Nothing is more difficult than making predictions. Instead of trowing out wild ideas what might be coming, will be making educated guesses based on what has happened during the last 12 months and several years before that.
The past year has seen a rapid increase in the adoption of up-and-coming technologies. Everyday items are getting
smarter and more connected. Companies are saving millions with new technologies and cities are racing to
implement smart solutions. 5G promises to bring wireless high speed broadband to everywhere. On the other hand those solutions add new kinds of vulnerabilities. Competing in today’s digital marketplace requires that organizations are cyber-savvy. 2020 is when cybersecurity gets even weirder, so get ready.
Here are some trends and predictions for cyber security in 2020:
Cyber Attacks: Cyberattacks grow in volume and complexity.Many countries that are going to emerge as major threats in the 2020s. Nation-state backed cyber groups have been responsible for major incidents over the last decade. And now more countries want the same power. Cyberattacks range from targeting your database to steal information that can be sold on the dark web, to hijacking unused CPU cycles on your devices to mine for cryptocurrencies, or trying to infect vulnerable systems so they can be used later as part of a botnet.
IoT security: IoT security is still getting worse until it starts to get better. IoT security is an extremely hot topic right now and will be hot for many years to come. Industrial IoT risk has been discussed a lot. Physics dictates local application deployment, because the control rate of most industrial systems is 10 milliseconds or below. Smart Building Security Awareness Grows. The risks of the IoT in financial services are great. An explosion in IoT devices significantly raises the threat level. Gartner predicted that the world will see nearly 21 billion IoT devices by next year and it would be nice if all of them would be secure, but many of them unfortunately are not secure. Hackers are continually looking for ways to exploit device vulnerabilities. From smart TV’s, IP cameras, and smart elevators, to hospital infusion pumps and industrial PLC controllers, IoT and OT (Operational Technology) devices are inherently vulnerable and easy to hack. Why? Because IoT security is complicated and security should consider and integrated with IoT deployments. Gartner Says Worldwide IoT Security Spending Will Reach $1.9 Billion in 2019, and will raise to $ 3.1 billion in 2021, making it one of the fastest growing segments in cybersecurity industry. IoT landscape is complex, and so are the security solutions. These tackle the different challenges of IoT- device hardening, encryption, discovery, data protection, malware and anomaly detection, policy enforcement and more. You might have to do a little work with your internet of things devices to stay secure. A failure by many IoT device manufacturers to follow cryptographic best practices is leaving a high proportion of the devices vulnerable to attack. One in every 172 active RSA certificates are vulnerable to attack. It is a good idea to build a separate network segments for IoT devices so that they are isolated from the normal office network. FBI recommends that you keep your IoT devices on a separate network.
IoT privacy: Silicon Valley Is Listening to Your Most Intimate Moments. The world’s biggest companies got millions of people to let temps analyze some very sensitive recordings made by your “smart” speakers and smart phones. A quarter of Americans have bought “smart speaker” devices such as the Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod. Consulting firm Juniper Research Ltd. estimates that by 2023 the global annual market for smart speakers will reach $11 billion, and there will be about 7.4 billion voice-controlled devices in the wild. That’s about one for every person on Earth. The question is, then what? Having microphones that listen all the time is concerning. Also some attackers are terrifying homeowners and making them feel violated in their own homes.
Medical systems security: Cyberattacks on Medical Devices Are on the Rise—and Manufacturers Must Respond. Attacks on networked medical devices, and the data they collect and transmit, can be costly. Patient safety is a critical concern, especially with devices such as defibrillators and insulin pumps that could cause patient harm or death if they malfunction. It’s shocking that a few years after WannaCry and NotPetya, the healthcare industry is still not prepared to deal with ransomware attacks. Many hospitals and healthcare networks that have been hit by ransomware over the past few months.
Surveillance cameras: Surveillance cameras are capturing what we do on the streets, at airports, in stores, and in much of our public space. China’s Orwellian video surveillance gets a bad rap but the US isn’t far behind as US has nearly the same ratio of security cameras to citizens as China.And the numbers are growing all over the world. One billion surveillance cameras will be deployed globally by 2021, according to data compiled by IHS Markit. Russia is building one of the world’s largest facial recognition networks and it may even be bigger than China’s 200 million camera system. China’s installed base is expected to rise to over 560 million cameras by 2021, representing the largest share of surveillance devices installed globally, with the US rising to around 85 million cameras. Now US, like China, has about one surveillance camera for every four people (in 2018 China had 350 million cameras and USA 70 million). Surveillance cameras are getting better, smaller and cheaper and can be installed almost anywhere. It would be very easy to sneak another device onto a hotel’s Wi-Fi network, stream that video over the internet to the computer.
Facial recognition: Private companies and governments worldwide are already experimenting with facial recognition technology. Facial recognition software is touted as making us safer. But mass surveillance has downsides of major proportions. Massive errors found in facial recognition tech. Facial recognition systems can produce wildly inaccurate results, especially for non-whites. Russia is building one of the world’s largest facial recognition networks. Individuals, lawmakers, developers – and everyone in between – should be aware of the rise of facial recognition, and the risks it poses to rights to privacy, freedom, democracy and non-discrimination.
Shut off Internet: Worrying worldwide trend employed by various governments: preventing people from communicating on the web and accessing information. Amid widespread demonstrations over different issues many countries have started cutting Internet connections from people. Some countries, namely China, architected their internet infrastructure from the start with government control in mind. Russia is aiming to this direction. Iran, India, Russia. For better or worse, an internet blackout limits the government’s ability to conduct digital surveillance on citizens.
Security First: Implementing Cyber Best Practices Requires a Security-First Approach. Competing in today’s digital marketplace requires that organizations be cyber-savvy. The best defense is to start with a security-driven development and networking strategy that builds a hardened digital presence from the ground up. This not only ensures that your online services and web applications are protected from compromise, but also enables security to automatically evolve and adapt right alongside the development of your digital presence, rather than it having to be constantly rigged and retrofitted to adapt to digital innovation.
Zero Trust Network Access: Many of the most damaging breaches have been the result of users gaining access to unauthorized levels of network resources and devices. Zero Trust is an enforceable, identity-driven access policy that includes seamless and secure two-factor/OTP authentication across the organization. Zero Trust Network Access ensures that all users and devices are identified, profiled, and provided appropriate network access. It also ensures that new devices are automatically assigned to appropriate network segments based on things like device profiles and owners. When combined with Network Access Control (NAC), organizations can also discover, identify, grant appropriate access, and monitor devices, thereby enhancing your access and segmentation strategy.
Anti-virus software: Only Half of Malware Caught by Signature AV. The percentage of malware that successfully bypassed signature-based antivirus scanners at companies’ network gateways has increased significantly, either by scrambling
code known as “packing” using basic encryption techniques or by the automatic creation of code variants. It seems that new approaches like machine learning and behavioral detection are necessary to catch threats. Meanwhile, network attacks have risen, especially against older vulnerabilities.
Ransomware attacks: Ransomware will remain a major threat in the coming year, as the criminal business model continues to flourish. That’s a move that security professionals have long condemned, warning that paying the ransom in a ransomware attack could end up causing more turmoil for victims – as well as inspire other cybercriminals to launch ransomware attacks. Microsoft never encourage a ransomware victim to pay. What to do with this is question. How much does a large-scale ransomware attack cost, as opposed to just hiring an adequate number of skilled IT personnel, and having disaster recovery plans in place? There is no complete security solution that could stop all attacks, but you should have decent protection. It would seem prudent to have adequate staff and offline BACKUPS to deal with this kind of situation, so decent recovery would be possible. Having no backup system is the gamble many companies and public entities seem to be playing. Good backups helps to recover from ransom attacks. There are new tactics coming to use in ransomware. A new Snatch ransomware strain that will reboot computers it infects into Safe Mode to disable any resident security solutions. Another new tactic by ransomware developers is to release a victim’s data if they do not pay the ransom – they will publish data that they steal to a competitor if the ransom is not paid.
