Cybersecurity Expert

By Babur Nawaz Khan, Product Marketing, A10 Networks As we 2019, its time to have a look at the year 2020 and what it would have in store for enterprises. Since we are in the business of securing our enterprise customers’ infrastructures, we keep a close eye on how the security and encryption landscape is changing so we can help our customers to stay one step ahead. In 2019, ransomware made a comeback , worldwide mobile operators made aggressive strides in the transformation to 5G , and GDPR achieved its first full year of implementation and the industry saw some of the largest fines ever given for massive data breaches experienced by enterprises. 2020 will no doubt continue to bring a host of the not new, like the continued rash of DDoS attacks on government entities and cloud and gaming services , to the new and emerging. Below are just a few of the trends we see coming next year. Ransomware will increase globally through 2020 Ransomware attacks are gaining widespread populari...

By Anthony Perridge, VP International, ThreatQuotient When I speak to security professionals about vulnerability management, I find that there is still a lot of confusion in the market. Most people immediately think I’m referring to getting rid of the vulnerabilities in the hardware and software within their network, but vulnerability management encompasses a much broader scope. Vulnerability management is not just vulnerability scanning, the technical task of scanning the network to get a full inventory of all software and hardware and precise versions and current vulnerabilities associated with each. Nor is it vulnerability assessment, a project with a defined start and end that includes vulnerability scanning and a report on vulnerabilities identified and recommendations for remediation. Vulnerability management is a holistic approach to vulnerabilities – an ongoing process to better manage your organisation’s vulnerabilities for the long run. This practice includes vulnerability as...

Marked by a shortage of cyber security talent and attackers willing to exploit any vulnerability to achieve their aims, this year emphasised the need for organisations to invest in security and understand their risk posture. With the number of vendors in the cyber security market rapidly growing, rising standard for managing identities and access, and organisations investing more in security tools, 2020 will be a transformational year for the sector. According to Rob Norris, VP Head of Enterprise & Cyber Security EMEIA at Fujitsu: “We anticipate that 2020 will be a positive year for security, and encourage public and private sector to work together to bring more talent to the sector and raise the industry standards. As the threat landscape continues to expand with phishing and ransomware still popular, so will the security tools, leaving organisations with a variety of solutions. Next year will also be marked by a rush to create an Artificial Intelligence silver-bullet for cyber se...

Cyber threats are always a prominent risk to businesses, especially those operating with high quantities of customer information in the retail space, with over 50% of global retailers were breached last year.  BitSight VP, Jake Olcott, has written guidance for retailers, on how to manage their supply-chain cyber risk to help prevent the 'Cyber Grinch' from not just stealing Christmas, but throughout the year, with four simple steps. Cyber risk in retail is not a new concept. Retail is one of the most targeted industries when it comes to cyber-attacks. In fact, over 50% of global retailers were breached in the last year. Given the sensitive customer data these organizations often possess — like credit card information and personally identifiable information (PII) – it’s not surprising that attackers have been capitalizing on the industry for decades. The Christmas shopping season can increase retailers’ cyber risk, with bad actors looking to take advantage of the ...

Researchers at the University of  Birmingham have identified a weakness in Intel’s processors: by 'undervolting' the CPU, Intel’s secure enclave technology becomes vulnerable to attack. A little bit of undervolting can cause a lot of problems Modern processors are being pushed to perform faster than ever before – and with this comes increases in heat and power consumption. To manage this, many chip manufacturers allow frequency and voltage to be adjusted as and when needed – known as ‘undervolting’ or ‘overvolting’. This is done through privileged software interfaces, such as a “model-specific register” in Intel Core processors. An international team of researchers from the University of Birmingham’s School of Computer Science along with researchers from imec-DistriNet (KU Leuven) and Graz University of Technology has been investigating how these interfaces can be exploited in Intel Core processors to undermine the system’s security in a project called Plundervolt. ...

Apricorn , the leading manufacturer of software-free, 256-bit AES XTS hardware-encrypted USB drives, today announced new findings from Freedom of Information (FoI) requests submitted to five government departments into the security of devices held by public sector employees. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) lost 354 mobile phones, PCs, laptops and tablet devices in FY 2018/19 compared with 229 between 2017/2018. The number of lost laptops alone, has risen from 45 in 2016/17 to 101 in 2017/18 and up to 201 in 2018/2019, an increase of more than 400% in three years. FoI requests were submitted to the MoJ, Ministry of Education (MoE), Ministry of Defence (MoD), NHS Digital and NHS England during September-November 2019. Of the five government departments contacted, three out of five government departments responded. The MoE also reported 91 devices lost or stolen in 2019, whilst NHS Digital have lost 35 to date in 2019. “Whilst devices are easily misplaced, it’s concerning to see such vast...

