to a subscription software vendor was more radical than for the many software vendors that have taken that route, in that Nutanix went public three years ago as a hardware vendor.
It is, perhaps, the only enterprise vendor to go directly from hardware to subscription software, according to VP investor relations Tonya Chin.
The company moved to the software subscription model two years ago and finally stopped selling hardware appliances altogether in 2018.
Speaking at a media briefing during the .NEXT event in Copenhagen this month, Chin put the dip down to a number of factors.
First, revenues for a three-year subscription contract will be realised three years later with than an equivalent up-front deal, so in the short-term income will inevitably decline.
Chin forecasts that company will get through its ‘messy middle’, becoming a fully-fledged subscription software company within the next two years.
Link: https://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/3083008/nutanix-and-the-messy-middle-of-the-subscription-software-model?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=CTG.Daily_RL.EU.A.U&im_edp=14
French VAR looks to triple revenues to €1bn through M&A
Josh Budd
Channel Partner Insight
French VAR C’PRO is aiming to hit €1bn revenues by 2025 as part of an M&A strategy which will see it acquire 10 competitors every year.
Print provider C’PRO merged with IT services firm Quadria at the start of 2018 to create a €300m-revenue entity with 1,000 employees.
Through acquiring Quadria, C’PRO, which claims to be Canon’s and Toshiba’s number one print partner in Europe, has now moved beyond its print provider roots into new areas of IT, including reselling PCs and infrastructure, systems integration, managed services, cloud, security and telco services.
Link: https://www.channelpartnerinsight.com/channel-partner-insight/news/3082869/french-var-looks-to-triple-revenues-to-eur1bn-through-m-a?utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=Channel%20Partner%20Insi
Global Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) Market key Insights Based on Product Type, End-use and Regional Demand Till 2025
Market Watch
Oct 21, 2019 (AmericaNewsHour) — The Global Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) Market was valued at USD 998.26 million in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 15,077.28 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 35.21% from 2017 to 2025.
Competitive Landscape:The major players in the market are as follows:
1. Cisco Systems, Inc.
2. Catbird Networks, Inc.
3. Intel Corporation
4. Symantec Corporation
5. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
6. Certes Networks, Inc.
7. EMC RSA
8. Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
9. Fortinet, Inc.
10. Juniper Networks, Inc.
These major players have adopted various organic as well as inorganic growth strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, and others to strengthen their position in this market.
Link: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/global-software-defined-perimeter-sdp-market-key-insights-based-on-product-type-end-use-and-regional-demand-till-2025-2019-10-21
Avast says hackers breached internal network through compromised VPN profile
Catalin Cimpanu
ZD Net
Czech cyber-security software maker Avast disclosed today a security breach that impacted its internal network.
In a statement published today, the company said it believed the attack’s purpose was to insert malware into the CCleaner software, similar to the infamous CCleaner 2017 incident.
Avast said the breach occurred because the attacker compromised an employee’s VPN credentials, gaining access to an account that was not protected using a multi-factor authentication solution.
Baloo said Avast intentionally left the compromised VPN profile active, with the purpose of tracking the attacker and observing their actions.
This lasted until October 15, when the company finished auditing previous CCleaner releases, and pushed out a new clean update.
Link: https://www.zdnet.com/article/avast-says-hackers-breached-internal-network-through-compromised-vpn-profile/
Proofpoint Announces Third Quarter 2019 Financial Results
Nasdaq Globe Newswire
EIN News
Total revenue of $227.4 million, up 23% year-over-year
Billings of $277.8 million, up 26% year-over-year
GAAP EPS of $(0.79) per share, Non-GAAP EPS of $0.49 per share
Operating cash flow of $68.6 million and free cash flow of $58.6 million
Increasing FY19 revenue and profitability guidance
Link: https://software.einnews.com/pr_news/500248740/proofpoint-announces-third-quarter-2019-financial-results?n=2&code=oFvCCJC2r-jYysMo&utm_source=NewsletterNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Targeted+Thre
Trustwave Unveils Government, Enterprise Security Testing Services
Dan Kobialka
MSSP Alert
Trustwave, a Top 200 MSSP for 2019, has launched Trustwave Security Testing Services to help government agencies and enterprises leverage security scanning and testing capabilities across their IT environments.
Trustwave Security Testing Services provide access to a catalog of scanning and testing services and security personnel that can be scaled as required, according to the company.
