CyberSecure Specialist

Delivering trust with DNS security

Cybercrime continues to grow rapidly; indeed, it is a highly lucrative global industry. Without accurately accounting for profits from cybercrime (1, 2), we are left looking at the staggering estimated cost of US$7.08 trillion in 2022 for reference. Measured in terms of GDP, the illegal proceeds would rank as the third-largest “economy” worldwide. Regardless, this landscape keeps evolving, driven by new tech, further monetization of the internet, new illicit opportunities enabled by the vibrant cybercrime…

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CISA and Partners Release Advisory on Russian SVR-affiliated Cyber Actors Exploiting CVE-2023-42793

Today, CISA—along with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Security Agency (NSA), Polish Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW), CERT Polska (CERT.PL), and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)—released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Exploiting JetBrains TeamCity CVE Globally. Since September 2023, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)-affiliated cyber actors (also known as Advanced Persistent Threat 29 (APT 29), the Dukes, CozyBear, and NOBELIUM/Midnight Blizzard) have been targeting servers hosting JetBrains…

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Silent but deadly: The rise of zero-click attacks

Mobile Security A security compromise so stealthy that it doesn’t even require your interaction? Yes, zero-click attacks require no action from you – but this doesn’t mean you’re left vulnerable. Márk Szabó 11 Dec 2023  •  , 3 min. read In a world of instant communication and accelerated by the ever-spreading notion that if you are not connected or available, you might be the odd one out, messaging has, in many ways, become a crucial…

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Black Hat Europe 2023: Should we regulate AI?

We Live Progress ChatGPT would probably say “Definitely not!”, but will we learn any lessons from the rush to regulate IoT in the past? Tony Anscombe 11 Dec 2023  •  , 3 min. read The accelerated pace in the advancement of technology is challenging for any of us to keep up with, especially for public sector policymakers who traditionally follow rather than lead. Last week, the Black Hat Europe conference held in London, provided an…

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Microsoft Patch Tuesday, December 2023 Edition

The final Patch Tuesday of 2023 is upon us, with Microsoft Corp. today releasing fixes for a relatively small number of security holes in its Windows operating systems and other software. Even more unusual, there are no known “zero-day” threats targeting any of the vulnerabilities in December’s patch batch. Still, four of the updates pushed out today address “critical” vulnerabilities that Microsoft says can be exploited by malware or malcontents to seize complete control over…

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CISA Releases SCuBA Google Workspace Secure Configuration Baselines for Public Comment

Today, CISA released the draft Secure Cloud Business Applications (SCuBA) Google Workspace (GWS) Secure Configuration Baselines and the associated assessment tool ScubaGoggles for public comment. The draft baselines offer minimum viable security configurations for nine GWS services: Groups for Business, Google Calendar, Google Common Controls, Google Classroom, Google Meet, Gmail, Google Chat, Google Drive and Docs, and Google Sites. The ScubaGoggles tool assesses GWS tenants’ compliance against the baselines.    Federal agencies and other organizations are invited…

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A Note on progress…NIST’s Digital Identity Guidelines.

In August 2023 the Digital Identity Guidelines team hosted a two-day workshop to provide a public update on the status of revision 4. As part of that session, we committed to providing further information on the status of each volume going forward. In fulfillment of this commitment, we wanted to offer a quick update on where we stand. Our goal remains to have the next version of each volume out by the Spring of 2024.…

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The Apache Software Foundation Updates Struts 2

The Apache Software Foundation has released security updates to address a vulnerability (CVE-2023-50164) in Struts 2. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system. Users and administrators are encouraged to review the Apache Security Bulletin and upgrade to Struts 2.5.33 or Struts 6.3.0.2 or greater.

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Black Hat Europe 2023: The past could return to haunt you

Critical Infrastructure Legacy protocols in the healthcare industry present dangers that can make hospitals extremely vulnerable to cyberattacks. Tony Anscombe 08 Dec 2023  •  , 3 min. read The healthcare industry will, I am sure, remain a significant target for cybercriminals due to the huge potential it provides them to monetize their efforts through ransomware demands or by abusing the exfiltrated data of patients. Operational disruption and sensitive data, such as medical records, combined with…

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