Public sector: Public Sector Security Is Lagging. The state of cybersecurity and resilience in the public sector needs an
urgent boost in many countries. U.S. citizens rely on state governments and local municipalities to provide a host of services everything from access to public records, law enforcement protection, education and welfare to voting and election services. Cybercriminals have been targeting state and local governments with ransomware tools, which infect an organization’s computer networks and lock up critical files.
Consumer confidence: Winning consumer confidence is crucial to the development of new digital services. In a PwC study, consumers are prepared to share personal information if it is of sufficient value to them. On the other hand, consumer confidence also needs to be earned that you keep the information safe.
API security: APIs now account for 40% of the attack surface for all web-enabled apps. It’s a good time to pay attention to API security, since some recent high-profile breaches have involved API vulnerabilities. OWASP, the Open Web Application Security Project known for its top 10 list of web application vulnerabilities, published the release candidate version of its API Security Top 10 list at the end of September 2019. Also it’s almost 2020 and some sysadmins are still leaving Docker admin ports exposed on the internet.
Skills gap: Security teams are already grappling with serious challenges due to the growing cybersecurity skills gap, are being tasked to secure an ever-expanding network footprint. Security teams are often left to secure virtual and cloud environments, the implementation of SaaS services, DevOps projects, the growing adoption of IoT, mobile workers, and an expanding array of personal connected devices after they have already been implemented. They often do not have enough people and enough knowledge on those new technologies to do their work well. The cybersecurity unemployment rate is zero, with over 1 million jobs currently unfilled, a number that is expected to climb to 3.5 million by 2021. 145% Growth is Needed to Meet Global Demand.
Think Like Your Adversary: Cybersecurity leaders need to access the potential vulnerabilities (from the mindset of the adversary) and devise effective defensive countermeasures unique to their company’s needs. Programmers Should Think like Hackers. Security must be taken into account in all programming steps.
Third party security: Most Companies Don’t Properly Manage Third-Party Cyber Risk. It’s been established that good cybersecurity requires not just an internal assessment of an organization’s own security practices, but also a close look at the security of the partners that businesses rely upon in today’s modern, interconnected world. Developing a Third-Party Cyber Risk Management (TPCRM) strategy is becoming more common with every news headline regarding a major breach that stemmed from a company’s relationship with a third-party.
Privacy and surveillance: Fears Grow on Digital Surveillance. Americans are increasingly fearful of monitoring of their online and offline activities, both by governments and private companies. More than 60 percent of US adults believe it is impossible to go about daily life without having personal information collected by companies or the government. Google and Facebook help connect the world and provide crucial services to billions. But their system can also be used for surveillance. Amnesty International says Facebook and Google’s omnipresent surveillance is inherently incompatible with the right to privacy and is a danger to human rights. The claim is that the companies’ surveillance-based business model is inherently incompatible with the right to privacy and poses a threat to a range of other rights including freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of thought, and the right to equality and non-discrimination. Amnesty International has called for a radical transformation of the tech giants’ core business model and said that Google and Facebook should be forced to abandon what it calls their surveillance-based business model because it is “predicated on human rights abuse.”
5G: Forecasting that 2020 will be “the year of 5G” no longer qualifies as a bold prediction. Billions of dollars’ worth of 5G rollouts are scheduled for the coming year, which will bring the emergent technology to countries around the world. The arrival of 5G will fuel an explosion of never-before-seen IoT machines, introducing uncharted vulnerabilities and opening the door for cyber-criminals to compromise our increasingly intertwined cities. Claims that 5G offers “better security” for IoT may not ring true.
5G security: The new 5G mobile networks will be the backbone of future digitalized operations. Therefore, it is also important to ensure the security and immunity of 5G networks.The Council of the European Union has warned member states that the introduction of 5G networks poses increased security risks while also bringing economic and infrastructure benefits. ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity has published a ThreatLandscape for 5G Networks, assessing the threats related to the fifth generation of mobile telecommunications networks (5G). Organised cybercrime, rogue insiders and nation-state-backed hackers are among the groups that could soon be targeting 5G networks. Claims that 5G offers “better security” for IoT may not ring true – with the technology remaining vulnerable to SIM-jacking attacks within private Industry 4.0-style deployments. 5G SIM-swap attacks could be even worse for industrial IoT than now. Criminals can convince telcos to port a victim’s number to a new SIM card controlled by the criminal. Trust your hardware or operator? Pah, you oughta trust nobody. Do not put all your security and identification to this SIM card.
DNS Over HTTPS (DoH): DoH encrypted DNS queries are already set to arrive in Chrome and Firefox web browsers. Microsoft Will Bring DNS Over HTTPS (DoH) to Windows 10 in an attempt to keep user traffic as private as possible. DoH support in Windows means encrypted DNS queries. Microsoft says that DoH doesn’t require DNS centralization if adoption is broad among operating systems and Internet service providers alike.
Firewall configuration: Now, more than ever, it is important to automate firewall processes to prevent misconfigurations and data breaches. Gartner has warned that “50% of enterprises will unknowingly and mistakenly have exposed some IaaS storage services, network segments, applications or APIs directly to the public internet, up from 25% at YE18.”. This is a human problem, not a firewall problem.
Bot attacks: Bots are being used to take over user accounts, perform DDoS attacks, abuse APIs, scrape unique content and pricing information and more. Organizations are Failing to Deal With Rising Bot Attacks.
Network security: Networks are continually growing in complexity and the cyberattack surface is constantly expanding. The network perimeter of today is elastic, expanding and contracting with the demands of both users and the business. In a rush to adopt digital business practices, many of these new network expansion projects are often being implemented ad hoc by individual lines of business. Routers sit at the edge of the network and see everything and they can be utilized to Making the Network the First Line of Defense. A critical step in building a stronger security posture and more robust data protection strategy is a 24×7 facility whose mission is to monitor, detect, investigate and resolve active threats. Cybercriminals only need to be successful once in finding a way to access the network – but the security team needs to monitor everything on the network and be right all the time to ensure security. Today’s core network is continually adapting to the introduction of new devices, applications, and workflows, along with shifting network configurations to support business requirements, requiring the use of advanced, intent-based segmentation.
Security-Driven Networking: Security-Driven Networking is a new, strategic approach to security that enables the seamless expansion of network environments and services without ever compromising on security. Essentially, it begins by crafting a comprehensive security policy that covers the entire organization. It outlines the protocols, enforcement and inspection technologies, policies, and protections required to be in place before any new network environment or solution is even placed on the drawing board. It requires the selection and full integration of security tools that not only work together to share and correlate intelligence and coordinate a unified response to threats, but that also work seamlessly across the widest variety of environments possible.
Critical infrastructure: Determined threat actors have, for some time, been extending their toolsets beyond Windows, and even beyond PC systems. In recent years, we have seen a number of high-profile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities and these have typically been aligned to wider geo-political objectives. Expect targeted attacks on critical infrastructure facilities to increase. APT33 has shifted targeting to industrial control systems software. We need to be worried about Cyber-Physical Security of the Power Grid. To protect this infrastructure you need to prioritize strategic risks that affect critical infrastructure: Concern yourself with the most important hacks, Understand the critical pieces of your infrastructure and Know your inter-dependencies.
Payment security: Payment security backslides for second straight year in 2019. Verizon’s 2019 Payment Security Report found that full compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) fell to36.7% globally, down from 52.5% in 2018. At the same time EU’s PSD2 (Payments Services Directive) lays down regulatory requirements for companies that provide payment services, including the use of personal data by new fintech companies that are not part of the established banking community. Security of online, including mobile, payments is a key aspect of the legislation. Nevertheless, as banks will be required to open their infrastructure and data to third parties. Although SSLv3 has been considered obsolete and insecure for a long time, a large number of web servers still support its use.