They are built on the Trustwave Fusion cloud-based cybersecurity platform and offer a variety of security scanning and testing capabilities, including:
• Network and application scanning scheduling and execution.
• Security tests led by Trustwave SpiderLabs.
• Risk analysis.
Link: https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-companies/mssps/trustwave-testing-services/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
Atos Acquires Identity Management
Dan Kobialka
MSSP Alert
Atos, a Top 200 MSSP for 2019, has finalized its acquisition of European digital identity infrastructure management provider IDnomic.
The news comes after Atos in July announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire IDnomic.
More than 100 IDnomic digital identity specialists are joining Atos’s cybersecurity team as part of the acquisition, the companies said.
In addition, the IDnomic acquisition could help Atos extend its reach in the global identity and access management (IAM) and public key infrastructure (PKI) solutions markets.
Global IAM solutions market revenues are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.1 percent between 2018 and 2025 and could be worth $24.1 billion by 2025, industry analyst Grand View Research stated.
Furthermore, the global PKI solutions market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 15.1 percent between 2019 and 2024 and could be worth $3.6 billion by 2024, industry analyst MarketsandMarkets indicated.
Link: https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-companies/mssps/atos-buys-idnomic/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
Accenture Acquires Happen for Digital Transformation Services
Ty Trumbull
CHANNEL e2e
Accenture is pushing forward with its rampant acquisition plan.
This time, the global systems integrator purchased London, England-based innovation firm Happen for an undisclosed sum.
The deal bolsters Accenture’s front-end innovation and analytics capabilities to help customers generate new ideas, products, and services, the company asserts.
Happen, founded in 2007, works with companies primarily in the consumer goods, food & beverage, retail, and life sciences industries.
The firm’s key skills include consumer insights and product and service innovation.
Link: https://www.channele2e.com/investors/mergers-acquisitions/accenture-buys-happen/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
Trend Micro has acquired Cloud Conformity, a software platform that helps partners and customers to spot and mitigate cloud security misconfigurations across Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Joe Panettieri
MSSP Alert
OpenText late on October 18 released a statement saying that it was not considering a potential acquisition of Micro Focus.
The statement surfaced after Bloomberg speculated a deal may be brewing.
Micro Focus shares rose nearly 7 percent today amid the takeover rumors on October 18.
The snuffed-out takeover rumors follow chatter in September 2019 that suggested private equity firms may want to acquire Micro Focus’s Arcsight and Fortify security software units, according to DealReporter sources.
At the time, interested parties apparently included Carlyle, Veritas and KKR.
All of Cloud Conformity’s employees — including 50 developers and engineers — will join Trend Micro.
Cloud Conformity, founded in 2016, has 100-plus customers and offices in Sydney, Australia; Dallas, Texas; London, United Kingdom; Montreal, Canada and Singapore.
Financial terms of the deal and specific revenue figures for Cloud Conformity were not disclosed.
Link: https://www.msspalert.com/investments/trend-micro-acquires-cloud-conformity/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
Radiflow and Asset Guardian Introduce Joint Solution to Enrich Industrial Asset Monitoring and Risk Assessment English T
Cision PR Newswire
MAHWAH, New Jersey and LIVINGSTON, Scotland, Oct. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Radiflow, a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions for industrial automation networks, and Asset Guardian, a dedicated provider of leading edge protection for process control and industrial software, today jointly announced that the two companies have launched a joint solution to expand industrial asset monitoring, change management and risk assessment capabilities for industrial enterprises.
In this new integrated solution, iSID’s asset inventory now incorporates the asset information stored in the Asset Guardian database, including the detailed asset information that is not available from traffic monitoring.
With this new detailed asset information from Asset Guardian, such as logic version, ownership, geo-location and more, the result is a far more granular risk score calculated by iSID for each asset.
Changes to assets, such as new firmware or PLC logic, are detected on the network in real-time by iSID and sent to Asset Guardian for verification, authorization and validation against the ‘golden image’ of the binary stored in the Asset Guardian database.
Link: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/radiflow-and-asset-guardian-introduce-joint-solution-to-enrich-industrial-asset-monitoring-and-risk-assessment-300941791.html
Upstream Security raises $30 million to protect connected cars from cyberattacks
Paul Sawers
Venture Beat
Upstream Security, a cloud-based cybersecurity platform for connected cars, has raised $30 million in a series B round of funding led by Alliance Ventures, an automotive alliance constituting Renault, Mitsubishi, and Nissan.
