Russian hackers managed to breach the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and stole opposition research on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.The hackers had access to email and chat traffic as far back as last summer, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. No financial data was stolen, however, suggesting that espionage was the motive.The hackers belong to two separate groups that have been linked to the Russian government, according to security firm Crowdstrike, which was hired to mitigate the data breach.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft released 16 security bulletins for June, five of which are rated critical for remote code execution vulnerabilities. Even the MSRC team doesn’t seem too excited over this month’s patches as the entire Patch Tuesday announcement is a mere three sentences.FYI: You should be keeping an eye out for the Adobe Flash Player patch as Adobe issued a security advisory, warning of a Flash exploit being used in the wild for targeted attacks. The fix for Flash is expected to be released on Thursday, June 16.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
At CircleCityCon, CSO's Steve Ragan talks with researcher Pablo Breuer about how many security technologies suffer from 'snake oil syndrome', and how CSOs and other security professionals can deal with those issues.
National Harbor, Md. -- Corporate employees who help carry out cyberattacks are increasingly being sought and are seeking criminals to hire them, a Gartner analyst told a group at the consulting firm’s Security and Risk Management Summit.A group of 60 CIOs and CISOs she worked with say this recruitment is more active and becoming a larger concern because of their use of the Dark Web to sell their services, says Gartner analyst Avivah Litan.+More on Network World: National Intelligence office wants to perfect the art of security deception+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Attackers are infecting computers with a new ransomware program called RAA that's written entirely in JavaScript and locks users' files by using strong encryption.Most malware programs for Windows are written in compiled programming languages like C or C++ and take the form of portable executable files such as .exe or .dll. Others use command-line scripting such as Windows batch or PowerShell.It's rare to see client-side malware written in Web-based languages such as JavaScript, which are primarily intended to be interpreted by browsers. Yet the Windows Script Host, a service built into Windows, can natively execute .js and other scripting files out of the box.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It’s not enough for security pros to figure out how to protect digital enterprises from risks that can ruin the business, they must effectively sell it to corporate boards whose blessing is needed to authorize the plan, Gartner analysts told attendees at their Security and Risk Management Summit.With that in mind, three Gartner security specialists walked the roughly 3,400-person audience through how to create a plan to manage risk and minimize damage when – not if – an attack succeeds, and the strategy for buy-in from the board of directors.“One hundred percent protection should not be the goal,” Gartner analyst Peter Firstbrook told the gathering. “The goal should be resilience.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As cyber threats diversify and expand, anti-virus provider Symantec is doing the same. Late Sunday, the company said it would shell out $4.65 billion to acquire Web security provider Blue Coat. Here are five reasons the deal could make sense for Symantec.1. Threats are evolving, Symantec needs to as wellSymantec has been selling PC antivirus products for years but the PC market has slumped and cyber threats are getting sneakier and more malicious. Two years ago, a Symantec executive even declared that antivirus were "dead." Nowadays, dangers such as zero-day exploits and ransomware are affecting businesses and consumers alike, and antivirus products can't keep up.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When former CEO Mike Brown left Symantec in April of this year, I wrote a blog about what I would do if I were recruited as Mike’s replacement. While one of my suggestions was for Symantec to resume M&A activities, I was really thinking about a strategy for filling in product gaps – perhaps Symantec could pick up LogRhythm to add a leading SIEM to its portfolio, or grab Carbon Black for endpoint security analytics and forensics.Hmm, I never even contemplated a big-time merger, so I was as surprised as anyone when Symantec announced its plan to acquire Blue Coat. I’ve had a few hours to digest this news and will certainly learn more in the days to come. Nevertheless, as an industry analyst, I can’t help but voice my early opinion on this deal.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cybersecurity would seem to be a top priority for enterprises, but there are still breaches and apparent gaps in their defenses and the way that companies respond to attacks.In separate announcements on Monday, both AT&T and Samsung drew attention to the dilemma. They recommended new enterprise security assessments that build on the services already offered by both companies.Samsung announced a new partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton to help enterprises find and address gaps in their mobile security. This approach includes a two-day, on-site mobile security assessment for each client, using a model based on security standards from the bodies like the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, among others.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft is buying LinkedIn for a whopping $26.2 billion. Both companies are hyping the angle of combining the “world's leading professional cloud with the world's leading professional network.” Satya Nadella
In Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s memo to employees, he wrote:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A bill to give email and other documents stored in the cloud new protections from government searches may be dead in the U.S. Senate over a proposed amendment to expand the FBI's surveillance powers.The Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act would require law enforcement agencies to get court-ordered warrants to search email and other data stored with third parties for longer than six months.Under U.S. law, police need warrants to get their hands on paper files in a suspect's home or office and on electronic files stored on his computer or in the cloud for less than 180 days. But under the 30-year-old ECPA, police agencies need only a subpoena, not reviewed by a judge, to demand files stored in the cloud or with other third-party providers for longer than 180 days.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
