Research, news and updates on threats and cybersecurity
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) just finalized new draft guidelines, completely reversing previous password security recommendations and upending many of the standards and best practices security professionals use when forming policies for their companies.
In our four-part series investigating the vulnerabilities of multi-factor authentication (MFA), we’ve learned a lot about the methods hackers use to crack these systems. Social engineering, technical hacks, and a mixture of both can all play a role in weakening the authentication factors we depend on to protect our business’s critical data. The truth is that cybersecurity measures can’t be …
In a recent release, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) provided insight into the increasing frequency of occurrences of Account Takeover (ATO) within the financial industry. The report also produced guidance for organizations looking to tighten their cybersecurity, but no direction was provided regarding the growing issue of password hygiene. ATO: What’s really happening? When hackers gain unauthorized access to …
The recent report on The State Password Security in the Enterprise reveals several essential findings for system administrators and security professionals alike. First, whether we are happy about it or not, passwords are going to be around for a long time. Second, organizations need to familiarize themselves with current industry recommendations. And third, due to the frequency of cyber-attacks involving …
Planning, Protecting and Not Paying Your company is aware of the many attempts that hackers make every day to infiltrate organizations, steal data, and demand ransoms. Hacking methods seem to propagate rapidly, but ransomware has been making the headlines regularly in the past two years. Ransomware, a form of malware, accounted for about ten percent of the breaches collated in …
Investigating the repercussions of ransomware attacks The number of ransomware attacks and the frequency of institutions paying those ransomshas increased over the past years. Unfortunately, this hasn’t correlated with those institutions getting their data or systems back. So, should organizations stop paying ransoms? What is ransomware? Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts the victim organization or individual’s data. …
The education sector is a prime target for credential attacks and password reuse is rampant. So, we took some time to talk with one of our customers (a large private university) about how our solution has enabled them to shore up their defenses and reduce the risk from compromised credentials. Tell us about your situation. Higher education is similar to …
Data from the first quarter of 2021 showed an increased frequency of data breaches and compromised personal information. The annual report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) indicates the number of individuals with some form of personal data leaked online increased by 546% from the last quarter of 2020 to the first of 2021. And no, that percentage is …
Every aspect of our lives is touched by the digital world and passwords are one of the most critical issues in cybersecurity. Internet users of all ages and abilities employ passwords without necessarily understanding the process. Why are they being asked to create passwords with specifications like capital letters and only certain symbols? It’s time for us all to visit …
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the RockYou2021 breached password list. Many articles have been published about this incident and password lists associated with it. However, some reported information is misleading or downright wrong. Let’s dive into what the RockYou2021 list means for you and organizations worldwide. What is RockYou2021? For a quick recap, RockYou2021 …
One of the largest, most economically devastating ransomware attacks occurred less than a month ago, and details of the attack are starting to become clearer. So what was the catalyst for this attack? It was as simple as a compromised password. As initially reported by Bloomberg, DarkSide was able to breach Colonial Pipeline and inject ransomware, crippling their infrastructure and …