Volvo Group, Hyundai, CRV, Glilot Capital, Maniv Mobility, and Nationwide also participated in the round.
The connected car market was pegged at $63 billion in 2017, a figure that could rise to more than $200 billion by 2025.
ounded in 2017, Upstream Security is adopting a “multi-layer” approach to protecting connected cars and the underlying network infrastructure.
Its C4 platform integrates with automotive data streams of vehicles and promises to detect incidents as they happen in real time, allocating a rating based on perceived impact and severity.
Link: https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/21/upstream-security-raises-30-million-to-protect-connected-cars-from-cyber-attacks/
Upstream Security raises $30 million to protect connected cars from cyberattacks
Paul Sawers
Venture Beat
Upstream Security, a cloud-based cybersecurity platform for connected cars, has raised $30 million in a series B round of funding led by Alliance Ventures, an automotive alliance constituting Renault, Mitsubishi, and Nissan.
Volvo Group, Hyundai, CRV, Glilot Capital, Maniv Mobility, and Nationwide also participated in the round.
The connected car market was pegged at $63 billion in 2017, a figure that could rise to more than $200 billion by 2025.
ounded in 2017, Upstream Security is adopting a “multi-layer” approach to protecting connected cars and the underlying network infrastructure.
Its C4 platform integrates with automotive data streams of vehicles and promises to detect incidents as they
Incident Response Newsalert – 2019-08-18
Security warning for software developers: You are now prime targets for phishing attacks
Anny Palmer
ZD Net
Software developers are the people most targeted by hackers conducting cyberattacks against the technology industry, with the hackers taking advantage of the public profiles of individuals working in the high-turnover industry to help conduct their phishing campaigns.
The August 2019 Threat Intelligence Bulletin from cybersecurity company Glasswall details the industries most targeted by phishing, with the technology sector accounting for almost half of malicious phishing campaigns.
According to the Glasswall report, software developer is the role most targeted by hackers going after the technology sector.
A key reason for this is that devs do the groundwork on building software and will often have administrator privileges across various systems.
That’s something attackers can exploit to move laterally around networks and gain access to their end goal.
One way potential victims could make themselves less susceptible to attacks would be to display less information about themselves on their public-facing profiles – although given this is how many look for work, that might not be practical for everyone.
Link: https://www.zdnet.com/article/security-warning-for-software-developers-you-are-now-prime-targets-for-phishing-attacks/
[Infographic] Nations and Hackers Unleash Destructive Malware!
Rich Tehrani
Tehrani Blog
A new report from IBM X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services (IRIS) shows that these attacks have been on the rise, posing a growing threat to a wide variety of businesses that may not consider themselves an obvious target.
Key findings include:
• Massive destruction, massive costs: Destructive attacks are costing multinational companies $239 million on average.
As a point of comparison, this is 61 times more costly than the average cost of a data breach ($3.92 million).
• The long road to recovery: The debilitating nature of these attacks requires a lot of resources and time to respond and remediate, with companies on average requiring 512 hours from their incident response team.
It’s also common for organizations to use multiple companies to handle the response and remediation, which would increase hours even further.
• RIP laptops: A single destructive attack destroys 12,000 machines per company on average — creating quite a tab for new devices in order to get companies’ workforce back in action.
Link: https://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/rich-tehrani/security/infographic-nations-and-hackers-unleash-destructive-malware.html
Why Modernizing Security is Like Visiting a Fast-Food Restaurant
Jonathan Divincenzo
Dev Ops.com
Fast casual restaurants are taking over the food industry.
Today’s consumers want quality and speed, and the brick-and-mortar model offering immediate service paired with quality ingredients perfectly fits the bill.
It’s the new, modernized dining experience.
You can also argue that the same modernization taking the food industry by storm is happening in the security sector.
A modern infrastructure mix is made up of many parts (much like a layered chicken sandwich): cloud, containers, hardware, platforms—and sometimes serverless.
Flexibility and deployment options are essential to defending applications and APIs across multiple components and delivery stacks.
Typically, security teams end up in a balancing act of supporting new infrastructure plans while taking over existing legacy systems and applications.
The modern world is ever-evolving and the definition of “modern” changes as new technology is introduced.
Fast-food chains have evolved over the years and, in turn, moved the food industry forward with the introduction of fast, casual and reliable options.
The companies continue to evolve to meet the customers’ demands by introducing delivery services, unique rewards programs and leading mobile apps.