Election security: Nowadays, no elections can be held any longer without debate on influencing voters through online services. There are on-going accusations of Russian interference in US elections and fears about a possible reboot of this in the run-up to the 2020 elections. U.S. military cyber experts are plotting strategy in a fight against potential Russian and other cyberattacks ahead of the 2020 American and Montenegrin elections. As the 2020 Presidential election looms closer in the United
States, a key focus will be on securing election infrastructure to prevent tampering. Most of the largest US voting districts are still vulnerable to email spoofing. Also disinformation campaigns for political purposes are deeply rooted in cybercriminal endeavors. It’s quite possible that we will see changes to legislation and policy, as governments look to define more clearly what is and what isn’t allowed. Hacking is considered to be the biggest tech threats to 2020 elections in USA. Legislators are working on new laws, but it is not going to be enough in an era when technology is turning out entirely new attack surfaces.
False Flags: The use of false flags has become an important element in the playbook of several APT groups. This can be used to try to deflect attention away from those responsible for the attack or what is really happening.
Common attack tools: Cyber actors continually use commodity malware, scripts, publicly available security tools or administrator software during their attacks and for lateral movement, making attribution increasingly difficult.
Vulnerability disclosure: Most “white hat” cyber engineers seem to be driven by a sense of social responsibility best expressed as, “If you find something, say something.” Across the industry, the ethos is to share information quickly, whether the problem is a newly discovered exploit or an evolving cyber threat. The goal is to impel the affected vendor—hardware or software—to take quick action and produce a fix. There are good and bad ways to make vulnerabilities known. A premature “full disclosure” of a previously unknown issue can unleash the forces of evil, and the “black hats” often move faster than vendors or enterprise IT teams. The preferred path is a “responsible” or “coordinated” disclosure that happens behind the scenes. Public announcements occur after a specified period of time—typically 90 or 120 days. But things don’t work this way always.
Ransomware: Cybercriminals have become more targeted in their use of ransomware. It is inevitable that the cybercriminals will also attempt to diversify their attacks to include other types of devices besides PCs or servers. There is a Ransomware ‘Crisis’ in US Schools and in many cities in USA.
Supply chain: Use of supply chains will continue to be one of the most difficult delivery methods to address. It is likely that attackers will continue to expand this method through manipulated software containers, for example, and abuse of packages and libraries. Medium-sized companies are being targeted even more heavily by cyber criminals. They are often the weakest link in supply chains that include large corporations. There is the growth of counterfeit electronics.
Mobile: The main storage for our digital lives has moved from the PC to mobiles over last 10 years. Several countries have started demanding their own software (maybe in some cases also malware) to be installed to all smart phones. Putin signs law making Russian apps mandatory on smartphones, computers.
Android: Today 80% of Android apps are encrypting traffic by default. To ensure apps are safe, apps targeting Android 9 (API level 28) or higher automatically have a policy set by default that prevents unencrypted traffic for every domain. The heterogeneity of the Android versions will continue to be a problem in the coming year.
DDoS attacks: DNS amplification attacks continue to dominate distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, while mobile devices make up a larger share of traffic. The number of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks rose 86% in the third quarter compared to a year ago. DNS amplification attacks accounted for 45% of the attacks, while HTTP
floods and TCP SYN attacks accounted for 14%. Mobile Devices Account for 41% of DDoS Attack Traffic.
Business security: Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) increasingly recognize that a reactive security posture is no longer sufficient for protecting their networks. Breaches will happen. Companies should treat cyberattacks “as a matter of when” and not “whether.” Inside threads are still a big issue as Employees are one of your biggest assets, but human beings are the weakest link in the security chain. Data leaks help attackers to craft more convincing social engineering attacks. Plan proper incident management because Quick, reliable, multichannel communication is a vital part of any incident management solution. Cybercriminals often choose very small companies as their targets because small businesses rarely spend significant money on security systems. Medium-sized companies are being targeted even more heavily by cyber criminals. They are often the weakest link in supply chains that include large corporations.
Cyber insurance: Cyber Has Emerged as a Risk That is Not Specifically Covered by Other Insurance Policies. Since business is now urged to take a risk management approach to cyber security, it is natural and inevitable that cyber insurance should be considered as part of the mix. Cyber insurance is set to grow.
New encryption: The problem with encrypted data is that you must decrypt it in order to work with it. There is a powerful solution to this scenario: homomorphic encryption. Homomorphic encryption makes it possible to analyze or manipulate encrypted data without revealing the data to anyone. Just like many other populr forms of encryption, homomorphic encryption uses a public key to encrypt the data. There are three main types of homomorphic encryption: partially homomorphic encryption (keeps sensitive data secure by only allowing select mathematical functions to be performed on encrypted data); somewhat homomorphic encryption (supports limited operations that can be performed only a set number of times); fully homomorphic encryption (this is the gold standard of homomorphic encryption that keeps information secure and accessible). Cryptographers have known of the concept of homomorphic encryption since 1978 but Gentry established the first homomorphic encryption scheme in 2009.The biggest barrier to widescale adoption of homomorphic encryption is that it is still very slow. Duality, a security startup co-founded by the creator of homomorphic encryption, raises $16M.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): The buzzword for 2019 that we have all heard a thousand times was Artificial Intelligence, AI. The term AI is often interchanged with machine learning. There is a lot of research to examine AI applications on cyber security. As cyberattacks grow in volume and complexity, hopefully artificial intelligence (AI) is helping under-resourced security operations analysts stay ahead of threats. Cybersecurity tools currently use this data aggregation and pattern analysis in the field of heuristic modeling: THE TRUE FUNCTION OF AI WILL BE TO DETERMINE WITH A LONG ARC OF TIME AND DATA, WHAT “NORMAL” LOOKS LIKE FOR A USER. AI can act as an advisor to analysts, helping them quickly identify and connect the dots between threats. Finnish cyber security company F-Secure is making research on AI agents and on that Mikko Hyppönen says that AI should not used to try to imitate humans and that artificial intelligence-based attacks are expected in the near future. Another Finnish cyber security company Nixu says that Artificial intelligence is going to revolutionize cyber security. According to Orlando Scott-Cowley from Amazon Web Services machine learning is the new normal in cyber security. Advanced Machine Learning layers are to be integrated into the latest Windows cybersecurity products. Leaders in artificial intelligence warn that progress is slowing, big challenges remain, and simply throwing more computers at a problem isn’t sustainable.
2020 problems: Has your business prepared for the ‘2020 problem’? Software updates for Windows 7 will end on January 14, 2020. As of Jan. 14, 2020, Windows 7 and Server 2008 technical support and software updates will no longer be available from Windows Update. There will no longer be updates for Office 2010. Some business users can buy extended security update support with extra money for some time. Python will stop supporting Python version 2 on January 1, 2020. Beginning on January 1, 2020, un-patched Splunk platform instances will be unable to recognize timestamps from events where the date contains a two-digit year. December 2019 Patch Tuesday was the last time Microsoft ever offered security updates for devices running Windows 10 Mobile.
Crypto wars continue: A decades-old debate: Government officials have long argued that encryption makes criminal investigations too hard. Governments all over the world say that Encrypted communication is a huge issue for law enforcement and the balance between the privacy of citizens and effective policing of criminal activity is top of mind for governments, technology companies, citizens and privacy organisations all over the world. The international police organization Interpol plans to condemn the spread of strong encryption. Top law enforcement officials in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, the larger group will cite difficulties in catching child sexual predators as grounds for companies opening up user communications to authorities wielding court warrants. Congress warns tech companies: Take action on encryption, or we will. US lawmakers are poised to “impose our will” if tech companies don’t weaken encryption so police can access data.