File-encrypting ransomware programs have become one of the biggest threats to corporate networks worldwide and are constantly evolving by adding increasingly sophisticated detection-evasion and propagation techniques.In a world where any self-respecting malware author makes sure that his creations bypass antivirus detection before releasing them, enterprise security teams are forced to focus on improving their response times to infections rather than trying to prevent them all, which is likely to be a losing game.Exabeam, a provider of user and entity behavior analytics, believes that machine-learning algorithms can significantly improve ransomware detection and reaction time, preventing such programs from spreading inside the network and affecting a larger number of systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A majority of companies don't have the technology in place to keep employees from sharing confidential documents, according to a study released today.In particular, only 36 percent of over 600 IT practitioners at large companies said that their companies were able to restrict the sharing of confidential documents with third parties, and only 27 percent were able to restrict sharing between employees."A lot of people focus on regulatory compliance, like personally identifiable information or PCI," said Ron Arden, COO at data security vendor Fasoo, which sponsored the study. PCI DSS, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, spells out how companies must protect credit card data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Recorded Future is teaming up with other security vendors to blend the threat intelligence they all gather so it’s easier for corporate security pros to connect the dots that reveal actual incidents that need attention.With the Omni Intelligence Partner Network, businesses that are customers of both Recorded Future and participating partners can import threat intelligence gathered by the partners and display it within Intelligence Cards that are one interface within Recorded Future’s platform.So the Intelligence Card for a particular suspicious IP address would include information gathered by Recorded Future but also information about that IP address gathered by any of the other Omni Intelligence partners.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
VMware wants to help companies get a better handle on the security of the computers their employees use. The new TrustPoint product the company announced Monday uses software to make it possible to track and manage computers easily and quickly, without taking up a whole bunch of data.
First off, the software allows companies to detect what devices are on their networks, along with which ones are being managed by IT. That helps businesses understand if they have machines operating outside the reach of their security systems, which could be a problem for protecting company data.
In addition, businesses will also be able to use TrustPoint to handle operating system imaging with VMware's technology, so it's easier for them to patch systems that are managed with TrustPoint. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.AppFolio Property ManagerKey features: offers enhanced functionality for mobile devices and is designed for the modern manager, enabling full access to the same features available through AppFolio’s cloud-based property management software. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security company Symantec is to acquire Web security provider Blue Coat for US$4.65 billion in cash in a deal that will broaden the portfolio of security technologies the combined company can offer customers as they move to the cloud.The deal, which is expected to be closed by the third quarter, will also see Greg Clark, CEO of Blue Coat, taking over as CEO of Symantec and joining its board at the the closing of the transaction. Symantec, well-known for its anti-virus software, has been looking out for a new CEO since April after it was announced that its CEO Michael Brown was stepping down, following poor financial results. Ajei Gopal was appointed as interim president and chief operating officer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If a UK startup has its way, then you will hand over full access to your social media accounts – “including entire conversation threads and private messages” – so it can be scraped and analyzed to help potential landlords and employers decide if you are a risk worth taking.Why in the world would you agree to such a thing? Score Assured co-founder Steve Thornhill told The Washington Post, “People will give up their privacy to get something they want.”The company launched “Tenant Assured” so landlords can decide if you would be a good tenant. It uses an algorithm to “deep dive” into your social media accounts and give landlords “insights into five main personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
NASA’s highly successful Kepler space telescope has had more than its share of near fatal experiences.The latest happened in April when the spacecraft went into “Emergency Mode” which among other things allows for priority access to ground-based communications via NASA’s Deep Space Network. NASA noted at the time that the spacecraft is nearly 75 million miles from Earth, making the communication slow. Even at the speed of light, it takes 13 minutes for a signal to travel to the spacecraft and back.The spacecraft has since returned to normal function.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Many companies protect their brands by registering domain names that are slight variations on their own, but manufacturers of industrial control systems don't seem to have followed suit, potentially leaving customers open to attack.Researchers from security consultancy Digital Bond have found 433 so-called "squat" domains whose names are similar to those of 11 industrial manufacturers, and which have been registered by unknown third parties. Some of the domains have been hosting scams, malicious redirects and malware.Attackers engage in domain squatting for various reasons: to host phishing pages in order to steal credentials, direct accidental visitors to malware, profit from the brand's popularity by displaying ads, or sell the domain to the brand owner for a large fee.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here