Help Net Security

American Water, the largest water and wastewater utility company in the US, has shut down some of its systems following a cyberattack. While the company confirmed that none of its water or wastewater facilities or operations have been negatively affected by the attack, they proactively took their customer portal service (MyWater) offline, and their call center “has limited functionality” while portal is offline. What happened? New Jersey-based American Water is a public utility company with … More →

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BreachLock strengthens continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) capabilities for enterprise customers with its new Attack Surface Analytics feature. Time is of the essence when Fortune 500 security teams find themselves waking up to a Code Red vulnerability being actively exploited. When CISOs urgently request a detailed list of impacted assets, including those running a specific TLS version, which ports are being used, servers involved, and more, along with a patching strategy, that’s where BreachLock’s new … More →

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SimSpace announced its enhanced OT (Operational Technology) content, now offering more realistic and high-fidelity training and emulation. As OT cybersecurity becomes increasingly critical for industries relying on operational systems, SimSpace has invested in this content to ensure that organizations are fully prepared to defend against sophisticated attacks targeting their critical infrastructure. A key element in achieving this level of quality is SimSpace’s partnership with Fortiphyd Logic. Fortiphyd’s expertise has been instrumental in developing the new … More →

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As personal data becomes increasingly commodified and centralized, the need for individuals to reclaim control over their identities has never been more urgent. Meanwhile, traditional identity systems used by enterprises often expose sensitive information to unnecessary risk, leaving both users and organizations vulnerable to data breaches and privacy violations. But there’s a better alternative to the current approach of creating these endless islands of identity: Self-sovereign identity (SSI) allows individuals to take ownership of their … More →

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In this Help Net Security interview, Brian Pontarelli, CEO at FusionAuth, discusses the evolving authentication challenges posed by the rise of hybrid and remote workforces. He advocates for zero trust strategies, including MFA and behavioral biometrics, to enhance security while maintaining productivity. Given the rise of hybrid and remote workforces, how have authentication challenges evolved, and what strategies are being employed to maintain secure access without compromising productivity? The shift to hybrid and remote work … More →

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The discovery that 95% of advanced bot attacks go undetected points to a weakness in current detection and mitigation strategies. This suggests that while some organizations may have basic defenses, they are ill-equipped to handle more sophisticated attacks, such as those leveraging AI and machine learning to mimic human behavior. These statistics highlight the need for organizations to prioritize and strengthen their security measures against bot attacks. 65% of websites are unprotected against simple bot … More →

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Discover how ManageEngine Log360, a comprehensive SIEM solution empowers you to prevent internal security breaches, safeguard your network from external threats, protect sensitive data, and ensure compliance with stringent regulatory mandates. Schedule a personalized demo Be a part of this tour and learn about: Various SIEM components of Log360 Tracking critical changes within Active Directory, database servers, network devices, cloud environments, and more Detecting critical security incidents using event correlation, threat intelligence, UEBA, etc. Automating … More →

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Action1 announced its latest product release. As part of its platform enhancements, Action1 has introduced a new agent for macOS, enabling organizations with diverse IT environments to ensure unified, cross-platform patching automation and integrated software vulnerability management. As the world’s #1 easiest-to-use patch management solution, according to G2, Action1 is committed to transforming and simplifying the patching routine for organizations of all sizes. Now becoming cross-platform, Action1 is revolutionizing macOS patching while consolidating multiple patch … More →

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Thousands of Linux systems are likely infected with the highly elusive and persistent “perfctl” (or “perfcc“) cryptomining malware and many others still could be at risk of getting compromised, Aqua Security researchers revealed last week. “In all the attacks observed, the malware was used to run a cryptominer, and in some cases, we also detected the execution of proxy-jacking software,” they shared. “Perfctl” malware Though the actual cryptomining is performed by XMRIG Monero cryptomining software, … More →

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For several years, external attack surface management (EASM) has been an important focus for many security organizations and the vendors that serve them. EASM, attempting to discover the full extent of an organization’s external attack surface and remediate issues, had broad purview, targeting software vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and neglected shadow IT assets from the outside-in. The focus on greater attack surface visibility and external asset awareness resonated with CISOs, CIOs and practitioners alike. Recently, a new … More →