Do not weaken encryption: Companies, they say, should build in special access that law enforcement could use with a court’s permission. Technologists say creating these back doors would weaken digital security for everyone. Unfortunately, every privacy protection mechanism is subject to abuse by the morally challenged. That’s just a truth that must be accepted and overcome. Invading the privacy of the masses in order to catch criminals is unacceptable. Remember three things: One, that strong encryption is necessary for personal and national security. Two, that weakening encryption does more harm than good. And three, law enforcement has other avenues for criminal investigation than eavesdropping on communications and stored devices. If back-doors are added to encryption, they will be abused. If You Think Encryption Back Doors Won’t Be Abused, You May Be a Member of Congress. Bad encryption can have business consequences. Apple and Facebook told the committee that back doors would introduce massive privacy and security threats and would drive users to devices from overseas. In Australia 40% of firms say they have lost sales say they have lost sales or other commercial opportunities as a result of the encryption law being in place.
2FA: The second authentication factor might be a minor inconvenience, but it provides a major security boost. With past years riddled with security breaches, it is high time we evaluated the way we secure our online presence. Two factors are much better than one, but can still be hacked. Attacks that phish 2FA to access email accounts cost $100-$400; such attacks can be prevented with physical security keys. Also some physical security keys can be hacked as they turn to be less secure that what they were told to be in the advertisements.
Myth of sophisticated hacker in news: It’s the latest lexical stretch for an adjective that’s widely used in reports of cybersecurity incidents — and widely loathed by researchers as a result. If everything is sophisticated, nothing is sophisticated.
New security models: Google moved from perimeter-based to cloud-native security. Google’s architecture is the inspiration and template for what’s widely known as “cloud-native” today—using microservices and containers to enable workloads to be split into smaller, more manageable units for maintenance and discovery. Google’s cloud-native architecture was developed prioritizing security as part of every evolution.
Hacktivists: Hacktivists seek to obtain private information about large companies in order to embarrass or expose the company’s controversial business practices. Many companies are a treasure trove for personal information, whether they realize it or not. Experian is predicting that the emerging cannabis industry will experience an increase in data breaches and cybersecurity threats in 2020.
RCS messaging: RCS, expanded as Rich Communications Services, is a protocol that aims to replace SMS.RCS messaging has rolled out to Android users in the US. The update brings a lot of new features like chat, send hi-res videos and photos and create group chat. One criticism of RCS is that it doesn’t provide end-to-end encryption. RCS could be also better in many other security aspects. Researchers have discovered that the RCS protocol exposes most users to several cyber attacks. These risks are said to be mitigated by implementing the protocol with the security perspective in mind. The standard itself allows for poor security implementation, but GSMA advises its members to deploy rcs with the most secure settings possible.
Data breaches: Billions of Sensitive Files Exposed Online all the time. During the first six months of 2019, more than 4 billion records were exposed by data breaches. That’s a shocking statistic that’s made even more so when you realize that passwords were included in droves. On December 4, a security researcher discovered a treasure trove of more than a billion plain-text passwords in an unsecured online database. Many businesses wrongly assume they are too small to be on the radar of the threat actors. The truth is that it is all about the data, and small businesses often have less well-guarded data stores. All organizations are exposed to security breaches: from large multinationals to SMEs and public administrations. A common thread is unsecured cloud-based databases that left the sensitive information wide open for anyone to access online.
Phishing: Phishing remains 1 of the most pervasive online threats. Phishing emails are still managing to catch everyone out. Phishing e-mails which are used to steal credentials usually depend on user clicking a link which leads to a phishing website that looks like login page for some valid service. Google Chrome now offers better protection against it as safe Browsing displays warning messages to users ahead of visiting dangerous websites and before downloading harmful applications. New advanced ways to phish are taken to use.With dynamite phishing, the cyber criminals read the email communication from a system already infected with an information stealer. The infected user’s correspondents then receive malicious emails that quote the last “real” email between the two parties and look like a legitimate response from the infected user. Attacks that phish 2FA to access email accounts cost $100-$400; such attacks can be prevented with physical security keys.
Windows: Microsoft Doesn’t Back Up the Windows Registry Anymore. It’s still possible to perform Windows Registry backups, but the option is disabled by default. It’s time to disconnect RDP from the internet as brute-force attacks and BlueKeep exploits usurp convenience of direct RDP connection. Microsoft is ready to push a full-screen warning to Windows 7 users
who are still running the OS after January 14.
Linux: Support for 32 bit i386 architecture will be dropped by many Linux distributions. It turns out that there are essentially no upstream development resources dedicated to x86_32 Linux. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was badly broken.
Drones: Turkey is getting military drones armed with machine guns. Drone hacking happens. There is now Dronesploit – Metasploit for drones. Metasploit-style CLI framework tailored for tinkering with everybody’s favourite unmanned flying objects.
World market war: China tells government offices to remove all foreign computer equipment. China has ordered the replacement of all foreign PC hardware and operating systems in state offices over the next three years. This will mean that China to ditch all Windows PCs by 2022.China has already some of their own Linux distros like Kylin and Deepin. Many western countries are more or less banning Huawei teleocm equipment.
Cloud security: Traditional security tools and methodologies are ill-suited to protect cloud native’s developer-driven and infrastructure-agnostic multicloud patterns. The vision as laid out by these renown analysts is straightforward. The legacy “data center as the center of the universe” network and network security architecture are obsolete and has become an inhibitor to the needs of digital business. They describe the underpinning shift to cloud infrastructure, a digital transformation that has been underway for ten years. They also point out that the corporate network cannot protect end users who consume cloud applications from any location and any device without the contorting, expensive, backhaul of traffic through the corporate data center. Gartner coins a new term for the future of security and networks, SASE (pronounced sassy), Secure Access Service Edge, which is not anything really new. SASE promises to create a ubiquitous, resilient, and agile secure network service—globally. Most of the stolen data incidents in the cloud are related to simple human errors rather than concerted attacks. Expect that through 2020, 95% of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault. A common thread is unsecured cloud-based databases that left the sensitive information wide open for anyone to access online. Also it’s almost 2020 and some sysadmins are still leaving Docker admin ports exposed on the internet.
Autocracy as a service: Now Any Government Can Buy China’s Tools for Censoring the Internet. “Autocracy as a service” lets countries buy or rent the technology and expertise they need, as they need it. China offers a full-stack of options up and down the layers of the internet, including policies and laws, communications service providers with full internet.
Geopolitics: US-China Tech Divide Could Cause Havoc. It is possible that world’s next major conflict can start in cyberspace. USA has ordered to ban certain hardware from China (Huawei and ZTE). China orders ban on US computers and software. Chinese government to replace foreign hardware and software within three years. Who needs who more?
International cyber politics: Lack of international standards for proper behavior in cyberspace prevents the United States and allies from policing adversaries as they wish to. US can’t ‘enforce standards that don’t exist’. We have international norms in the maritime; we don’t have those in cyber. It makes it difficult to enforce standard that don’t exist, and to therefore hold nations accountable for nefarious behavior. NATO did confirm in 2017 that it could invoke Article 5 of its charter should one or more member nations find themselves under a serious cyberattack that threatens critical military and civilian infrastructure.
