Bad guys are scanning your network. They are finding all the vulnerabilities exposed to the Internet. The vulnerable systems, critical devices, and other ways to break into your network. When ransomware, malware, botnets, and other break-ins happen, people wonder, “how did the threat actors find that service?” People thought that “if we don’t publish it, Read More
Category: Threat Actors
Threat Actors are people who are acting counter to you or your organization’s interest. They are a threat to yourself, your family, your community, your organization (company), your society, and your nation. They cannot be taken for granted. You can classify the world in the four key threat actor categories:
- Cyber-Criminal Threats – Cyber-Crime is an International Legal problem that has no short term resolution. There will always be someplace in the world that is a harbor for cyber-criminal activity.
- Nation State Threats – Post-Snowden, the secret world of nation-state security is now all in the open. Your network is a valid “Battle Space” for any Cyber-War.
- Political, Patriotic, Protestors (P3) – There are always going to be someone, somewhere, who is upset with society – with the ability to make their anxiety know through any network – anywhere.
- Corporate Threats (New!) – The dialog between US & China will accelerate the corporate on corporate threat vector.
How do Security Experts surf the tidal wave of security news?
Have you ever wondered what security professionals review each day? How do they keep up with the security news? What sources do they use? If you are new to security, what sources shall you track? We are overwhelmed with a deluge of cybersecurity news. In essence, we’re surfing cybersecurity news trying to keep up and Read More
1 Yottabyte DDoS Attack – The Biggest DDoS Attack in History!
No, a yottabyte DDoS attack has not happened. Someday we will have a yottabyte DDoS, just not today. Tomorrow we will have another press release on “the largest DDoS attack ever.” Will that be important? No, bragging about the size of DDoS Attacks is a distraction to the realities of the Internet and the real Read More
US Warns Ransomware Threats during Holidays – Whoops! Too Late
If you are reading about potential ransomware threats during the holidays, just know it is too late. By the time you get a call waking you up on a labor day holiday break, it would be too late to stop the ransomware threat. People forget that ransomware is the monetization network break-in. The THREAT is Read More
BGP Security Workshop – Safeguarding the Internet’s Glue
BGP and DNS are the two critical protocols that glue the entire global network (the Internet). Without them, the Internet falls apart. The security, resiliency, and integrity Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) holds up the routing of packets end-to-end across the Internet. Threats to BGP systems are life-threatening, disrupting critical infrastructure people depend on for their
Executive Security Leadership – It is Not Hard!
Security Leadership is not hard. CxOs stress over the security threats to their business. A lot of that stress is generated by the press. Common sense Executive practices and leadership principles have guided organizations through extreme security-related business pressures. What guides the organization is obvious, clear the path for the team, trust the team, pull
Open SMTP (Email) Servers on Your Network
Do you know if you have open SMTP servers on your network? In May, Qualys released 21 vulnerabilities to Exim (see Qualys Security Advisory 21Nails: Multiple vulnerabilities in Exim). Exim is a popular Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) available on Unix operating systems and comes pre-installed on Linux distributions. The easy access and wide SMTP/Exim MTAs use Read More
Meaningful Security Conversations with your Vendors: Can vendors ever provide secure solutions?
It is critical to have meaningful security conversations with your vendors. Operators depend on their vendors to supply products and solutions that are secure. As all operators have experienced, “secure products” is almost always a vendor afterthought. This leads to an operational risk that in some cases turns deadly. In this session, we will explore
Protecting your Domain Names: Taking the First Steps
Protecting your domain names is often overlooked, ignored, and neglected. Everyone and everything on the Internet depends on the Domain Name System (DNS) being functional. The DNS has been a common vector for attacks in recent years. Attacking DNS will continue in the future. The 2019 DNSpionage Campaign and Sea Turtle attacks were wake calls
DNS is Under Attack – the Miscreant’s Offensive Playbook with a Defensive Counter
Our DNS is Under Attack is not something anyone wants to hear. DNS’s critical role known to the miscreants, DDoS Extortionist, DDoS Attackers, and other threat attackers. Taking out DNS is easier than trying to take down a website. Smart miscreants have a playbook of offensive DNS attack techniques that they can use against any