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In this Help Net Security interview, Amiram Shachar, CEO at Upwind, discusses the complexities of cloud security in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. He outlines the need for deep visibility into configurations and real-time insights to achieve a balance between agility and security. Shachar also shares strategies for addressing misconfigurations and ensuring compliance, recommending a proactive approach to risk management in cloud deployments. With hybrid and multi-cloud setups becoming the norm, cloud environments are getting more … More →

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Rspamd is an open-source spam filtering and email processing framework designed to evaluate messages based on a wide range of rules, including regular expressions, statistical analysis, and integrations with custom services like URL blacklists. The system analyzes each message and assigns a verdict, which the MTA can use to take further actions, such as rejecting the message or adding a spam indicator header. Additionally, Rspamd provides valuable information like potential DKIM signatures and suggested message … More →

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Security operations center (SOC) practitioners believe they are losing the battle detecting and prioritizing real threats – due to too many siloed tools and a lack of accurate attack signal, according to Vectra AI. They cite a growing distrust in vendors, believing their tools can be more of a hindrance than help in spotting real attacks. This is at odds with growing confidence in their teams’ abilities and a sense of optimism around the promise … More →

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You can’t fulfill your end of the shared responsibility model if you don’t emphasize secure configurations. Depending on the cloud services you’re using, you’re responsible for configuring different things. Once you figure out those responsibilities, you then need to perform the hardening. Our guidance helps simplify the process. It explains how you can use the CIS Foundations Benchmarks to get started with identity and access management (IAM), logging and monitoring, and networking on the cloud … More →

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Here’s an overview of some of last week’s most interesting news, articles, interviews and videos: October 2024 Patch Tuesday forecast: Recall can be recalled October arrived, and Microsoft started the month by announcing the release of Windows 11 24H2. The preview versions of this release have been in the news due to many innovations and one controversial feature. Critical Zimbra RCE vulnerability under mass exploitation (CVE-2024-45519) Attackers are actively exploiting CVE-2024-45519, a critical Zimbra vulnerability … More →

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Microsoft and the US Justice Department have seized over 100 domains used by Star Blizzard, a Russian nation-state threat actor. “Between January 2023 and August 2024, Microsoft observed Star Blizzard target over 30 civil society organizations – journalists, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) core to ensuring democracy can thrive – by deploying spear-phishing campaigns to exfiltrate sensitive information and interfere in their activities,” Steven Masada, Assistant General Counsel at Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, explained. … More →

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October arrived, and Microsoft started the month by announcing the release of Windows 11 24H2. The preview versions of this release have been in the news due to many innovations and one controversial feature. Windows 11 24H2 and Microsoft Recall This OS was released in May for Microsoft’s new Copilot+ PCs, powered by a neural processing unit (NPU); several features are unique to that platform. Now available for systems that meet the hardware requirements, it … More →

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In this Help Net Security interview, Sanaz Yashar, CEO at Zafran, discusses the role of threat exposure management (TEM) in modern cybersecurity strategies. As traditional vulnerability management evolves, TEM addresses the overwhelming risks arising from expanded attack surfaces and fragmented security tools. The proactive TEM approach prioritizes risks and integrates seamlessly with existing security tools, enabling organizations to mitigate threats before they can be exploited effectively. Why has Threat Exposure Management (TEM) become critical in … More →

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MaLDAPtive is an open-source framework for LDAP SearchFilter parsing, obfuscation, deobfuscation, and detection. At its core, the project features a custom-built C# LDAP parser designed for tokenization and syntax tree parsing. It also incorporates specialized properties to ensure precise obfuscation, deobfuscation, and detection of LDAP SearchFilters. Complementing this is a PowerShell wrapper, crafted for flexibility and randomization, with pipeline capabilities that allow seamless integration of all desired functions within a single command. MaLDAPtive is available … More →

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Off-the-shelf offensive security tools and poorly configured cloud environments create openings in the attack surface, according to Elastic. Adversaries are utilizing off-the-shelf tools Offensive security tools (OSTs), including Cobalt Strike and Metasploit, made up ~54% of observed malware alerts. The most prevalent malware family observed this year was Cobalt Strike, accounting for 27.02% of infections. Cobalt Strike is a very mature commercial post-exploitation framework with an experienced research and development team. It is so effective … More →

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