Sources:
https://pentestmag.com/iot-security-its-complicated/
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https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/09/dronesploit_framework/
https://www.securityweek.com/blunt-effect-two-edged-sword-vulnerability-disclosures
https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.0/ReleaseNotes/FixDatetimexml2020
https://threatpost.com/email-voted-a-weak-link-for-election-security-with-dmarc-lagging/150909/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/04/council_of_eu_5g_risks/
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/05/major-voting-districts-vulnerable-email-security/
https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2019/12/241053-hack-for-hire/fulltext
http://read.uberflip.com/i/1180978-siliconexpert-growth-of-counterfeit-electronics-3/0?acctid=6759
https://www.zdnet.com/article/2020-is-when-cybersecurity-gets-even-weirder-so-get-ready/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/09/china_orders_ban_on_us_computers_and_software/
https://www.securityweek.com/case-cyber-insurance
https://www.eetimes.eu/ai-will-empower-industry-4-0-when-it-arrives/
https://www.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/security/2019-the-ransomware-tsunami/
https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/2019/12/cloud-native-security-platform-age/
https://github.com/dhondta/dronesploit/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/1-in-every-172-active-rsa-certificates-are-vulnerable-to-exploit/
https://nationalcybersecurity.com/hacking-the-biggest-tech-threats-to-2020-elections/
https://www.welivesecurity.com/2019/12/17/bluekeep-time-disconnect-rdp-internet/
https://www.eff.org/wp/behind-the-one-way-mirror
https://www.gdatasoftware.com/blog/2019/12/35671-early-detection-and-repulsion-of-dangerous-attacks
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000006342803.html
https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/30/duality-cybersecurity-16-million/
https://www.wired.com/story/sobering-message-future-ai-party/
https://security.googleblog.com/2019/12/an-update-on-android-tls-adoption.html?m=1
https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-all-android-users-in-the-us-just-got-rcs-next-gen-sms/
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2019/12/scaring_people_.html
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2019-June/001261.html
https://lwn.net/ml/oss-security/CALCETrW1z0gCLFJz-1Jwj_wcT3+axXkP_wOCxY8JkbSLzV80GA@mail.gmail.com/
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-australia-46463029
https://cyware.com/news/rcs-technology-most-users-are-vulnerable-to-hacking-b53f9a6f
https://hub.packtpub.com/core-python-team-confirms-sunsetting-python-2-on-january-1-2020/
https://www.cnet.com/news/congress-warns-tech-companies-take-action-on-encryption-or-we-will/
https://cyware.com/news/rcs-technology-most-users-are-vulnerable-to-hacking-b53f9a6f
https://edri.org/facial-recognition-and-fundamental-rights-101/
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/10/insider-threats-startups-protect/
https://uk.pcmag.com/windows-10/121518/microsoft-doesnt-back-up-the-windows-registry-anymore
https://threatpost.com/ransomware-attack-new-jersey-largest-hospital-system/151148/
https://chiefexecutive.net/bridge-cybersecurity-skills-gap/
https://systemagic.co.uk/has-your-business-prepared-for-the-2020-problem/
https://news.yahoo.com/massive-errors-found-facial-recognition-tech-us-study-215334634.html
https://www.securityweek.com/most-companies-dont-properly-manage-third-party-cyber-risk
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/11/21/hyoty-panee-jakamaan-tietonsa-luottamus-ratkaisee/
https://pentestmag.com/advice-for-a-cybersecurity-leader-think-like-your-adversary/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/11/google-facebook-surveillance-privacy/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol30/1404/2019/en/
https://www.securityweek.com/compromised-connection-5g-will-unite-cities-and-also-put-them-risk
https://www.securityweek.com/amnesty-international-calls-facebook-google-rights-abusers
https://www.securityweek.com/microsoft-will-bring-dns-over-https-doh-windows
https://www.securityweek.com/cybersecurity-workforce-gap-145-growth-needed-meet-global-demand
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/11/19/successful-soc/
https://www.securityweek.com/making-network-first-line-defense
https://techbeacon.com/security/how-prioritize-strategic-risks-affect-critical-infrastructure
https://www.securityweek.com/transitioning-security-driven-networking-strategy
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/16/5g_iot_report/
https://www.securityweek.com/us-montenegro-plot-cyber-warfare-ahead-2020-elections
https://www.securityweek.com/fears-grow-digital-surveillance-us-survey
https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/attack-on-online-retail/31786/
https://www.securityweek.com/implementing-cyber-best-practices-requires-security-first-approach
https://securelist.com/advanced-threat-predictions-for-2020/95055/
https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/smart-building-security-awareness-grows/d/d-id/1336597
https://www.cisomag.com/the-future-of-ai-in-cybersecurity/
https://www.ibm.com/security/artificial-intelligence
https://www.welivesecurity.com/2019/12/13/2fa-double-down-your-security/
https://cannatechtoday.com/experian-predicts-an-increase-in-global-cannabis-industry-data-breaches/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/11/21/f-secure-tutkimaan-tekoalyagentteja/
https://www.securityweek.com/ongoing-research-project-examines-application-ai-cybersecurity
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10151-mikko-hypponen-tekoalyn-ei-pida-matkia-ihmista
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10124-nixu-selvitti-tekoaly-mullistaa-kyberturvan
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10120-kyberturvassa-koneoppiminen-on-uusi-normaali
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000006316233.html
https://www.cyberscoop.com/apt33-microsoft-iran-ics/
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/exploits-and-vulnerabilities/2019/11/exploit-kits-fall-2019-review/
https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/enisa-news/enisa-draws-threat-landscape-of-5g-networks/
https://systemagic.co.uk/has-your-business-prepared-for-the-2020-problem/
https://smartgrid.ieee.org/newsletters/november-2019/the-cyber-physical-security-of-the-power-grid
https://www.wired.com/story/un-secretary-general-antonio-guterres-internet-risks/
https://codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/russia-facial-recognition-networks/
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/9/21002515/surveillance-cameras-globally-us-china-amount-citizens
https://www.wired.com/story/iran-internet-shutoff/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-recommends-that-you-keep-your-iot-devices-on-a-separate-network/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-interpol-encryption-exclusive-idUSKBN1XR0S7
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/to-the-point/does-facial-recognition-software-threaten-our-freedom
1,468 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
3-D printing poses a threat to people’s privacy, experts warn
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-09-d-poses-threat-people-privacy.html
3-D printing technology poses a “grave and growing threat” to individual privacy because of the potential for products to reveal private information about individuals, experts have warned.
A new study warns about a lack of awareness among governments and companies about privacy issues associated with 3-D printers, and calls for changes to treaties on copyright law and international human rights law.
The experts carried out 30 in-depth interviews with representatives from Chinese 3-D printing companies.
The research warns the rise of the Internet of Things, the increasing complexity of watermarking technologies that can survive transfer between different file formats, and the ability for big data to track 3-D printed content could allow greater state surveillance of individuals.
Dr. Griffin said: “3-D printing will have a profound impact upon our notions of social privacy. This has the potential to be considerably more invasive than the Internet of Things. Every physical product that is 3-D printed has the potential to be tracked in a way that has never occurred before. In the future, as 3-D printing becomes more common place, there will be the potential for strangers to trace, track and observe objects, which can reveal an incredible amount of information about the users of such content.”
Legally governing 3-D printing is not straightforward as the underlying technologies are so precise. With 4-D printing objects print themselves and the use of augmented and virtual reality allows for enhanced tracking. There is potential for all 3-D biotech materials such as blood vessels or replicas of body parts, to be traced.
People interviewed as part of the study said they were not saving data or files from customers, but recognized the sensitivities of the personal data which could be collected in the production and use of 3-D printed materials. The process of tracking the use of 3-D printed products was described by one interviewee as an “infringement” of the privacy of the individual.
The academics suggest the current international human rights law framework should be interpreted to deal with and acknowledge the specific issues relating to watermarking in 3-D printed objects.
The voluntary code of conduct would encourage self-regulation of 3-D printing and watermarking. The code would require watermarks to be clearly identified on 3-D files and goods, and measures to be taken to ensure the protection of individual privacy where identifying marks or modes of identification are used within an object or code. There should also be a specific software component that can isolate and protect private information collected from a watermark.