Link: https://devops.com/why-modernizing-security-is-like-visiting-a-fast-food-restaurant/
The Mainframe Is Seeing a Resurgence. Is Security Keeping Pace?
Ray Overby
Dark Reading
The old-school technology is experiencing new popularity, but too many people assume mainframes are inherently secure.
Case in point: IBM’s Z series mainframe sales are up 70% year-over-year.
And a recent Compuware survey showed that mainframe workloads are increasing.
Currently, 57% of enterprises with a mainframe run more than half of their critical applications on the mainframe, but that number is expected to rise to 64% by next year, according to Compushare.
Overlooking mainframe security is an industrywide issue today.
Recent research shows that even though 85% of companies say that mainframe security is a top priority, 67% admit that they only sometimes or rarely factor security into mainframe environment decisions.
Ultimately, the mainframe renaissance will equip businesses with the processing power, reliability, and scalability they need to thrive.
But for true peace of mind, especially where sensitive customer data is involved, businesses need to be aware of the importance of mainframe security and, just as importantly, prepared to execute on it.
Link: https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities—threats/the-mainframe-is-seeing-a-resurgence-is-security-keeping-pace/a/d-id/1335476
The Ins and Outs of SOC for MSSPs and MSPs
Edward Gately
Channel Partners
To be successful as an MSSP or security-centric MSP, security operations center (SOC) is a must.
Channel Partners: What are some of the issues to consider when deciding whether to build your own SOC or outsource?
- Cost – building a SOC could cost $1-3 million depending on the size and scope.
- Timing – some partners may find that it’s better to outsource the SOC to ensure your sales team is capable of selling the solution before you invest in building it yourself.
- Skills – finding qualified people to work as SOC analysts is very difficult, so make sure that you have a pipeline of these rare resources before you invest.
- Scope – you need to decide early if you will staff for 24×7 or 9×5. Maybe you should partner for the after-hours work.
CP: What are some common mistakes to avoid when building your own SOC?
AR: Automation needs to be top of mind from the start.
A security information and event management (SIEM) solution alone with SOC analysis to sift through the data will not be effective unless you can automate some of the incident response to help you scale.
CP: What’s the best criteria for choosing a specialist to handle your SOC?
IT people think in a structured way with rules, policies and procedures – but hackers are very unstructured and creative.
To catch a hacker, you need to think like them, so hire a former programmer with problem-solving skills.
Link: https://www.channelpartnersonline.com/article/the-ins-and-outs-of-soc-for-mssps-and-msps/
Demisto & Uptycs: Orchestrating Incident Response Activities
Security Boulevard
Uptycs leverages the open-source osquery agent in order to acquire real-time data about nearly any facet of your infrastructure (more about osquery here).
This data is streamed, aggregated, and stored in the Uptycs backend and then made accessible via our API, allowing the integration of Uptycs data with other services.
The Uptycs-Demisto integration (available here in the Demisto Integration catalog) allows customers of both solutions the use of Uptycs data within their Demisto instance.
Link: https://securityboulevard.com/2019/08/demisto-uptycs-orchestrating-incident-response-activities/
Secureworks Unveils 24/7 Threat Detection and Response Service
Dan Kobialka
MSSP Alert
Secureworks, a Top 100 MSSP, has added a 24/7 service to its Red Cloak Threat Detection and Response (TDR) offering.
Red Cloak TDR’s 24/7 service helps organizations scale their security expertise and combat cyber threats, according to Secureworks.
In doing so, the service enables organizations to accelerate threat detection, response and remediation.
The 24/7 service for Red Cloak TDR is now available.
Also, Secureworks is showcasing its updated version of Red Cloak TDR at this week’s Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Red Cloak TDR is a managed detection and response (MDR) offering designed to help organizations identify cyber threats that typically go undetected by traditional security solutions, Secureworks noted.
It uses insights from incident response engagements to provide continuously updated threat intelligence and analytics that enables organizations to recognize malicious activity.
In addition, Red Cloak TDR analyzes data from IT environments and applies advanced analytics and threat intelligence, Secureworks said.
It then alerts end users if it identifies suspicious activity that requires attention.
Link: https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-companies/mssps/secureworks-threat-detection/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
IBM: Average Destructive Attacks Costs Over $200 Million
Dan Kobialka
MSSP Alert
Destructive malware, malicious software with the capability to render affected systems inoperable, represents a growing problem for global organizations, according to IBM X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services (IRIS).
Large multinational companies appear to incur costs around $239 million per destructive malware incident — 61 times greater than the cost of a typical data breach, IBM IRIS noted.