Its December and the Christmas lights are going up, so it can't be too early for cyber predictions for 2020.   With this in mind,  Richard Starnes, Chief Security Strategist at Capgemini , sets out what the priorities will be for businesses in 2020 and beyond. Richard Starnes, Chief Security Strategist, Capgemini Accelerated digital innovation is a double-edged sword that will continue to hang over the cybersecurity threat landscape in 2020.  As businesses rapidly chase digital transformation and pursue the latest advancements in 5G, cloud and IoT, they do so at the risk of exposing more of their operations to cyber-attacks. These technologies have caused an explosion in the number of end-user devices, user interfaces, networks and data; the sheer scale of which is a headache for any cybersecurity professional.  In order to aggressively turn the tide next year, cyber analysts can no longer avoid AI adoption or ignore the impact of 5G.  AI ...

In recent years political motivated cyber-attacks during elections has become an expected norm, so it was no real surprise when the  Labour Party reported it was hit with two DDoS cyber-attacks in the run up to the UK general election, which was well publicised by the media. However, what wasn't well publicised was both the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats Party were also hit with cyber attacks. These weren't nation-state orchestrated cyberattacks either, black hat hacking group Lizard Squad, well known for their high profile DDoS attacks, are believed to be the culprits. The launch of Disney Plus didn’t go exactly to plan, without hours of the streaming service going live, compromised Disney Plus user accounts credentials were being sold on the black market for as little as £2.30 a pop . Disney suggested hackers had obtained customer credentials from previously leaked identical credentials, as used by their customers on other compromised or insecure websites, and ...

Article by Andrea Babbs, UK General Manager,  VIPRE SafeSend With the number and sophistication of cyber attacks increasing significantly, organisations have had to become aware and adapt to new and evolving digital threats. Yet, many would still consider the simple error of sending an email to the wrong contact trivial, at most embarrassing, but not of concern when it comes to data security. However, misaddressed emails have far-reaching consequences that can seriously impact an organisation, especially in highly regulated industries such as healthcare and finance. From fines to data breaches, what are the potential ramifications of sending an email to the wrong address? Reputational and Financial Damage While accidentally dialling a wrong number can be a little embarrassing, the same cannot be said for sending an email to the wrong contact. You could try to correct the error with a follow-up email to apologise and request that the recipient delete the message, but even if ...

As Brits plan to go to extreme lengths to grab a bargain this Black Friday but are leaving themselves exposed to cyber-criminals? Brits are gearing up to grab a bargain this Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with 17% already considering pulling a sickie. Over half of UK online shoppers will use a mobile device to shop for deals, but more than one in five (21%) will shop on unsecured smartphones or using open wifi networks (19%). F-Secure is warning people to install security software on any devices they’re shopping online with as last year the average count of spam increased by 45% during Cyber Monday. Brits are one and a half times more likely to be affected by financial fraud than people in other countries with 26% of people reporting they or someone in their family has been affected by credit card fraud, compared to an average 17% in other countries. New research highlights the lengths Brits will go to grab a bargain online, even though they may be leaving themselves vulnerable t...

Article by Matt Cable, VP Solutions Architect and MD Europe, Certes Networks Public sector organisations in the UK are in the midst of changing cyber security regulations. In mid-2018, the Government, in collaboration the NCSC, published a minimum set of cyber security standards. These standards are now mandated, along with a focus on continually “raising the bar”. The standards set minimum requirements for organisations to protect sensitive information and key operational services, which – given the way in which these services are increasingly dispersed – is driving significant changes in public sector network architecture and security. In addition to setting today’s ‘ minimum’ standards, however, the guidance also sets a target date of 2023 by which public sector organisations will be expected to have adopted a ‘gold-standard ’ cyber security profile. Matt Cable, VP Solutions Architect and MD Europe, Certes Networks, therefore outlines the essential considerations that will help orga...

You may not know much about the dark web, but it may know things about you. What is the Dark Web? The dark web is a part of the internet that is not visible to search engines. What makes the dark web, dark? it allows users to anonymise their identity by hiding their IP addresses. This makes those using the dark web nearly impossible to identify. Only 4% of the internet is available to the general public, which means a vast 96% of the internet is made up of the deep web. It’s important to note here, that the dark web is just a small section of the internet but it’s a powerful small sector. How much are your bank details worth? The dark web is full of stolen personal bank credentials. It’s common to see MasterCard, Visa, and American Express credentials on the dark web from a variety of different countries. Credit card data in the US, UK, Canada and Australia increased in price anywhere from 33% to 83% in the time from 2015 to 2018. The average price for a UK Visa or Mastercard ...

Anthony Webb, EMEA Vice President at A10 Networks It is often written that 5G will usher in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and change the economy. The speeds and capacity that 5G network promises to bring has the potential to be an indispensable technology. Verizon estimated that by 2035, 5G “will enable £10.5 trillion of global economic output and support 22 million jobs worldwide . Therefore, 5G is not only important because it has the potential to support millions of devices at ultrafast speeds, but also because it has the potential to transform the lives of people around the world. But with this new opportunity also comes higher security risks as cyberattacks grow in sophistication and volume and use lightly protected mobile and IoT devices in their botnets or targeted attacks. GTP today Since the early days of 3G or 2.5G, GPRS Tunnelling Protocol (GTP) has been used to carry traffic and signalling through mobile networks and has continued to do so in 4G/LTE and recent 5G non-s...