The experts do not believe self-regulation would be sufficient without oversight.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft: Hakkereiden tähtäimessä Bidenin ja Trumpin kampanjat Yhdysvaltain presidentinvaaleissa
Microsoftin mukaan suurin osa vaaleihin vaikuttamaan pyrkivistä kyberhyökkäyksistä ja hakkerointiyrityksistä on epäonnistunut.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11538717
Tomi Engdahl says:
New cyberattacks targeting U.S. elections
https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/09/10/cyberattacks-us-elections-trump-biden/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ireland to Order Facebook to Stop Sending User Data to U.S.
Privacy regulator’s order to suspend the company’s data transfers to the U.S. cites concerns over American government surveillance practices
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ireland-to-order-facebook-to-stop-sending-user-data-to-u-s-11599671980
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.immuniweb.com/blog/state-cybersecurity-dark-web-exposure.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to blur your house on Google Street View (and why you should)
https://mashable.com/article/how-to-blur-your-house-on-google-street-view/
Google Street View offers up a window to the world in all its bizarre, intimate, and often raw glory. That window just so happens to peek into your home, as well. What that peek reveals may be more than you’ve bargained for — think views into bedroom windows, potential fodder for stalkers, and more.
Thankfully, there is something you can do about it. Specifically, you can ask Google to permanently blur your house out — leaving only a smeared suggestion of a building in its place. The entire process is surprisingly easy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Depression.
Low self-esteem.
Suicide.
The consequences of cyberbullying can be devastating. As young people spend more time online during the COVID-19 pandemic, check out our safety tips.
Cyberbullying: What is it and how to stop it
10 things teens want to know about cyberbullying.
https://www.unicef.org/end-violence/how-to-stop-cyberbullying?utm_campaign=safer-internet&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=organic#2
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.techlicious.com/tip/the-secrets-to-finding-hidden-cameras/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cvedetails.com/top-50-vendors.php
Tomi Engdahl says:
Everything Is Listening—We Already Live In A Surveillance State, We Just Don’t Know It
https://www.forbes.com/sites/augustinefou/2020/09/01/everything-is-listeningwe-already-live-in-a-surveillance-state-we-just-dont-know-it/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10: Microsoft Leaves Active Security Exploit Unfixed—For Two Years!
Windows 10: Microsoft Leaves Active Security Exploit Unfixed—For Two Years!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/08/30/windows-10-microsoft-leaves-active-security-exploit-unfixed-for-two-years-glueball/
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is ransomware? Everything you need to know about one of the biggest menaces on the web
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-an-executive-guide-to-one-of-the-biggest-menaces-on-the-web/
Updated: Everything you need to know about ransomware: how it started, why it’s booming, how to protect against it, and what to do if your PC’s infected.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://pentestmag.com/stitch-python-written-cross-platform-rat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://ishotify.com/find-hidden-cameras-in-house/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://edri.org/keep-private-communications-private/
Tomi Engdahl says:
New cyberattacks targeting U.S. elections
https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/09/10/cyberattacks-us-elections-trump-biden/
In recent weeks, Microsoft has detected cyberattacks targeting people
and organizations involved in the upcoming presidential election,
including unsuccessful attacks on people associated with both the
Trump and Biden campaigns, as detailed below.. Strontium, operating
from Russia, has attacked more than 200 organizations including
political campaigns, advocacy groups, parties and political
consultants. Zirconium, operating from China, has attacked
high-profile individuals associated with the election, including
people associated with the Joe Biden for President campaign and
prominent leaders in the international affairs community. Phosphorus,
operating from Iran, has continued to attack the personal accounts of
people associated with the Donald J. Trump for President campaign
Tomi Engdahl says:
An overview of targeted attacks and APTs on Linux
https://securelist.com/an-overview-of-targeted-attacks-and-apts-on-linux/98440/
In this report, we focus on the targeting of Linux resources by APT
threat actors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Porn site users targeted with malicious ads redirecting to exploit
kits, malware
https://www.zdnet.com/article/porn-site-users-targeted-with-malicious-ads-redirecting-to-exploit-kits-malware/
Adult ad networks abused in last hurrah attacks before Flash and IE
near EOL.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Three middle-aged Dutch hackers slipped into Donald Trump’s Twitter
account days before 2016 US election
https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/11/trump_twitter_account_recycled_password/
Three grumpy old hackers in the Netherlands managed to access Donald
Trumps Twitter account in 2016 by extracting his password from the
2012 Linkedin hack.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: Pandemic caused significant shift in buyer appetite in the
dark web
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2020/09/report-pandemic-caused-significant-shift-in-buyer-appetite-in-the-dark-web/
Last year, credentials for PayPal, Facebook, and Airbnb were among the
top goods on high demand in the dark web, aka the Internets
underground market. But due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with most of the
worldwide population sheltering, working, and studying indoors, many
facets of life have made a full 180-degree turnincluding the criminal
world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Malware & ransomware guidance: the reboot!
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/rebooting-malware-and-ransomware-guidance
Using knowledge from the ‘cyber frontline’ to improve our ‘Mitigating
malware and ransomware’ guidance.. see also
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/mitigating-malware-and-ransomware-attacks
Tomi Engdahl says:
Its No Giggle: Managing Expectations for Vulnerability Disclosure
https://threatpost.com/giggle-managing-expectations-vulnerability-disclosure/159039/
Vulnerability-disclosure policies (VDPs), if done right, can help
provide clarity and clear guidelines to both bug-hunters and vendors
when it comes to going public with security flaws.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researcher kept a major Bitcoin bug secret for two years to prevent
attacks
https://www.zdnet.com/article/researcher-kept-a-major-bitcoin-bug-secret-for-two-years-to-prevent-attacks/
The INVDoS bug would have allowed attackers to crash Bitcoin nodes and
other similar blockchains.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Don’t pay the ransom, mate. Don’t even fix a price, say Australia’s
cyber security bods
https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/12/follow_security_basics_and_you/
Most online attacks could be easily avoided by following basic cyber
security advice, Australias national cyber security bureau has said
even as it warned that the impact and severity of things like
ransomware attacks are getting worse and worse.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to enable DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) on Windows
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/how-to-enable-dns-over-https-doh-on-windows/
DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) allows DNS resolution to be performed via the
HTTPS protocol rather than through the normal plain text DNS lookups.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-auto-security-pervasive-computing-32/
U.S. political campaign email systems are getting hit by foreign attackers again from multiple countries, Microsoft warned in a blog. Microsoft let the world that it detected Russian, Chinese and Iranian hackers.
https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/09/10/cyberattacks-us-elections-trump-biden/
Tomi Engdahl says:
I deliberately downloaded ransomware… – Acronis True Image 2020 Showcase
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg4rfeX4m_E
Ransomware is one of the biggest cyber threats today, and we’re going to show you just how easy it is to get infected… by getting infected!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kaspersky Warns Intruders are Targeting Linux Workstations and Servers
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/09/13/1556233/kaspersky-warns-intruders-are-targeting-linux-workstations-and-servers?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
Researchers at Kaspersky “have warned that sophisticated hackers and crooks are increasingly targeting Linux-based devices — using tools specifically designed to exploit vulnerabilities in the platform,” reports TechRepublic:
While Windows tends to be more frequently targeted in mass malware attacks, this is not always the case when it comes to advanced persistent threats (APTs), in which an intruder — often a nation-state or state-sponsored group — establishes a long-term presence on a network. According to Kaspersky, these attackers are increasingly diversifying their arsenals to contain Linux tools, giving them a broader reach over the systems they can target.
Linux servers and workstations are hackers’ next target, security researchers warn
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-servers-and-workstations-are-hackers-next-target-security-researchers-warn/
At a time when use of open-source platforms are on the rise, researchers at Kaspersky have warned that sophisticated hackers and crooks are increasingly targeting Linux-based devices – using tools specifically designed to exploit vulnerabilities in the platform.