Furthermore, the average destructive malware attack affects 12,316 computer workstations and servers and requires 512 hours to remediate.
Link: https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/ibm-destructive-malware-costs/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendpress&utm_campaign
Cylance report looks into questionable pentesting practices
Security Brief – Asia
BlackBerry has announced that new research from the BlackBerry Cylance Threat Intelligence Team has uncovered a trove of highly sensitive data.
In Thin Red Line: Penetration Testing Practices Examined, the BlackBerry Cylance Threat Intelligence Team sheds light on a range of questionable pentesting practices, by-products and outcomes.
The report raises critical questions about the industry’s adherence to expectations of privacy and confidentiality, as well as compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Included in the report is a case study of an advanced persistent threat (APT) like group which the research team found to be operating openly as a Brazilian security firm that is linked to the exposure of sensitive air traffic control data.
The research also explores the tradecraft of more than two dozen well-known companies offering pentesting services, from boutiques to blue chips, and finds the widespread exposure of client data in semi-public repositories.
Link: https://securitybrief.asia/story/cylance-report-looks-into-questionable-pentesting-practices
Nmap 7.80 released: A mature Npcap Windows packet capturing driver, 11 new NSE scripts
Help Net Security
It includes a mature Npcap raw packet capturing/sending driver, 11 new NSE scripts, a bunch of new libraries, bug fixes and performance improvements.
Nmap team has created the Npcap raw packet capturing/sending driver because the previously used Winpcap hasn’t been updated since 2013, doesn’t always work on Windows 10, and depends on long-deprecated Windows APIs.
Npcap uses modern APIs, is more performant, secure and featureful.
Nmap 7.80 updates the bundled Npcap from version 0.99-r2 to 0.9982, including all changes from the last 15 Npcap releases.
Link: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/08/12/nmap-7-80/
NTT Security partners with Europol to bolster Threat Intelligence
Response Source
NTT Security, the specialised security company of NTT Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).
This latest move forms part of its committment to sharing its strategic threat intelligence with industry partners and law enforcement agencies to prevent cybercrime globally.
The new MoU defines a framework for NTT Security and Europol to exchange strategic threat intelligence as well as information relating to cybersecurity trends and industry best practice.
Trust building through public-private sector partnerships is a priorty for NTT Security as it looks to enhance it’s relationship with EC3 which now includes NTT Security’s Global Threat Intelligence and Incident Center (GTIC)
Europol is one of many partners with whom NTT Security collaborates.
Others include the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA); Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers (CREST); Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) Forum of Incident Response Teams (FIRST) and others.
Link: https://pressreleases.responsesource.com/news/98221/ntt-security-partners-with-europol-to-bolster-threat-intelligence/
ConnectWise Identifies MSP Security Holes Through Risk Assessments
Maddie Bacon
Channel Futures
More than half of MSPs don’t do basic security awareness training, according to new data from ConnectWise.
57% of participating MSPs and SMBs don’t do security awareness training, 48% have not assessed or analyzed cybersecurity attack targets and tactics, and 48% don’t have a security incident response plan in place — all while more than 60% of SMBs experience cyberattacks or data breaches, according to the “2017 State of Cybersecurity in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB)” report from Ponemon Institute.
Link: https://www.channelfutures.com/security/connectwise-identifies-msp-security-holes-through-risk-assessments
Stronger as One: IronNet Expands the Power of Collective Defense to Organizations of All Sizes
Iron Net
New strategic initiative will improve cyber defense collaboration and security outcomes across organization and industry
IronNet Cybersecurity, the leading provider of collective defense and network behavioral analysis for companies and industries, today announces that IronDome, the industry’s first and only collective defense platform, is now available to companies of all sizes.
IronDome is a revolutionary way to defend against sophisticated and well-funded cyber adversaries by enabling organizations to join resources and envision impending potential threats to collectively defend against targeted attacks.
The platform applies advanced behavioral analytics, AI, and machine learning techniques to network traffic data and combines the tradecraft knowledge of the best offensive and defensive cyber operators in the world with world-class mathematicians and data scientists.
This IronDome expansion will be the first cross-sector sharing initiative at scale.
Additional initiatives will be launched to complement other public-private sharing entities and to provide a real-time anonymized view into domestic and international threats for cyber response.
Link: https://ironnet.com/new/stronger-as-one-ironnet-expands-the-power-of-collective-defense-to-organizations-of-all-sizes/
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