According to Kaspersky, these attackers are increasingly diversifying their arsenals to contain Linux tools, giving them a broader reach over the systems they can target. Many organisations choose Linux for strategically important servers and systems, and with a “significant trend” towards using Linux as a desktop environment by big business as well as government bodies, attackers are in turn developing more malware for the platform.
“The trend of enhancing APT toolsets was identified by our experts many times in the past, and Linux-focused tools are no exception,” said Yury Namestnikov, head of Kaspersky’s global research and analysis team in Russia.
“Aiming to secure their systems, IT and security departments are using Linux more often than before. Threat actors are responding to this with the creation of sophisticated tools that are able to penetrate such systems.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vast majority of cyber-attacks on cloud servers aim to mine
cryptocurrency
https://www.zdnet.com/article/vast-majority-of-cyber-attacks-on-cloud-servers-aim-to-mine-cryptocurrency/
Cyber-attacks on cloud systems spiked 250% from 2019 to 2020.
Tomi Engdahl says:
COVID cybercrime: 10 disturbing statistics to keep you awake tonight
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ten-disturbing-coronavirus-related-cybercrime-statistics-to-keep-you-awake-tonight/
Nine out of 10 coronavirus domains are scams. Half a million Zoom
accounts are for sale on the Dark Web. Brute-force attacks are up
400%. And there’s more. So much more.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A “DFUR-ent” Perspective on Threat Modeling and Application Log
Forensic Analysis
https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/09/dfur-ent-perspective-on-threat-modeling-and-application-log-forensic-analysis.html
Many organizations operating in e-commerce, hospitality, healthcare,
managed services, and other service industries rely on web
applications. And buried within the application logs may be the
potential discovery of fraudulent use and/or compromise! But, let’s
face it, finding evil in application logs can be difficult and
overwhelming for a few reasons.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ransomware: This essential step could help you make it through an
attack
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-this-essential-step-could-help-you-make-it-through-an-attack/
New advice from the National Cyber Security Centre urges businesses to
have an incident response plan in place – even if they think they’re
unlikely to fall victim to hackers.
After 12 Years, Malwares puzzling Nuisance Worm Conficker Refuses To
Die
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndunn/2020/09/14/after-12-years-malwares-puzzling-nuisance-worm-conficker-refuses-to-die/
What ranks as historys most successful malware? Depending on who you
ask, the names that come up are usually destructive spectaculars such
as NotPetya and WannaCry from 2017 or perhaps the panic-inducing SQL
Slammer work from 14 years earlier.. It all depends what you mean by
successful, of course, but my choice would be Conficker (aka
downadup), a sophisticated 2008 Windows worm that threatened mayhem
before disappearing not long after before anyone could fathom its true
purpose.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Creating patched binaries for pentesting purposes
https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Creating+patched+binaries+for+pentesting+purposes/26560/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to become a whistleblower
https://cybernews.com/editorial/how-to-become-a-whistleblower/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=rm&utm_content=become_a_whistleblower
Raising issues is important for good governance.
Bad practice and mismanagement happen often – more often than you’d think. The reason we don’t hear about it more is that many companies, governments, and organizations manage to keep a lid on issues through stringent security and the fear that stepping out of line could lead to consequences for the whistleblower.
Yet some of the most urgent and important issues of our time have been raised by whistleblowers, brave individuals who have mustered up the courage to speak up and talk about the concerns they have in the hope that someone will do something about it.
Things to consider
It’s vital to weigh up your options before going down the path of blowing the whistle. Would you be happy – or more realistically, could you live with it – if you were identified as the whistleblower responsible by your organization or bosses?
If the answer is no, it may be more advisable to keep quiet, as the risk of being unmasked remains high.
If it’s something you feel comfortable disclosing to your company, then many countries’ laws provide support and guidance for how to legally become a whistleblower against someone in your organization. It’s worth checking out these rules to make sure you’re doing it by the book.
It’s also advisable to keep a record of all your actions in the process of raising awareness of issues so that you can refer back to it if asked later on by your organization, company, or another investigatory power.
Turning to the press or regulators?
While the desire to let as many people as possible know about any wrongdoing may be tempting, it can often be inadvisable to report things to the media, because of the potential consequences. If you feel comfortable doing so, and think it will make a difference, you should first report any issues to your company or organization; if you feel that’s not possible, then try and find the relevant regulator for your industry.
At the last resort, approaching the press is an option – albeit the nuclear one.
If you’re doing that, make sure to protect your back. Try and use a burner email account or phone number, and encrypted messaging systems like Signal or Telegram in order to raise awareness.
You may – at some point in the process – have to give up your anonymity, especially if what you’re alleging is unlawful. But it’s possible to take precautions in the early stages of the process to prevent your name from getting out there in the public.
Likewise, if your whistleblowing involves collecting data, be aware of the digital traces you may leave:
Don’t do anything out of the ordinary to collect your data, like visiting the office late at night to gather evidence.
Make sure that any documents you generate are stripped of their metadata before you submit them as evidence, otherwise it could easily be traced back to you.
And be aware that printers and scanners log everything that passes through them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How the U.S. Can Apply Basic Engineering Principles To Avoid an Election Catastrophe
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/security/engineering-principles-us-election
Tomi Engdahl says:
MITRE releases emulation plan for FIN6 hacking group, more to follow
https://www.zdnet.com/article/mitre-releases-emulation-plan-for-fin6-hacking-group-more-to-follow/
New MITRE project to provide free emulation plans that mimic major
threat actors in order to train and help defenders.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Releases Open Source Fuzzing Framework for Azure
https://www.securityweek.com/microsoft-releases-open-source-fuzzing-framework-azure
Microsoft on Tuesday announced the release of Project OneFuzz, an open source fuzzing framework for Azure that the tech giant has been using internally for the past year to find and patch bugs.
Fuzzing is used to find vulnerabilities and other bugs in software by injecting malformed data into the targeted application to see if it crashes or behaves unexpectedly, which could indicate the presence of a problem.
“Microsoft’s goal of enabling developers to easily and continuously fuzz test their code prior to release is core to our mission of empowerment. The global release of Project OneFuzz is intended to help harden the platforms and tools that power our daily work and personal lives to make an attacker’s job more difficult,” Microsoft says.
Project OneFuzz can be used on Windows or Linux operating systems, it allows users to add their own fuzers, it includes useful triage and result deduplication capabilities, and users can summon live debugging sessions when a crash is identified.
https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2020/09/15/microsoft-onefuzz-framework-open-source-developer-tool-fix-bugs/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Zero Trust and SASE Can Redefine Network Defenses for Remote Workforces
https://threatpost.com/how-zero-trust-and-sase-can-redefine-network-defenses-for-remote-workforces/159000/
The SASE model for remote access and security coupled with Zero Trust can help redefine network and perimeter defenses when a traditional “perimeter” no longer exists.
Zero Trust has been touted for years as the future of network security. But, only recently has it started to gain traction as a practical enterprise security framework. The implementation of digital transformation initiatives has thrust Zero Trust into the spotlight as network applications and resources migrate to the cloud and blur the traditional network perimeter. This has exposed security vulnerabilities in firewalls, secure gateways, VPNs and proxies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
APIs Are the Next Frontier in Cybercrime
https://threatpost.com/apis-next-frontier-cybercrime/158536/
APIs make your systems easier to run — and make it easier for hackers, too.
Application Programming Interface (API) usage has exploded, and cybercriminals are increasingly taking advantage of API security flaws to commit fraud and steal data.
APIs, which are used to create connections between software programs and perform integrations, make everything a bit easier — from data sharing to system connectivity to delivery of critical features and functionality — but they also make it much easier for the bad actors (and the bad bots they deploy) to carry out attacks.
Let’s explore some of the API vulnerabilities that get exploited and abused by hackers, and I’ll share some easy tips for you to consider to close those gaps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Write a Cybersecurity Playbook During a Pandemic
https://threatpost.com/cybersecurity-playbook-during-pandemic/158538/
IT teams have had to learn to be dynamic as workforces continue to shift strategies while COVID-19 drags on.
If it feels like you’re constantly revising the draft of your cybersecurity playbook these days, it’s because you probably are.
Executing a thorough cybersecurity approach was hard enough before the pandemic. Then COVID-19 came along and forced all of your employees out of the office and into their homes, likely working on personal devices and home networks that — let’s face it — probably haven’t seen a password change since the initial setup. Now, just as many of us were settling into the work-from-home routine, we’re all of a sudden planning to transition back into the office, depending on your industry and where you are in the world. Trying to come up with reasonable safety measures that also make it easy for people to stay productive wherever they work is no small feat.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“OSINT is an art-form when it comes to cybersecurity, and understanding how to maximise its value will aid not just intelligence professionals, but pentesters, Security Operations Centre (SOC) analysts and vulnerability managers.”
https://pentestmag.com/product/pentest-osint-on-pentest-targets/
#pentest #magazine #pentestmag #OSINT #cybersecurity #infosecurity #infosec #new #edition
Tomi Engdahl says:
[Write-up] ARM64 Reversing and Exploitation Part 1 – ARM Instruction Set + Simple Heap Overflow
http://highaltitudehacks.com/2020/09/05/arm64-reversing-and-exploitation-part-1-arm-instruction-set-heap-overflow/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Worried about bootkits, rootkits, UEFI nasties? Have you tried turning on Secure Boot, asks the No Sh*! Agency
And have you tried simply asking hackers to not hack?
https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/16/nsa_secureboot_guide/
The NSA has published online a guide for IT admins to keep systems free of bootkits and rootkits.
The American surveillance super-agency’s 39-page explainer [PDF] covers UEFI security and, in particular, how folks can master Secure Boot and avoid switching it off for compatibility reasons.
https://media.defense.gov/2020/Sep/15/2002497594/-1/-1/0/CTR-UEFI-SECURE-BOOT-CUSTOMIZATION-20200915.PDF/CTR-UEFI-SECURE-BOOT-CUSTOMIZATION-20200915.PDF
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Make Yourself Cyber-Safety
https://pentestmag.com/how-to-make-yourself-cyber-safety/
#pentest #magazine #pentestmag #pentestblog #PTblog #personal #cyber #safety #cybersecurity #infosecurity #infosec
Tomi Engdahl says:
Endlessh is an SSH tarpit that very slowly sends an endless, random SSH banner. It keeps SSH clients locked up for hours or even days at a time. The purpose is to put your real SSH server on another port and then let the script kiddies get stuck in this tarpit instead of bothering a real server.
Since the tarpit is in the banner before any cryptographic exchange occurs, this program doesn’t depend on any cryptographic libraries. It’s a simple, single-threaded, standalone C program. It uses poll() to trap multiple clients at a time.
https://nullprogram.com/blog/2019/03/22/
https://github.com/skeeto/endlessh
Tomi Engdahl says:
There are many examples that show how cyber breaches can have a devastating impact on an organization’s share price. Is there anything companies can do to retain the confidence of customers and investors?
Do cyberattacks need to sink your stock price?
https://cybernews.com/editorial/do-cyberattacks-need-to-sink-your-stock-price/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=rm&utm_content=sink_your_stock_price
The precise cost of the ransomware attack on the fitness company Garmin earlier this year is hard to determine, but reasonable guesstimates have put the ransom fee alone in the region of $10 million. The reputational damage over and above that is likely to have been considerable.
Research from the Cyentia Institute [pdf] suggests that roughly 60% of the Fortune 1000 had suffered at least one public breach in the last decade, with estimates that 24% of these firms will suffer some form of cyber loss event per year.
To put it another way, this represents an attack every 39 seconds, which underlines the prevailing sentiment in the cybersecurity profession that it’s less a case of if you’ll be attacked as it is when you’ll be attacked.
For instance, in 2019 when finance company Capital One was attacked, their share price slumped by around 6% in immediate trading, with a total loss over two weeks of nearly 14%. Similar events unfolded at Equifax after they were attacked in 2017, with their share price plunging by around $50 in a week in a fall the company has never really recovered from.
Such financial disasters are by no means certain, however, as JP Morgan Chase ably demonstrated in 2014, after a data breach coincided with their stock actually going up. It underlines both the complexity of market reaction to any cybersecurity incident and the various strategies companies can deploy to help mitigate the risk.
Firstly, the research highlights what companies should not do. By far the worst approach is to pretend the attack didn’t happen.
Attempts to hide any attacks or breaches, or even to pass the blame onto others, tends to result in negative consequences.
Start from where you are
In terms of effective responses, the start point is always the cybersecurity strategies and practices you already have in place.
The next step is to then explain how you will build on what is already in place to ensure that the attack you’ve just suffered won’t happen again. This should be clearly communicated immediately after the breach, with your strategy publicized widely. For instance, you might announce an improvement in your cybersecurity budget or an expansion of your team. This was the strategy taken by JP Morgan Chase, who announced a doubling of their security budget in the immediate wake of their breach.
For instance, numerous companies offered customers a form of monitoring service to help them identify any potential theft and reassure them that their data isn’t going to be abused. What’s more, when such measures are well advertised, it highlights the strong data stewardship offered by your company.
Prepare for the attack now
So often in business continuity, companies fail to react until it’s too late. With data from Atlas VPN showing that cyberattacks on companies in North America are up 93% this year, you should assume that your company will be among them, if they are not already, so now is the time to start preparing.
For instance, you might consider doing cybersecurity ‘fire drills’ that involve senior managers in a simulated cyberattack.
This will help finely tune and hone responses, both from a technical and also communications perspective.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Julian Assange Case Threatens All Journalists Who Scrutinize Government Conduct
U.S. officials claim their espionage laws apply to the world, but constitutional protections do not.
J.D. TUCCILLE | 9.14.2020 3:00 PM
https://reason.com/2020/09/14/the-julian-assange-case-threatens-all-journalists-who-scrutinize-government-conduct/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yhä useampi on huolissaan lähipiiriinsä kohdistuvista
tietoturvauhkista
https://www.epressi.com/tiedotteet/teknologia/yha-useampi-on-huolissaan-lahipiiriinsa-kohdistuvista-tietoturvauhkista.html
Liikenne- ja viestintävirasto Traficomin loppukeväällä teettämän
kuluttajatutkimuksen mukaan suomalaiset kokevat tietoturvaan liittyvät
uhkakuvat merkittävinä huomattavasti aiempaa laajemmin. Valmiuksien
suojautua näiltä uhkilta ei kuitenkaan ole koettu parantuneen samassa
suhteessa. Samaan aikaan nettiin kytketyt älylaitteet ovat yleistyneet
kodeissa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DDoS Attacks Skyrocket as Pandemic Bites
https://threatpost.com/ddos-attacks-skyrocket-pandemic/159301/
More people being online during lockdowns and work-from-home shifts
has proven to be lucrative for DDoS-ers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft announces new Project OneFuzz framework, an open source
developer tool to find and fix bugs at scale
https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2020/09/15/microsoft-onefuzz-framework-open-source-developer-tool-fix-bugs/
Today, were excited to release this new tool called Project OneFuzz,
an extensible fuzz testing framework for Azure. Available through
GitHub as an open-source tool, the testing framework used by Microsoft
Edge, Windows, and teams across Microsoft is now available to
developers around the world.